Type Cast and Convert Function Difference

Issue Details

What Is the Difference Between Type Cast and Convert in LabVIEW?

Solution

The key difference lies in how the data is interpreted versus how it is transformed:

1. Type Cast
   1. It does not change the actual bits in memory. Instead, it reinterprets the existing binary data as another data type.
   2. As an example, if you have a U64 number whose bytes spell out the ASCII characters for “LabVIEW,” Type Cast will show “LabVIEW” when cast to a string because it simply reads the same bytes as text.
      
       
2. Conversion
   1. Convert functions (e.g., To Single Precision Float, Number to Decimal String etc) change the value into a new representation that matches the target type. That means that binary representation of the variable will change, but value will remain unchanged.
      
       

What exactly is happening on binary level is described in the image bellow. We have U32 as input and we use Type Cast to get the value in SGL and String and also Convert to these formats. In the Boolean representation, you can see the difference of representation between original value, the Type Cast value and the Converted value.

Additional Information

• Type Cast Function - LabVIEW Programming Reference Manual
• Conversion - LabVIEW Programming Reference Manual