Can a binary file be read incrementally?

Question

I have a situation where I would like to do repeated incremental reads (i.e., N bytes at a time) from a binary file. My understanding of the Read Binary File VI is that you open the file, read N bytes from the file, and close the file - i.e., do a SINGLE read. I don't want to read the WHOLE file into memory at one gulp; I want to keep repeating the N-byte read operation in an indefinite loop, until I say to stop. On each read I will be updating a graph with the last data read.
(OK, some more detail: I am monitoring 32 digital lines using some external equipment that writes the file. Each time one of the digital lines changes value, 10 bytes are written: a 48-bit timestamp and 32 bits for the current digital values. The file is a continuous little-endian raw concatenation of these 10-byte records, with no header or record markers. In LV 8.21 (under WinXP) I want to generate a scrollable display of the 32 digital traces, by reading a block of data as needed whenever I want to advance the display.)
What is the suggested way to handle this kind of binary reading? (I am willing to write C code if necessary.) Any useful responses will be appreciated.
dhfx

Answer 1

This may be lower level than you were looking for.  As already mentioned, the big problem may be having two applications accessing the file simultaneously.
Jim
Jim
LV 2013
Attachments:
ReadBinary.png ‏4 KB