Dynamically populating mask parameter popup list

Is it possible to dynamically populate a Simulink mask's popup parameter's list using Dialog callback? Or is this facility static and to be defined while editing the mask?

[Kyle]

I would also like to know if this is possible

Answer 1

[Arun]

Actually, I figured this out after hours of experimenting with Mask Parameters. This is one way to do it: You can access the 'MaskStyles' parameter like so:-

myMaskStylesVar = get_param(gcb, 'MaskStyles');

Here you should be able to observe the MaskStyles for each of your parameters as edit, checkbox, DataTypeStr, Minimum, Maximum or ...wait for it... popup! Yes, and 'popup' style is defined as follows:-

popup(menuitem1|menuitem2|menuitem3|...etc)

So you can modify the corresponding cell of myMaskStylesVar with the menu items of your choice and set them back as:-

myMaskStylesVar{1} = 'popup(red|green|blue|yellow)'; % Assuming the popup is the first parameter
set_param(gcb, 'MaskStyles', myMaskStylesVar)

You can add this code at any desired callback. In my case, I put it in 'OpenFcn'. However that led to another issue with the Mask Parameters Dialog not being invoked at the end of the code. So I had to do some crude workaround like below to invoke the Mask Parameter Dialog, but at the same time, not lose my precious code above!

a = get_param(gcb, 'OpenFcn');
set_param(gcb, 'OpenFcn', '');
open_system(gcb); %With no OpenFcn defined, this line will call Mask Parameter Dialog
set_param(gcb, 'OpenFcn', a); %Restore your original OpenFcn code

I am 99.99% sure this issue can be handled in a less comical way than above. But it works for me and my boss doesn't complain!! :)

[Kaustubha Govind]

Thanks for posting your solution, Arun! (Quick question though - it looks like you did this in the OpenFcn callback, which is kind of an edit-time function. Were you able to do something similar in a Mask Dialog Callback?)

[Arun]

Hi Kaustubha. After reading your question, I tried creating a dummy model to populate the popup-list parameter with Colours if an 'edit' parameter was set to '1' and with Shapes if the same 'edit' parameter was set to '2'. This code was written in the Mask Dialog Callback of the 'edit' parameter. I saw that when I changed the edit parameter to '2', the mask dialog closed and a warning appeared on MATLAB saying:-

Warning: The dialog of 'maskTrial2/myFcn' is being closed because a mask parameter has been changed

I wonder why?!!

[Kaustubha Govind]

When you re-open the dialog (after the warning), does the popup now have the new Shapes set?

[Arun]

Nope. It returns to the last 'legal' value in the 'edit' and 'popup' parameters. However, in my case, '0' was also a legal value which did nothing but just disable the 'popup' parameter. When I typed in '0' and then '2', the mask dialog closed with the warning. But on re-opening now, I could see the popup list updated with the shapes list.

[Jared Belke]

I know this is super late, but since this is what I work on every day I figured I'd update this for people who see this post now. There is a less comical way to do it. Assume you have some cell array "options" that contains the new list of options that you want to populate the popup list with. You can do the following:

maskObj = Simulink.Mask.get(gcb);
maskObj.getParameter('<Name of Popup List Parameter>').TypeOptions = options;

You can also do many other things with the Mask Object such as dynamically change the Enable field, Visible field, Value field (Or any other field that you can edit in the mask editor) of any Parameter or Dialog Control (E.g. Buttons).

For example:

maskObj.getParameter('<Name of Parameter>').Enabled = 'off';
maskObj.getParameter('<Name of Button>').Visible = 'on';

[checker]

Jared, thanks buddy, that's awesome. I've moved from older versions of matlab to 2020 and have been finding lots of new APIs but this one eluded me until I ran across your post.

Answer 2

[Kaustubha Govind]

I'm not much of an expert in the Simulink Mask area, but I don't think you can dynamically change the contents of a mask. However, you can change the visibility of parameters - so you might want to create multiple popup lists for each configuration and change their visibility in the Dialog Callback.

[Robert]

If you find this thread, it helps to be clear on what is meant by "Dynamic". I have found that you may dynamically update a mask, e.g. in an OpenFcn callback. However if you wish the mask to be dynamic once open (e.g. two drop-down-lists/popups where the choices in the second depend on the selected value of the first) this does not seem to be possible. However this type of dynamic functionality is achievable via a custom GUI (see GUIDE help).

[Matthew]

It turns out there is a simple DAStudio functionality that allows masks to be dynamic once open.

dToolRoot = DAStudio.ToolRoot;
openDialogs = dToolRoot.getOpenDialogs;
openDialogs(1).refresh();

Or

blockObject = get_param(gcb,'object');
blockDialog = DAStudio.Dialog(blockObject.getDialogSource);
blockDialog.refresh();

I'll add a full code sample as an answer.

Answer 3

[Matthew]

If you want to update a popdown menu while a mask is open, the following may be helpful:

% Set the parameter index equal to the index specified
% for the desired popup parameter in the mask editor
parameterIndex = 1;
% Get the handle to the mask parameter to modify
maskHandle = Simulink.Mask.get(gcb);
maskParameters = maskHandle.Parameters;

% Update the popup list options
maskParameters(parameterIndex).TypeOptions = {'Option 1', 'Option 2'}; 
% Now refresh the mask display
%Get the handle to the blocks object
blockObject=get_param(gcb,'object');
%Get the handle to the dialog
blockDialog= DAStudio.Dialog(blockObject.getDialogSource);
%Refresh the dialog
blockDialog.refresh();

Note: Most of the DAStudio commands came from Christian in this answer.