After I got the Simulink->Modeler IBD sync running it worked out nicely. I got plenty of items and internal block diagrams (IBD). As long as there are only the Simulink block types Input, Output, and Subsystem involved I get the connection between them (and the flow ports) as they are found in Simulink. Great.
But as soon as there is another type of Simulink block involved (like Gain, Sum, you name it) the concept breaks, the connectors in SysML are missing.
Ok, they do not have ports defined (such as <P Name="Ports">[1,1]</P>) that you would need to model the (flow) ports, which seems to be the reason for this behavior. But I cannot see a reason why the connector drawing should not work for these other blocks none-the-less. The connectors could be drawn not to SysML (flow) ports but to the block (property) directly instead.
In the Simulink model all information is available: which block is connected with which other (from where to where) in the <Line> sections.
What from my perspective would be needed:
- adding all (not-subsystem) blocks to the ibd (as block property and create the respective blocks before); now just some are included, basic ones like sum, gain, etc. are not
- connect all connectors to/from these blocks to the blocks directly instead to the (flow) ports (as this can only be done to the (subsystem) blocks that have the port definition available)
As a result the full Simulink block diagrams would be transfered into SysML, not just fragments of them (at least graphical-wise).
I would be very happy if this could be realized, as it would tremendously increase the value of the imported Simulink model as it would be possible to see (all) the connections between the blocks (just as in Simulink).
Feedback on this I would heavily appreciate.
With best regards
Jan
