RCH

On thing you can do (although I haven't tested this with RT FIFOs) is create a type definition for the cluster that is the fixed-size array. Then, put that cluster inside the cluster that contains the integer. It is then easy to convert the nested cluster into an array (using cluster to array). Going the other direction is only slightly more complicated. If you know that the array size won't change, you can use array to cluster. Otherwise you can typecast the array to the cluster type definition; this may be less efficient (my understanding is that typecast will always flatten to a string, then unflatten to the new representation, instead of a more direct conversion) but is more flexible.

Cool. That's what I ended up doing.  Submitted a feature request for what I was asking:  http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Implement-full-support-for-fixed-size-arrays-in-Labview/idi-p/2467734

When using a fixed-size array inside a cluster, I am unable to use the cluster with functions that demand a fixed-size data type.  This even though the cluster is actually a fixed size.

The alternative is to add an individual element for each entry in the array, but that quickly gets unwieldy and results in messy, overcomplicated code.

I've run into this issue several times and haven't found an elegant alternative to manually wiring up every single entry.  Hoping y'all have some good ideas in lieu of NI fixing the issue.

Thanks