Technical Articles

Tips and Tricks: Creating and Using Web Views

By Arkadiy Turevskiy, MathWorks


Web views are HTML files generated by Simulink Report Generator™ that are interactive visual replicas of Simulink and Stateflow models. You navigate Web views just as you navigate a model. Because Web views are HTML files, they can be opened and viewed using a Web browser.

nn08_tips_webview_w.gif
Web view of a Simulink model of the NASA HL-20 lifting body. You can view block parameters (top right), navigate Web views by either clicking a subsystem or using the tree view pane (near left), and zoom and pan using the same keyboard shortcuts that you use in Simulink. Click on image to see enlarged view.

Using Web Views

Web views complement Simulink models throughout Model-Based Design. They can be particularly useful in the following situations:

  • You want to provide design specifications to colleagues or partners. Instead of sending them your Simulink models, which would require them to have the MathWorks products used to create the model, send them a Web view. They can then view the design in a Web browser.
  • You have made design changes in your Simulink model. You can use Web views to conduct team design reviews on a conference room computer that does not have MathWorks products installed.
  • You need to calibrate parameter values in the deployed application in the field, and do not have access to the Simulink model used to create the application. You can understand where and how parameters are used in your application by using Web views.
  • Your project went through multiple design iterations, and you need to look at a specific version of a model. Rather than opening that version in Simulink, you can open a Web view. This reduces the potential for making unintentional design changes and leaves the model available for other engineers to work on.

Generating a Web View

  1. Open your Simulink model.
  2. In the File menu, select Export to Web1.
  3. Select the following options: whether to look under masks, whether to follow library links or referenced models, and which systems to include.
  4. Press OK to start the Web View creation process.

You now have an HTML file and a related folder in your work directory that you can share with colleagues or place on your intranet server.

Web View Enhancements

The MathWorks is continuously improving Web view generation. For example, with R2008a, Web views support Embedded MATLAB blocks and Documentation blocks. With R2008b, Web views support Embedded MATLAB functions and Simulink functions in Stateflow.

1 Simulink Report Generator license required.

Published 2008 - 91612v00

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