Documentation Pane :: Simulink Mask Editor (Simulink®)

Documentation Pane

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About the Documentation Pane Mask Type Field Mask Description Field Mask Help Field

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About the Documentation Pane

The Documentation pane enables you to define or modify the type, description, and help text for a masked block.

The next figure shows the relationship between the values in the Documentation pane and the appearance of the corresponding Mask Parameters dialog box and Online Help window.

Mask Type Field

The mask type is a block classification that appears in the masked block's Mask Parameters dialog box and on all Mask Editor panes for the block. When Simulink displays a masked block's Mask Parameters dialog box, it suffixes (mask) to the mask type. To define the mask type, enter it in the Mask type field. The text can contain any legal MATLAB character, but cannot contain line breaks.

Mask Description Field

The mask description is summary Help text that describe the block's purpose or function. The description appears in the masked block's Mask Parameters dialog box under the mask type. To define the mask description, enter it in the Mask description field. The text can contain any legal MATLAB character. Simulink automatically wraps long lines. You can force line breaks by using the Enter or Return key.

Mask Help Field

The Online Help for a masked block provides information in addition to that provided by the Mask type and Mask description fields of the block. This information appears in a separate window when the masked block user clicks the Help button on the masked block's Mask Parameters dialog box. To define the mask help, enter one of the following in the Mask help field.

URL specification
web or eval command
Literal or HTML text

Providing a URL

If the first line of the Mask help field is a URL, Simulink passes the URL to your default web browser. The URL can begin with http:, www:, file:, ftp:, or mailto:. Examples:

http://www.mathworks.com
file:///c:/mydir/helpdoc.html

Once the browser is active, MATLAB and Simulink have no further control over its actions.

Providing a `web` Command

If the first line of the Mask help field is a web command, Simulink passes the command to MATLAB, which displays the specified file in the MATLAB Web Browser or the MATLAB Online Help browser. Example:

web([docroot '/MyBlockDoc/' get_param(gcb,'MaskType') '.html'])
web('hello.html', '-helpbrowser')

See the MATLAB web command documentation for details. A web command used for mask help cannot return values.

Providing an `eval` Command

If the first line of the Mask help field is an eval command, Simulink passes the command to MATLAB, which performs the specified evaluation. Example:

eval('!Word My_Spec.doc')

See the MATLAB eval command documentation for details. An eval command used for mask help cannot return values.

Providing Literal or HTML Text

If the first line of the Mask help field is not a URL, or a web or eval command, Simulink displays the text in the MATLAB Online Help browser under a heading that is the value of the Mask type field. The text can contain any legal MATLAB character, line breaks, and any standard HTML tag, including tags like img that display images.

Simulink first copies the text to a temporary folder, then displays the text using the web command. If you want the text to display an image, you can provide a URL path to the image file, or you can place the image file in the temporary folder. Use tempdir to find the temporary folder that Simulink uses for your system.