{"id":4958,"date":"2015-12-18T12:10:16","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T17:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/seth\/?p=4958"},"modified":"2017-09-03T16:55:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-03T21:55:43","slug":"creating-custom-requirements-link-type","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/2015\/12\/18\/creating-custom-requirements-link-type\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Custom Requirements Link Type"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re working in the system engineering space, you are very likely familiar with the Requirement Traceability feature of Simulink Verification and Validation<\/a>. I have discussed this topic in previous posts<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

This feature allows you to link Simulink blocks to many types of documents, including Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML, etc. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

But what if your requirements are stored in type of document that is not in the list? <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Today, my colleague Shawn Bonneau<\/strong> from MathWorks Consulting Services<\/a> describes how use Simulink V&V\u2019s Requirements Management Interface (RMI) to create custom requirement link type to Microsoft PowerPoint.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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

What is a custom link type?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

A custom link type is a collection of callback functions that perform actions like creating a requirements link or navigating to requirements. Implementing the custom link type is simple:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. Write a main MATLAB function file defining which callbacks you plan to implement<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Write the callbacks which perform the desired actions<\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Register the new link type with Simulink. <\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n

    After that, your custom functionality will be available under the Requirements Traceability menus and Link Editor.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    Depending on functionality needed and the complexity of your requirements tool\u2019s API, implementing a custom link type may be simple or involved. The example for this post has fewer than 100 lines of code, and shows how to implement navigation and selection-based linking with Microsoft PowerPoint.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    An Example<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

    Let's begin with the main MATLAB function file defining the custom link type.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    In this function, we begin by creating an empty custom link type object, and set relevant properties. In this basic example, we specify the menu label to be displayed when right-clicking on a block, and the function to be executed when linking and navigating to the requirement:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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

    Let's now look at the callback implementing the linking.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    In this example, we use an ActiveX server<\/a> to interact with Microsoft PowerPoint and populate the fields of a requirements link data structure.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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

    Once this is done, you can register the custom link type by executing rmi register linktype_rmi_custom<\/strong><\/tt>, where linktype_rmi_custom<\/tt> is the name of the function created earlier.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    After creating and registering the custom link type, I opened a Microsoft PowerPoint document and selected the third slide (titled \u201cExample Requirement\u201d). Next, I right click on the Simulink block I need to link and the new PowerPoint option appears.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    Once a link is created the title of the linked slide appears in the requirements list and clicking on it will execute the NavigateFcn callback.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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

    Even with Microsoft PowerPoint closed, clicking on the \u201cExample Requirement\u201d menu item opens the document and navigates to the third slide.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

    What else can a custom link type do?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

    A custom link type can do all the things that you see from a standard link type. You might not need to implement them all, but you can set up the behavior of:<\/p>\r\n\r\n