Manage Custom Attributes for Requirements by Using the Requirements Toolbox API

This example shows how to use the Requirements Toolbox™ API to create custom attributes for requirement sets and set custom attribute values for requirements.

Establish Requirement Set

Load the requirement file crs_req_func_spec, which describes a cruise control system, and assign it to a variable.

rs = slreq.load('crs_req_func_spec');

Add a Custom Attribute of Each Type

Add a custom attribute of each type to the requirement set. Create an Edit custom attribute with a description.

addAttribute(rs,'MyEditAttribute','Edit','Description',...
    'You can enter text as the custom attribute value.')

Create a Checkbox type attribute and set its DefaultValue property to true.

addAttribute(rs,'MyCheckboxAttribute','Checkbox','DefaultValue',true)

Create a Combobox custom attribute. Because the first option must be 'Unset', add the options 'Unset', 'A', 'B', and 'C'.

addAttribute(rs,'MyComboboxAttribute','Combobox','List',{'Unset','A','B','C'})

Create a DateTime custom attribute.

addAttribute(rs,'MyDateTimeAttribute','DateTime')

Check the defined custom attributes for the requirement set. Get information about MyComboboxAttribute to see the options you added.

rs.CustomAttributeNames

ans = 1x4 cell
    {'MyCheckboxAttribute'}    {'MyComboboxAttribute'}    {'MyDateTimeAttribute'}    {'MyEditAttribute'}

atrb = inspectAttribute(rs,'MyComboboxAttribute')

atrb = struct with fields:
           name: 'MyComboboxAttribute'
           type: Combobox
    description: ''
           list: {'Unset'  'A'  'B'  'C'}

Set a Custom Attribute Value for a Requirement

Find a requirement in the requirement set, and set the custom attribute value for all four custom attributes that you created.

req = find(rs,'Type','Requirement','SID',3);
setAttribute(req,'MyEditAttribute','Value for edit attribute.');
setAttribute(req,'MyCheckboxAttribute',false);
setAttribute(req,'MyComboboxAttribute','B');

Set MyDateTimeAttribute with the desired locale to ensure that the date and time is set in the correct format on systems in other locales. See Locale for more information.

localDateTimeStr = datestr(datetime('15-Jul-2018 11:00:00','Locale','en_US'),'Local');
setAttribute(req,'MyDateTimeAttribute',localDateTimeStr);

View the attribute values.

getAttribute(req,'MyEditAttribute')

ans = 
'Value for edit attribute.'

getAttribute(req,'MyCheckboxAttribute')

ans = logical
   0

getAttribute(req,'MyComboboxAttribute')

ans = 
'B'

getAttribute(req,'MyDateTimeAttribute')

ans = datetime
   15-Jul-2018 11:00:00

Edit Custom Attributes

After you define a custom attribute for a link set, you can make limited changes to the custom attribute.

Add a description to MyCheckboxAttribute and MyComboboxAttribute, and change the list of options for MyComboboxAttribute. Because you cannot update the default value of Checkbox attributes, you can only update the description of MyCheckboxAttribute. View the changes.

updateAttribute(rs,'MyCheckboxAttribute','Description',...
    'The checkbox value can be true or false.');
updateAttribute(rs,'MyComboboxAttribute','Description',...
    'Choose an option from the list.','List',{'Unset','1','2','3'});
atrb2 = inspectAttribute(rs,'MyCheckboxAttribute')

atrb2 = struct with fields:
           name: 'MyCheckboxAttribute'
           type: Checkbox
    description: 'The checkbox value can be true or false.'
        default: 1

atrb3 = inspectAttribute(rs,'MyComboboxAttribute')

atrb3 = struct with fields:
           name: 'MyComboboxAttribute'
           type: Combobox
    description: 'Choose an option from the list.'
           list: {'Unset'  '1'  '2'  '3'}

Find Requirements That Match Custom Attribute Value

Search the requirement set for all requirements where 'MyEditAttribute' is set to 'Value for edit attribute.'

req2 = find(rs,'Type','Requirement','MyEditAttribute','Value for edit attribute.')

req2 = 
  Requirement with properties:

            Type: 'Functional'
              Id: '#3'
         Summary: 'Avoid repeating commands'
     Description: '<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/strict.dtd">...'
        Keywords: {}
       Rationale: ''
       CreatedOn: 27-Feb-2017 10:15:38
       CreatedBy: 'itoy'
      ModifiedBy: 'batserve'
    IndexEnabled: 1
     IndexNumber: []
             SID: 3
    FileRevision: 46
      ModifiedOn: 23-Jan-2025 04:21:23
           Dirty: 1
        Comments: [0x0 struct]
           Index: '1.2'

Search the requirement set for all requirements where 'MyCheckboxAtribute' is set to true.

reqsArray = find(rs,'Type','Requirement','MyCheckboxAttribute',true)

reqsArray=1×69 Requirement array with properties:
    Type
    Id
    Summary
    Description
    Keywords
    Rationale
    CreatedOn
    CreatedBy
    ModifiedBy
    IndexEnabled
    IndexNumber
    SID
    FileRevision
    ModifiedOn
    Dirty
    Comments
    Index

Search the requirement set for all requirements where 'MyComboboxAttribute' is set to 'Unset'.

reqsArray2 = find(rs,'Type','Requirement','MyComboboxAttribute','Unset')

reqsArray2=1×70 Requirement array with properties:
    Type
    Id
    Summary
    Description
    Keywords
    Rationale
    CreatedOn
    CreatedBy
    ModifiedBy
    IndexEnabled
    IndexNumber
    SID
    FileRevision
    ModifiedOn
    Dirty
    Comments
    Index

Delete Custom Attributes

You can use deleteAttribute to delete attributes. However, because the custom attributes created in this example are assigned to requirements, you must set 'Force' to true to delete the attributes. Delete 'MyEditAttribute' and confirm the change.

deleteAttribute(rs,'MyEditAttribute','Force',true);
rs.CustomAttributeNames

ans = 1x3 cell
    {'MyCheckboxAttribute'}    {'MyComboboxAttribute'}    {'MyDateTimeAttribute'}

Add a new custom attribute, but don't set any requirement custom attribute values for requirements.

addAttribute(rs,'NewEditAttribute','Edit');
rs.CustomAttributeNames

ans = 1x4 cell
    {'MyCheckboxAttribute'}    {'MyComboboxAttribute'}    {'MyDateTimeAttribute'}    {'NewEditAttribute'}

Because 'NewEditAttribute' is not used by any requirements, you can delete it with deleteAttribute by setting 'Force' to false. Confirm the change.

deleteAttribute(rs,'NewEditAttribute','Force',false);
rs.CustomAttributeNames

ans = 1x3 cell
    {'MyCheckboxAttribute'}    {'MyComboboxAttribute'}    {'MyDateTimeAttribute'}