S-Function String Parameter C++

Asked by Nils Gerke on 13 Aug 2018

Latest activity Commented on by Titus Edelhofer on 31 Aug 2018

Accepted Answer by Titus Edelhofer

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mlsl_string_parameter.zip

Hey,

I've trouble reading the value of a string passed to MATLAB as an S-Function parameter in C++:

std::string str(mxArrayToString(ssGetSFcnParam(S,0)));

Throws the following exception:

Program: C:\windows\SYSTEM32\MSVCP140D.dll
File: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\include\xstring
Line: 1181
Expression: invalid null pointer
For information on how your program can cause an assertion
failure, see the Visual C++ documentation on asserts.
(Press Retry to debug the application)
MATLAB.exe has triggered a breakpoint.
Exception thrown at 0x00007FFB6C9A0A63 (test.mexw64) in MATLAB.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0000000000000000.
> throw_segv_longjmp_seh_filter()
throw_segv_longjmp_seh_filter(): invoking THROW_SEGV_LONGJMP SEH filter
> throwSegvLongjmpFilter()
MATLAB.exe has triggered a breakpoint.
The program '[19672] MATLAB.exe' has exited with code 0 (0x0).

For debugging purposes I splitted it up:

const mxArray* pArrayValue = ssGetSFcnParam(S,0);
const char* pCharArray = mxArrayToString(pArrayValue);
std::string str(pCharArray);

pCharArray points to:

0x000000000000000

I am using VS 14.0.25431.01 Update 3 on Win 10 Pro 17134.165 with Matlab 2018a. I found code in our companies repository where both of the above code snippets are working, in MATLAB 2013b, what am I doing wrong? Is this syntax invalid in 2018a?

Edit 31.08.18:

I added an example:

#define S_FUNCTION_LEVEL 2
#define S_FUNCTION_NAME  sfun_pass_string
#include "simstruc.h"
#include <string>
static void mdlInitializeSizes(SimStruct *S)
{
    ssSetNumSFcnParams(S, 1);
      ssSetSFcnParamTunable(S, 0, SS_PRM_NOT_TUNABLE);
      if (ssGetNumSFcnParams(S) != ssGetSFcnParamsCount(S)) {
          return;
      }
      if (!ssSetNumInputPorts(S,1)) return;
    ssSetInputPortWidth(S, 0, DYNAMICALLY_SIZED);
    ssSetInputPortDirectFeedThrough(S, 0, 1);
  if (!ssSetNumOutputPorts(S, 1)) return;
  ssSetOutputPortWidth(S, 0, DYNAMICALLY_SIZED);
      ssSetNumSampleTimes(S, 1);
      ssSetOptions(S, SS_OPTION_CALL_TERMINATE_ON_EXIT);
}
static void mdlInitializeSampleTimes(SimStruct *S)
{
  ssSetSampleTime(S, 0, INHERITED_SAMPLE_TIME);
  ssSetOffsetTime(S, 0, 0.0);
  ssSetModelReferenceSampleTimeDefaultInheritance(S);
}
#define MDL_START
static void mdlStart(SimStruct *S)
{
    mexPrintf("class of parameter: %s", mxGetClassName(ssGetSFcnParam(S,0)));
    const mxArray* pArrayValue = ssGetSFcnParam(S,0);
    const char* pCharArray = mxArrayToString(pArrayValue);
    std::string string_1(pCharArray);
    mexPrintf(string_1.c_str());
}
static void mdlOutputs(SimStruct *S, int_T tid)
{
}                                                
static void mdlTerminate(SimStruct *S)
{
}                                      
#ifdef  MATLAB_MEX_FILE    /* Is this file being compiled as a MEX-file? */
#include "simulink.c"      /* MEX-file interface mechanism */
#else
#include "cg_sfun.h"       /* Code generation registration function */
#endif

3 Comments

James Tursa on 30 Aug 2018

The obvious question is, what class of mxArray is pArrayValue? Do you even know if it is of class char?

Nils Gerke on 30 Aug 2018

You might be right.

mxArray test = *pArrayValue;

Gives me a compiler error:

Error C2079 'test' uses undefined struct 'mxArray_tag'

I've only one Parameter that I pass to the S-Function, in the model I write the string in double quotes.

I'm a C++ beginner, but still I really don't get whats wrong with that code. If I pass a string to the simulink model I would suspect (based on the documentation) that

ssGetSFcnParam(S,0)

gives me back my string as mxArray and that

mxArrayToString()

would convert it to a std::string. Or is this assumption wrong?

Titus Edelhofer on 30 Aug 2018

Nils,

mxArray test = ...

will not work, since you always have to use pointers ...

Titus

Products

Simulink

Release

R2018a

2 Answers

Link

Answer by Titus Edelhofer on 31 Aug 2018

Accepted Answer

Hi Nils,

I didn't take a look into the zip file but could it be that you did the same mistake as I, namely, really passing a string ("hello") to the S-function instead of the char array ('hello')? If I use the string class, then I see the same problem. When passing an old fashioned char array, then everything works as expected.

Titus

3 Comments

Titus Edelhofer on 31 Aug 2018

PS: yes, you did. I just tried again and now the class is "char" instead of "string" ... :)

Nils Gerke on 31 Aug 2018

That did the trick, I marked your answer as accepted. But never the less I would suspect

mxArrayToString()

to be able to process string input as well as char array input. If this is not possible it would be nice to throw a proper exception. Now all that happens is that MATLAB crashes with a Fatal Exception.

Titus Edelhofer on 31 Aug 2018

Yes and no: yes, the fatal exception is indeed "undesirable" :). And yes again: would be good if the function also accepts strings and not only char arrays. Now for the no: this is the C world, and it's (unfortunately?) the users responsibility to check return values.

It's the further processing of the NULL pointer that causes the exception. In the doc you see:

Returns C-style string. Returns NULL on failure. Possible reasons for failure include out of memory and specifying an array that is not an mxCHAR array.

Titus

Link

Answer by Titus Edelhofer on 30 Aug 2018

Hi Nils,

just to be sure: did you check the number of parameters you passed? I guess you are sure that there is at least one parameter, but may helps to check, because otherwise it looks fine. Try

int nParam = ssGetSFcnParamsCount(S);
mexPrintf("Number of parameters: %d\n", nParam);

Titus

5 Comments

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Nils Gerke on 31 Aug 2018

Returns:

class of parameter: string

Titus Edelhofer on 31 Aug 2018

O.K., then I guess we need to wait to see a reproducing example ...

Nils Gerke on 31 Aug 2018

I added a reproducing example, see code and .zip of post 1

Products

Simulink

Release

R2018a

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