Creating a standalone .exe of an .m file that calls a simulink model

Hi,

I have a .m file that controls a gui. A slider in the gui is used as input for a simulink model. My goal is to create a standalone of this whole application, that runs on a PC where neither Matlab nor Simulink are installed.

My approach so far is to generate a standalone .exe out of the simulink model, modify the .m script to pass the input values to this .exe and get the output values, and then generate a .exe out of the .m script.

I have several questions on how to do this:

1. Is this the correct approach or would it be better to create a dll out of the simulink model?
2. If this is the way to go, which target in the code generation allows the easiest passing of values to the simulink model .exe? I found three different options: ert_shrlib (host based shared library), grt (Generic Realtime Target) and rsim (Rapid Simulation Target). Which of these should I use?
3. Are there any step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish this? Or even examples of a similar project?

Thanks you very much!

Answer 1

[Saurabh Gupta]

One way would be to generate code from MATLAB Code and Simulink model independently, integrate them manually and compile them together into an EXE. But since GUI related functions are generally not supported by MATLAB Coder, this approach may not work.

You could try the following approach:

1) generate shared library from the Simulink model, then write C/C++ Application Code as a wrapper to pass input/parameter values,

2) create a MEX file ,

3) call it in your MATLAB Code and

4) create an executable from your MATLAB code using MATLAB Compiler.

All the best!

[Thaddäus Wiedemer]

Thanks! This helps a lot!

[Michael D.]

@ Saurabh,

I have nearly the same problem like Thaddäus. I have a gui which uses a Simulink modell do create data and I want to create a standalone on windows x84.

My gui uses "sim" to run my Simulink model.

After compiling the gui, I found out that "sim" can not be compiled.

Now I took your way to make my project successful.

I have already generated my shared lib. Could you please explain from which component do I need a mex file ? How can I call mex files to run my simulation from gui? Do you have or know any examples that solve this problems?

I could not find something helpful on the Internet.

[Saurabh Gupta]

Hi Michael,

Only a shared library is not sufficient, you also need to write application code as a wrapper that uses it. Then, mex this combination of application code with the library, and replace the sim calls with the corresponding calls to your MEX API before creating the executable.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

[Guy Rouleau]

In R2020a, a new product Simulink Compiler has been released to address this exact use case. See an example here.

[Chris P]

Thanks for the update on this, Guy - sounds like a great addition!

Quick question (hopefully!), I haven't yet downloaded R2020a on my Windows machine to try... but does this only work with GUIs developed in APP Designer? i.e. it won't work with GUIs created with GUIDE?

Many thanks,

Chris

[Sean de Wolski]

It will work with GUIDE authored UIs. You don't even need to have a UI around the sim if you don't want to as it's separate from the UI...

Of course, you should strongly consider using the GUIDE to App Designer migration tool to upgrade.

[Chris P]

Great, thanks Sean.

I was wanting to integrate a Simulink model into a GUIDE based analysis tool I was working on a while back, but in speaking to your colleagues found it wasn't possible ...at the time!

I appreciate your suggestion to migrate to App Designer too, but I recall there were some things I wasn't able to do in App Designer that I could with GUIDE, but again, maybe this has moved on since and will add to my to-try list!

Thanks again.

[RANJITH]

Hey Chris! I am facing a similar issue.

I have a simulink model which takes inputs from a GUI that i made using the app designer. I want to deploy it as a standalone application with the UI. The user inputs values in the UI and can see the graphical results on the UI.

in my appdesginer code view, i have the following lines of code: The code runs smoothly when i run all these in my MATLABR2023b environment. But ,When I package this as an app and run the same application, My code is not executed beyond the Deployment line. I tried using a logfile to see where it gets stuck and it is the line that shows "Deployment". I clearly hear a bong sound (the error sound) while i run the app. The logfile has "5 before Configured for deployment.." and thats it. No other info is logged into it.

A youtube video showed the same procedure for deploying an app that inlcudes a simulink model. But it doest work somehow. Did you try that procedure and did it work for you. It would be great if you could help.

fprintf(logFile, '4 All values initialised..\n');

fprintf(logFile, '5 before Configured for deployment..\n');

in = simulink().compiler.configureForDeployment(in); %%Deployment

fprintf(logFile, '5 Configured for deployment..\n');

out = sim(in); % Run simulation

out.logsout;

fprintf(logFile, '6 logsout command...\n');

Answer 3

[Ewoud Meijvogel]

Hey @Saurabh Gupta,

I have stumbled into to same situation. Is this approach worth taking a shot.

Have you been succesfull in making a standalone?

Thank you in advance,

Ewoud Meijvogel

Answer 4

[Lars Risbo]

@saurabh

Do you have a complete example that I can follow? I have no idea on how to write the wrapper code. I have seen such an example somewhere but the link has gone bad.

Best regards,

Lars

[sergio martinez]

@Saurabh

I have the same lack in the solve of the problem, I have no idea how to write the wrapper code, could anyone help us to sucess on it?

Regards

Sergio