Panels
This section describes panels and how to use them. The following topics are covered:
Panels provide a visual interface to the simulated model or generated code for debugging and prototyping purposes. A panel is built using predefined interactors and user-defined shapes. The dynamic behavior of these interactors and shapes is defined by binding them to elements in the model.
Typically, panels represent the user interface to a system. However, it is also quite common for panels to be a logical representation of a system, for example, showing the routing of packets through a communications network, or the failure states of valves and pumps in an aircraft fuel system.
There are two methods for creating a panel:
● Panel Editor creates a panel using graphical elements such as lines, circles, and polygons. Predefined elements (interactors) with built-in animation properties are also available to represent the inputs and outputs of the model.
● Panel Builder creates a panel from a chart and automatically bind the interactors. The Panel Editor is then used to edit the panel and refine it.Unlike charts, there are no formal semantics to the hierarchy in a panel, so operations such as “Open Parent” and “Edit Sub-chart” are not supported. Also, there is no checking for semantic correctness of the picture while editing. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between a panel and the rest of the model.
The recommended approach is to do the following:
1. Create panels using the Panel Editor (see Using the Panel Editor section) or Panel Builder (see Using the Panel Builder section). The default interactor for each element type can be set in the model.
2. Using the Panel Editor, edit the panels and modify the appearance and operation of the interactors. To improve the representation of a system, add groups of ordinary drawing elements. The animation of interactors and groups of drawing elements is controlled by the bindings to the model.The following sections explain how to work with the panel editor and Panel Builder. For information on graphic editors in general (drawing, naming, and so forth), see Working with Graphic Editors. For descriptions of all the menu options in the panel editor, see Panel Editor Menus.