Create Report Generators for Simulink and Stateflow Elements

Finders and reporters reduce the amount of time and complexity required to write code to find and report on Simulink^® model elements, such as diagrams and blocks, and on Stateflow^® charts and transitions, etc. The Simulink Report Generator™ Report API is a layer on top of the DOM API. Its finders and reporters are based on the Simulink and Stateflow find base class. You specify the container in which to find specific elements, such as blocks in a subsystem or states in a chart. Finder objects return their results in a corresponding array of finder result objects.

The Simulink Report API also includes reporter classes, which return an image of the container. This image is the top level of a model.

Every result object returned by a finder has an associated reporter object, which reports on those results. The reporter object holds the content and formats the content, such as tables of properties and data plots. You add the reporter objects to your reports. Use the MATLAB^® Report API reporters to define common report elements. See What Are Reporters? for information.

All finders and reporters have these features:

• Default behaviors and values

• Allow overriding and customizing their output

All finders have find, hasNext, and next methods. The find method finds and returns in an array of result objects all elements for each found element of the specified type. The hasNext and next methods find and return one element at a time and are used to iterate over a list of results. The hasNext method checks whether the container has at least one of the elements of the specified type. If the container has one or more of the elements, then the hasNext method queues it for the next method to find and return as a result object.

All reporters have predefined templates. The template for each reporter defines its formatting, layout, and content holes. You do not need to change the template or specify any formats, layouts, or holes unless you want a customized report. You can customize your report by copying and editing its default template or by using a new template. Editing a copy of the default template gives you a starting point and structure to follow to customize your template. Using a new template lets you completely define your template starting with a blank file. To change the order of the report content, reorder the holes in the template. Finders do not use templates. Another way to customize a reporter class is by subclassing it.

The default reporter templates for each output type are in a template library, which is at

matlab\toolbox\shared\slreportgen\rpt\rpt\+slreportgen\
    +report\@<reporter>\resources\templates\<output>

For example, the path to the default template for the DiagramReporter for PDF output is

matlab\toolbox\shared\slreportgen\rpt\rpt\+slreportgen\
    +report\@DiagramReporter\resources\templates\pdf\default.pdftx

For a detailed example of editing a template, see the "Reporter Elements" section of What Are Reporters?

Simulink Report API Classes

The Simulink Report API provides these finder, result, and reporter classes. To use these classes in a report generator program, you must create a container of type slreportgen.report.Report to hold the report.

Finder and Result Classes

Report API Class	Description
slreportgen.finder.AnnotationFinder	Finds Simulink block diagram annotations.
slreportgen.finder.BlockFinder	Finds blocks in a Simulink block diagram.
slreportgen.finder.BlockResult	Contains a block found by a BlockFinder object.
slreportgen.finder.ChartDiagramFinder	Finds Stateflow charts in a model.
slreportgen.finder.DataDictionaryFinder	Finds Simulink data dictionaries.
slreportgen.finder.DataDictionaryResult	Contains a data dictionary found by a DataDictionary object.
slreportgen.finder.DiagramElementFinder	Finds elements of a Simulink block diagram or Stateflow chart.
slreportgen.finder.DiagramElementResult	Contains a diagram element found by a DiagramElementFinder object.
slreportgen.finder.DiagramFinder	Finds block diagrams and charts in a Simulink model.
slreportgen.finder.DiagramResult	Contains a diagram found by a DiagramFinder object.
slreportgen.finder.ModelVariableFinder	Finds variables used by a Simulink model.
slreportgen.finder.ModelVariableResult	Contains a model variable found by a ModelVariableFinder object.
slreportgen.finder.SignalFinder	Finds signals used by a model or block.
slreportgen.finder.SignalResult	Contains a signal found by a SignalFinder object.
slreportgen.finder.StateFinder	Finds states in a Stateflow chart.
slreportgen.finder.StateflowDiagramElementFinder	Finds elements of a Stateflow chart.
slreportgen.finder.SystemDiagramFinder	Finds system block diagrams in a Simulink model.

Reporter Classes

Report API Class	Description
slreportgen.report.Bus	Reports on buses selected or created by Simulink blocks.
slreportgen.report.BusObject	Reports on Simulink.Bus objects used by a model.
slgreportgen.report.CCaller	Reports on a C Caller block.
slreportgen.report.CFunction	Reports on a C Function block.
slreportgen.report.DataDictionary	Reports on a Simulink data dictionary.
slreportgen.report.Diagram	Creates a snapshot of a Simulink block diagram or a Stateflow chart.
slreportgen.report.DocBlock	Reports on a Simulink DocBlock.
slreportgen.report.ElementDiagram	Reports on an element diagram snapshot and caption.
slreportgen.report.ExecutionOrder	Reports on the tasks of a model or nonvirtual subsystem and the blocks in each task, sorted by execution order.
slreportgen.report.LookupTable	Reports on breakpoints and output points of a Simulink lookup table block.
slreportgen.report.MATLABFunction	Reports on a MATLAB Function block or a Stateflow MATLAB function.
slreportgen.report.ModelConfiguration	Reports on the active configuration set of a model.
slreportgen.report.ModelVariable	Reports on a model variable.
slreportgen.report.Notes	Reports on Simulink or Stateflow diagram notes.
slreportgen.report.Signal	Reports on a signal.
slreportgen.report.SimulinkObjectProperties	Creates a table of the properties of a Simulink object.
slreportgen.report.StateflowObjectProperties	Creates a table of the properties of a Stateflow object.
slreportgen.report.SystemHierarchy	Creates a nested list of the subsystems of a Simulink model or subsystem.
slreportgen.report.SystemIO	Reports on Simulink system input and output signals.
slreportgen.report.TestSequence	Reports on a Simulink Test Sequence block.
slreportgen.report.TruthTable	Reports on a Simulink truth table block or a Stateflow truth table object.

Find and Report on Blocks in a Model

This example shows how to find and report on all Simulink blocks in the vdp model using the BlockFinder class. The resulting HTML report includes default information and uses default formatting for each block.

Import the Report API package, which let you use class names without including their package names. For example, you can use BlockFinder instead of slreportgen.finder.BlockFinder. In addition to importing the Simulink Report API base classes, import the MATLAB Report API base class. A typical report includes a title page, table of contents, chapters, and sections, which you include as reporter classes in the MATLAB Report API.

import slreportgen.finder.*
import slreportgen.report.*
import mlreportgen.report.*

Load the vdp model.

model_name = "vdp";
load_system(model_name)

Create the container object to hold the report and open the report. In this case, the output report is saved in zipped vdp_model.htmx HTML report. You can use any output name you want. If you run the report generator more than once using the same output file name, the output file is overwritten. To use Simulink Report API finders and reporters in your report generator program, you must use the fully qualified name to create the container object.

rpt = slreportgen.report.Report('vdp_model','html');
open(rpt)

Add a chapter and specify its title.

ch = Chapter("Blocks in vdp model");

Use the BlockFinder class to create a finder. In this case, the BlockFinder finds all the blocks in the model. Use the find method to find the blocks specified by the finder.

finder = BlockFinder(model_name); 
results = find(finder);

Loop through the results of the find method and create a section for each block, and add the block property table to the section. Then, add each section to the chapter. After all blocks have been added, add the chapter to the report.

for result = results
     sect = Section('Title',result.Name);
     append(sect,result)
     append(ch,sect)
end
append(rpt,ch);

Close the report and model, and view the report.

close(rpt);
close_system(model_name);
rptview(rpt);

Use Specific Finders and Reporters for Different Block Types

Create a PDF report generator that finds all blocks in the slrgex_radar_eml model.

To find all blocks, use the BlockFinder. The if statement shows how to test for MATLAB Function blocks. Use the MATLABFunction reporter to report MATLAB Function block details. The else statement shows how blocks other than MATLAB Function blocks use the BlockFinder find method results.

import slreportgen.report.*
import slreportgen.finder.*
import mlreportgen.report.*

model_name = 'slrgex_radar_eml';
load_system(model_name)

rpt = slreportgen.report.Report('radar','pdf');
open(rpt)

blkfinder = BlockFinder(model_name);
blks = find(blkfinder);
ch = Chapter('Blocks in slrgex_radar_eml Model');

for i=1:length(blks)
   if slreportgen.utils.isMATLABFunction(blks(i).Object)
      rptr = MATLABFunction(blks(i).Object);
      sec = Section(blks(i).Name);
      append(sec,rptr)
      append(ch,sec)
   else
      sec = Section(blks(i).Name);
      append(sec,blks(i)) 
      append(ch,sec)
   end
end
append(rpt,ch)

close(rpt)
close_system(model_name)
rptview(rpt)

An example of the information reported for a MATLAB Function block by the MATLABFunction reporter is:

An example of the information reported by the find method of the BlockFinder is:

Find and Report on Stateflow Elements

This example describes how to find and report on Stateflow states, transitions, and junctions. It reports on the control_logic chart of the slrgex_fuelsys_fuel_rate_control model.

First, set up the report.

import mlreportgen.report.*
import slreportgen.report.*
import slreportgen.finder.*

model_name = "slrgex_fuelsys_fuel_rate_control";
load_system(model_name);
subsys = "slrgex_fuelsys_fuel_rate_control/control_logic";

rpt = slreportgen.report.Report("output","pdf");
open(rpt)

tp = TitlePage("Title",...
   "Control Logic Chart of slrgex_fuelsys_fuel_rate_control");
append(rpt,tp)
append(rpt,TableOfContents);

Next, use a StateFinder object and its find method to find and report on states in the chart. Loop through the array of found states and add each one to the chapter.

chapter = Chapter("Title","States");
stFinder = StateFinder(subsys);
states = find(stFinder);
for state = states
   append(chapter,state)
end
append(rpt,chapter)

To report on the transitions, use a StateflowDiagramElementFinder object and its find method. To show the property table with a narrower width than the default, customize the output. First, obtain the reporter for the result. To set the width, use the TableWidth property of the reporter.

chapter = Chapter("Title","Transitions");
trFinder = StateflowDiagramElementFinder...
   ("Container",subsys,"Types","transition");
transitions = find(trFinder);
for transition = transitions
   rptr = transition.getReporter;
   rptr.PropertyTable.TableWidth = "3in"; 
   append(chapter,rptr)
end
append(rpt,chapter)

Close the report and model, and view the report.

close(rpt)
close_system(model_name)
rptview(rpt)