Create Subsystems to Add Hierarchy
Subsystems can be used to organize your layout into coherent groups. To create a subsystem, drag out the Subsystem module from the Subsystem folder, then double click or right click and select ‘Navigate In’ to design the internal system. If more I/O is needed, add System Input and Output pin modules from the Subsystem folder of the module browser.
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You can navigate through hierarchies either with the tabs at the top of the canvas, or by right clicking the canvas and selecting ‘Navigate Up’.
Convert To Subsystem
Instead of dragging out a new subsystem and manually adding modules, a user can create a subsystem from an existing set of modules. To do this, select a module or set of modules, right click, then select the Convert To Subsystem option. This will replace the selected modules with a new subsystem that contains the selected modules. Just as usual, a user can navigate through the different hierarchies with the ‘Navigate Up’ or ‘Navigate In’ options.
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User Inspectors
Subsystems created entirely within Designer can have one or more user created inspectors, also built within Designer, to control the subsystem operations. The user inspector is shown differently depending on where in the subsystem hierarchy the user is.
Either double clicking a subsystem or choosing “Show Inspector” from the right click menu of the subsystem will show the inspector(s) in Run Mode (non-editable). The right click menu for a subsystem is available from the canvas of the subsystem, or by right clicking the subsystem module. In this example, double clicking UserSub, which contains Inspecter1, will show the inspector in Run Mode, and the user may change the controls and the associated subsystem module variables.
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When the user inspector is at the same hierarchical level as the user view, it can be opened for edit mode when double clicked. The inspector can be modified to change or display variables from the modules in the subsystem.
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In the previous example, the inspector edit dialog is invoked by double clicking the inspector on the canvas. The dialog will say “FOR EDITING”. In this mode, the slider cannot be moved to change an attached module variable. In order to change the variables in the attached modules from this level, one must use the right click menu on the canvas and choose “Show Inspector”. This is also valid for User Inspectors at the top level of the diagram.
Creating a User Inspector
In this example, a subsystem has been created with a ScalerV2 module and a Meter module. The desire is to have a knob to control gain, and a meter to show the output level.
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The scaler module and meter module are necessary to attach to the knob control and meter control. First, select “Inspector Panel” from the module palette under the “Inspectors” heading.
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Drag the Inspector Panel onto the canvas. Double click the Inspector Panel to edit, a blank Inspector Panel will open in Edit Mode as in the following figure. Edit Mode can be used to add, delete, move or change properties of inspector controls.
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Drag a knob and meter inspector control from the palette:
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If the editable user mode dialog is not large enough to accommodate the default size of the control, it cannot be placed – increase the size of the Inspector Panel, then retry placement.
Before testing the dialog, one must attach the control to a module variable. Right click on the meter and knob controls in the Inspector Panel and click View Properties in the pop-up menu. Enter Scaler1.gain in the modVar field, and Meter1.value[0] in the modVar field of the meter. If the names of the modules were changed after placement, enter those names instead of Scaler1 and Meter1:
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“Knob” and “meter” are generic, so one can rename them and customize the subsystem with the caption property:
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For more information on each inspector control and their available properties, see the descriptions in the Property panel, or right click either in the module browser or in the Inspector panel and click Help.
Next, ascend the hierarchy to the top level, where double clicking the subsystem will show the inspector dialog in Control Mode. Control Mode can be used during design time or run time to change the values of the module variables linked to each inspector control. For example, the knob control will change the subsystem’s gain module variable. The subsystem module block will show updates of the values as in the next figure:
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This user subsystem, complete with an inspector, can be saved to the module palette and shared with other designs as a reusable subsystem, as described in the next section.
As a starting point, a user can right-click a module and select “Create User Inspector” to create a new Inspector Panel with the controls for this module.
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Reusable Subsystems
A “Reusable Subsystem” allows a user to design a subsystem with a custom set of modules/user inspectors, and then save and reuse that subsystem across any layout. The reusable subsystem is represented by XML and MATLAB files that are generated when the reusable subsystem is created. The reusable subsystem can be shared by distributing these files and adding the MATLAB search paths accordingly via Designer.
Converting a Subsystem to a Reusable Subsystem
To create a Reusable Subsystem, begin with a regular subsystem. Create the subsystem (see Create Subsystems to Add Hierarchy), and make sure that it will build and run without errors. Tweak the modules as needed and add any desired User Inspectors. Ensure that any contained modules that access another module’s variable (eg. ParamSet, ParamGet) DO NOT reference modules that are outside the subsystem.
There are two ways to convert this subsystem module into a Reusable Subsystem. From the top level layout:
Click and drag the entire subsystem module from the canvas and to the Module Palette, either on an existing module directory or in the empty space.
Right-click the subsystem module and select the “Create Reusable Subsystem” option.
A new dialog window appears, titled “Create New Reusable Subsystem”, with the following entry fields (see figure below). Complete and edit these fields accordingly for this Reusable Subsystem:
Root Directory - root folder for the Reusable Subsystem’s generated folders/files (see generated Folders/File section)
Class Name - Unique file name for the generated output files.
Browser Path - Category in which module will appear under in the module palette
If the subsystem was dragged onto an existing module directory in the Module Palette, this will be automatically populated with that existing directory name. Otherwise, this will be automatically populated with the new directory name “Reusable Subsystems”.
Browser Name - The name of the module that will appear in the module browser
Canvas Legend - The text which will appear in the reusable subsystem block when on the Canvas.
Search Tags - Search terms to locate this module in the Module Browser
Pin Data Types - Valid data types for module input pins (can select multiple types)
Compiled Subsystem – If checked, creates a Compiled Reusable Subsystem
Once the fields are set, click OK, and the Reusable Subsystem will be created.
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Note: The standard subsystem is not automatically replaced with the new reusable subsystem on the canvas. This action is left to the user to drag out to the canvas needed.