Does Upgrading LabVIEW Require Recompiling My FPGA Bitfile?

Updated Aug 5, 2024

Reported In

Software

  • LabVIEW FPGA Module
  • LabVIEW

Driver

  • NI-RIO

Issue Details

I've recently upgraded my LabVIEW, LabVIEW Real-Time Module, and LabVIEW FPGA Module to a newer version, or changed from 32-bit to 64-bit versions of my software. Do I need to recompile my FPGA bitfile?

Solution

If your Open FPGA Reference function links to your FPGA VI, LabVIEW will require you to recompile your FPGA code before you can run your host VI.  However, if you link the Open FPGA Reference.vi directly to the bitfile that was compiled in the prior version, LabVIEW will not force you to recompile your FPGA code.

To link the Open FPGA Reference directly to the bitfile:
  1. Right click on the Open FPGA Reference.vi and select Configure Open FPGA VI Reference.
  2. Select  Bitfile » select the Bitfile you want to use.

Additional Information

NI always recommends recompiling your FPGA bitfile with the version of the LabVIEW FPGA Module that matches the version of LabVIEW/LabVIEW Real-Time that will be accessing that bitfile. Even minor upgrades of the LabVIEW FPGA Module (such as from LabVIEW 8.5 to 8.5.1) have been shown to cause unresponsive FPGA I/O when linked to bitfiles from previous versions.

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