Simulink Scope "Open at Simulation Start"

I have several scopes in my simulink model that I run from a GUI. I would like to provide users the option to open one or several of those scopes when the simulation runs. I know there's a checkbox on the scope menu for "Open at Simulation Start". Is there a way I can interact with that property from Matlab at the time I run the simulink model? I can create variables in the workspace based on the GUI checkbox status, but how can I feed that into the scope in the model?

Answer 1

[Pratik]

Yes, you can interact with the "Open at Simulation Start" property of a Scope block in Simulink using MATLAB. You can use the `set_param` function to modify the properties of the Scope block at the time you run the Simulink model.

Here's an example of how you can achieve this:

% Assuming you have a variable named 'openScope' in your workspace based on the GUI checkbox status

% 'openScope' should be a logical value indicating whether the scope should be opened at simulation start

% Set the name of the scope block in your Simulink model

scopeBlockName = 'YourScopeBlockName'; % Replace with the actual name of your scope block

% Set the 'Open at Simulation Start' property based on the 'openScope' variable

set_param([gcs '/' scopeBlockName], 'OpenAtSimulationStart', num2str(openScope));

Replace `'YourScopeBlockName'` with the actual name of your Scope block. This code will set the "Open at Simulation Start" property of the specified Scope block based on the value of the `openScope` variable in your MATLAB workspace.

[Fangjun Jiang]

The value should be 'on' or 'off', so num2str() is not the right way to do it.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/simulink/slref/scope.html

[Jeffrey Topp]

I just tested. 1 and 0 works.

[Fangjun Jiang]

Good to know! I thought I saw somewhere that 'on'/'off' can be replaced by 1/0.

But in R2022b, num2str() still can't be applied. That is my point.

>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart','off')
>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart','on')
>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart',1)
>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart',0)
>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart',true)
Invalid setting in Scope block 'Scope6' for parameter 'OpenAtSimulationStart'
Caused by:
Option specified is not valid.

>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart',false)
Invalid setting in Scope block 'Scope6' for parameter 'OpenAtSimulationStart'
Caused by:
Option specified is not valid.

>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart',num2str(1))
Invalid setting in Scope block 'Scope6' for parameter 'OpenAtSimulationStart'
Caused by:
Option specified is not valid.

>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart',num2str(0))
Invalid setting in Scope block 'Scope6' for parameter 'OpenAtSimulationStart'
Caused by:
Option specified is not valid.

>> set_param(gcb,'OpenAtSimulationStart',num2str(true))
Invalid setting in Scope block 'Scope6' for parameter 'OpenAtSimulationStart'
Caused by:
Option specified is not valid.

[Jeffrey Topp]

So I am able to execute this from the command line, but this requires the Simulink simulation be open. When I'm running from my Gui I don't require that. It should open up the simulation and the appropriate scopes.

So I tried to create a function block inside the simulation to execute the set_param commands. Simulink is telling me this function is "not supported for code generation".