This Getting Started guide will get you started with FrontPanel Platform by running the Counters example on your FrontPanel-enabled device.

• A FrontPanel-enabled device
• FrontPanel Platform – Download and install the FrontPanel 6 Platform from our downloads page. Multiple example projects, including the Counters example used here, are included within the installer.

• Open the FrontPanel Platform application.
• Make sure your device is connected and powered on. A representative device card should appear in the “Available Devices” list.
• Find the Counters application card from the application list.
• Drag the application card onto the device card.

The application should start automatically, connect to the device, configure the FPGA, and establish communication. The virtual instrument LEDs in Counter #1 should reflect the current state of the counter also shown on the device LEDs.

Note: FrontPanel Platform Apps are multi-device aware so they contain gateware (bitfiles) for all of the devices they support. Selection of the appropriate bitfile is performed automatically.

More “quick-start” examples are available under Examples and Tools in the FrontPanel SDK documentation. We recommend reviewing the remainder of the FrontPanel Platform documentation here to get familiar with the application launcher and device manager capabilities. After that, some additional information is covered below:

• FrontPanel SDK – This collection includes a look at the FrontPanel API (including the core C++ API and language wrappers for Python, C#, and Java). Of particular note is the System Design section that introduces the overall perspective of building software / gateware / hardware systems using FrontPanel.
• FrontPanel Platform Developers Guide – Use this guide to learn about building FrontPanel Platform apps within the browser environment using common tools and environments such as Node.js, NPM, and TypeScript / JavaScript.
• FrontPanel C++ API – This is the raw reference for the FrontPanel C++ API.
• FrontPanel Platform API – This is the raw reference for the FrontPanel Platform API (TypeScript / JavaScript).