{"id":3147,"date":"2014-01-15T13:06:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T18:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/seth\/?p=3147"},"modified":"2017-08-28T20:33:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T01:33:59","slug":"a-free-dialog-for-your-matlab-system-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/2014\/01\/15\/a-free-dialog-for-your-matlab-system-block\/","title":{"rendered":"A Free Dialog for your MATLAB System Block"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I am happy to welcome guest blogger Jacob Halbrooks to describe some nice capabilities of the MATLAB System block<\/a> dialog.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Jacob<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The MATLAB System block is new in R2013b and allows you to easily use a System object in Simulink. Guy introduced System objects and the MATLAB System block<\/a>, and Revathi explored methods of the MATLAB System block<\/a>. Now we are going to look at the dialog for the MATLAB System block.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Mapping properties to parameters<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

In MATLAB, a System object has properties. In Simulink, blocks have parameters. When you specify a System object for use in a MATLAB System block, each public property becomes a parameter of the same name. Private or hidden properties do not become a parameter. I recommend going through the documentation page on Defining Property Attribute<\/a> if you are not familiar with this topic. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Consider the following System object, designed especially to demonstrate the dialog features of the MATLAB System block:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Example<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Let\u2019s create a MATLAB System block<\/a> with this System object:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Creating<\/p>\r\n\r\n

We can immediately use any of the regular approaches<\/a> to query and set the block\u2019s parameters. For example, I can obtain the value of parameters NumericValue<\/tt> and EnableCustomValue<\/tt> using:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Dialog<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Launching the dialog<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

An important feature of the MATLAB System block is that it provides a default dialog for its parameters. This free dialog is generated using information in the System object but without any need of custom methods or special coding. Let\u2019s double-click our block to launch its dialog:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Dialog<\/p>\r\n\r\n

We can see that each public property in the System object is represented in the dialog according to its attributes:<\/p>\r\n\r\n