How to connect input to input programmatically (add_line)?

I use 'add_line()' to connect output to input, output from first block to the input of next block, in this case To File block (dropping outputs to file).

However, I would like to drop input of the first block to file too: is there an option to connect input to input, input of the first block to input of To File block?

Answer 1

[Anudeep Kumar]

Hey Danijel,

I believe you want to connect your input signal to input of ‘To File’ block in order to export your input along with your output into a ‘.mat’ file.

Although ‘To File’ block has just one input port you can pass multiple inputs to it using a ‘Mux’ block.

I have provided a code snippet to add blocks and connect them accordingly in a model. You can simulate the model and observe the ‘.mat’ file which contains both input and output signals.

% Create new model
modelName = 'counter_gain_mux_to_file';
new_system(modelName);
open_system(modelName);

% Block positions
posCounter = [100 100 150 130];
posGain    = [250 100 300 130];
posConv    = [350 100 380 130];
posMux     = [450 80 480 150];
posToFile  = [600 100 650 130];

% Add blocks
add_block('simulink/Sources/Counter Free-Running', [modelName '/Counter'], 'Position', posCounter);
add_block('simulink/Math Operations/Gain', [modelName '/Gain'], 'Position', posGain, 'Gain', '2');
add_block('simulink/Commonly Used Blocks/Data Type Conversion', [modelName '/DataTypeConv'], ...
    'Position', posConv, 'OutDataTypeStr', 'uint16');
add_block('simulink/Signal Routing/Mux', [modelName '/Mux'], 'Position', posMux, 'Inputs', '2');
add_block('simulink/Sinks/To File', [modelName '/ToFile'], 'Position', posToFile, 'Filename', 'output.mat');

% Connect Counter to Gain
add_line(modelName, 'Counter/1', 'Gain/1');

% Connect Counter to Mux (first input)
add_line(modelName, 'Counter/1', 'Mux/1');

% Connect Gain to Data Type Conversion
add_line(modelName, 'Gain/1', 'DataTypeConv/1');

% Connect Data Type Conversion to Mux (second input)
add_line(modelName, 'DataTypeConv/1', 'Mux/2');

% Connect Mux to To File
add_line(modelName, 'Mux/1', 'ToFile/1');

% Save and open model
save_system(modelName);
open_system(modelName);

Here is the documentation for Mux block for your reference:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2024b/simulink/slref/mux.html

Hope this helps!