Patent ID: 7076411

Claim:
A method for evaluating operation of a control unit, the method comprising: creating a first graphical program that models a physical system, wherein the first graphical program is created in a first graphical program development environment; deploying the first graphical program on a first computer system for execution; creating a second graphical program that performs a measurement function, wherein the second graphical program is created in a second graphical program development environment, wherein the second graphical program development environment is different than the first graphical program development environment; coupling a control unit to the first computer system, wherein the control unit interacts with the first computer system; executing the first graphical program on the first computer system to simulate operation of the physical system; executing the second graphical program to measure characteristics of the operation of the control unit; and displaying a single graphical user interface comprising a first one or more graphical user interface elements for the first graphical program and a second one or more graphical user interface elements for the second graphical program.