Define Structures in MATLAB Functions

In this example, a Stateflow chart processes data from one Simulink bus signal and outputs the result to another Simulink bus signal. Both the input and output bus signals are defined by the Simulink.Bus object BusObject. These buses have four fields: sb, a, b, and c. The field sb is also a bus signal defined by the Simulink.Bus object SubBus. It has one field called ele.

In the chart, the Simulink bus signals interface with the Stateflow structures in and out. The functions abc2sb and sb2abc extract information from the input structure and store it in the local Stateflow structures localbus and subbus. Then, the chart writes to the output structure by combining the values of these local structures. For more information on Stateflow structures, see Access Bus Signals Through Stateflow Structures.

The MATLAB® function sb2abc takes a Stateflow structure of type SubBus and returns a Stateflow structure of type BusObject. The function decomposes the value of the field ele from its input into three components: a vector, a 3-by-2 matrix, and a scalar. The function stores these components in the local MATLAB struct Y that has the same structure as the Simulink.Bus object BusObject. Then, the function assigns the value of the MATLAB struct Y to the output structure y.

function y = sb2abc(u)

% extract data from input structure

E = int8(magic(3));
A = double(u.ele(1:2,1));
B = uint8(u.ele(:,2:3));
C = double(u.ele(3,1));

% create local structure

X = struct('ele',E);
Y = struct('sb',X,'a',A,'b',B,'c',C);

% assign value to output structure

y = Y;
end

Define Input and Output Structures

In a MATLAB function, access a local Stateflow structure or interface with a Simulink bus signal by defining input and output structures for the function:

For example, in the function sb2abc:

For more information, see Define Stateflow Structures.

Define Local and Persistent Structure Variables

To store related data in a single variable inside a MATLAB function, you can create a MATLAB struct as a local or persistent variable. For example, the function sb2abc defines two local MATLAB structures to temporarily store the data extracted from the input structure u before writing to the output structure y:

For more information, see Define Scalar Structures for Code Generation.