Using simulink s-finctions to convert bus structures to byte arrays (and back). Can this be done?

I have a non-virtual bus consisting of mixed signals (double and and integer). I need to convert this bus to an array of bytes (HW interface constraint). In C, I believe the easy way to do this is to define a union between the bus structure and a byte array. Using the s-function builder, is it possible to do something similar? My idea is to add something like this to the s-function builder "Outputs" section:

testbus *temp = NULL;
temp = u0;
y0=u0;

Upon building, you get:

void to_bytes_Outputs_wrapper(const testbus *u0,
                          testbus *y0, SimStruct *S)
{
testbus *temp = NULL;
temp = u0;
(y0)=(u0);
}

This doesn't work. Is there a way to make this work? Should I be looking at using the mxMalloc function?

Thanks, Martin

[Kaustubha Govind]

How do you define the type testbus?

Answer 1

[MarkB]

It is important to remember that, even though it may have the same field names as the C "struct" that you have in mind, the data on the signal line for the S-function block isn't an instance of the "struct" type that you have in mind. The actual structure of buses on S-function ports is a little complicated, so I recommend that you "cheat" by using the Legacy Code Tool as a start.

If you have a bus object defined in the base workspace, you can use it as an inport data type for Legacy Code Tool to create an S-function for you. This will generate the code that accesses the bus object on the block's input port for you.

Since the data doesn't need to be a byte array until inside the S-function block (I'm inferring from your post a bit), you can write regular C code for the body of the S-function to do the field accessing and casting that you need to convert/cast it to a byte array inside. Simulink/bus objects have no concept of C "union" types, so you won't be able to define something like this in Simulink itself, but that won't stop you from being able to do it in C inside the S-function.