In this paper, we demonstrate a structured approach to proceed from development in a high level-modeling environment to testing on the real hardware. The concept is introduced by taking an example scenario that involves automatic code generation of Handel-C for FPGAs. The entire process is substantiated with a prototype that generates Handel-C code from MATLAB^®/Simulink^® for most common Simulink^® blocks. Furthermore, we establish the potential of the notion by generating Handel-C for an FPGA, which controls the flow of paper through the scanning section of a printer/copier. Additionally, we present another method to generate Handel-C from a state-based specification. Finally, to verify and validate the behavior of the generated code, we execute several levels of simulation, including software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop simulations.