Documentation

To generate efficient standalone code for MATLAB^® classes, you must use classes differently than when running your code in the MATLAB environment.

Language Limitations

Although code generation support is provided for common features of classes such as properties and methods, there are a number of advanced features which are not supported, such as:

• Events

• Listeners

• Arrays of objects

• Recursive data structures

  • Linked lists

  • Trees

  • Graphs

• Overloadable operators subsref, subsassign, and subsindex

  In MATLAB, classes can define their own versions of the subsref, subsassign, and subsindex methods. Code generation does not support classes that have their own definitions of these methods.

• The empty method

  In MATLAB, classes have a built-in static method, empty, which creates an empty array of the class. Code generation does not support this method.

• The following MATLAB handle class methods:

  • addlistener

  • delete

  • eq

  • findobj

  • findpro

• The AbortSet property attribute

Code Generation Features Not Compatible with Classes

• You can generate code for entry-point MATLAB functions that use classes, but you cannot generate code directly for a MATLAB class.

  For example, if ClassNameA is a class definition, you cannot generate code by executing:

  codegen ClassNameA

• If an entry-point MATLAB function has an input or output that is a MATLAB class, you cannot generate code for this function.

  For example, if function foo takes one input, a, that is a MATLAB object, you cannot generate code for foo by executing:

  codegen foo -args {a}

• Code generation does not support classes in matrices or structures. As a workaround, consider using cell arrays because code generation supports classes in cell arrays.

• Code generation does not support assigning an object of a value class into a nontunable property. For example, obj.prop=v; is invalid when prop is a nontunable property and v is an object based on a value class.

• You cannot use coder.extrinsic to declare a class or method as extrinsic.

• You cannot pass a MATLAB class to the coder.ceval function.

• If you use classes in code in the MATLAB Function block, you cannot use the debugger to view class information.

• The coder.nullcopy function does not support MATLAB classes as inputs.

Defining Class Properties for Code Generation

For code generation, you must define class properties differently than you do when running your code in the MATLAB environment:

• Code generation does not support the property restriction syntax. For example, the following class definition is not allowed because it uses the property restriction syntax to restrict the types of the Number and Today properties.

  classdef Myclass
     properties
        Number double
        Today char = date;
     end
  end 

• After defining a property, do not assign it an incompatible type. Do not use a property before attempting to grow it.

  When you define class properties for code generation, consider the same factors that you take into account when defining variables. In the MATLAB language, variables can change their class, size, or complexity dynamically at run time so you can use the same variable to hold a value of varying class, size, or complexity. C and C++ use static typing. Before using variables, to determine their type, the code generator requires a complete assignment to each variable. Similarly, before using properties, you must explicitly define their class, size, and complexity.

• Initial values:

  • If the property does not have an explicit initial value, the code generator assumes that it is undefined at the beginning of the constructor. The code generator does not assign an empty matrix as the default.

  • If the property does not have an initial value and the code generator cannot determine that the property is assigned prior to first use, the software generates a compilation error.

  • For System objects, if a nontunable property is a structure, you must completely assign the structure. You cannot do partial assignment using subscripting.

    For example, for a nontunable property, you can use the following assignment:

    mySystemObject.nonTunableProperty=struct('fieldA','a','fieldB','b');
    

    You cannot use the following partial assignments:

    mySystemObject.nonTunableProperty.fieldA = a;
    mySystemObject.nonTunableProperty.fieldB = b;

  • If dynamic memory allocation is enabled, code generation supports variable-size properties for handle classes. Without dynamic memory allocation, you cannot generate code for handle classes that have variable-size properties.

  • coder.varsize is not supported for class properties.

• MATLAB computes class initial values at class loading time before code generation. If you use persistent variables in MATLAB class property initialization, the value of the persistent variable computed when the class loads belongs to MATLAB; it is not the value used at code generation time. If you use coder.target in MATLAB class property initialization, coder.target('MATLAB') returns true (1).

Calls to Base Class Constructor

If a class constructor contains a call to the constructor of the base class, the call to the base class constructor must come before for, if, return, switch or while statements.

For example, if you define a class B based on class A:

classdef B < A
    methods
        function obj = B(varargin)
            if nargin == 0
                a = 1;
                b = 2;
            elseif nargin == 1
                a = varargin{1};
                b = 1;
            elseif nargin == 2
                a = varargin{1};
                b = varargin{2};
            end
            obj = obj@A(a,b);
        end    
        
    end
end

Because the class definition for B uses an if statement before calling the base class constructor for A, you cannot generate code for function callB:

function [y1,y2] = callB
x = B;
y1 = x.p1;
y2 = x.p2;
end

However, you can generate code for callB if you define class B as:

classdef B < A
    methods
        function obj = NewB(varargin)
            [a,b] = getaandb(varargin{:});
            obj = obj@A(a,b);
        end
        
    end
end

function [a,b] = getaandb(varargin)
if nargin == 0
    a = 1;
    b = 2;
elseif nargin == 1
    a = varargin{1};
    b = 1;
elseif nargin == 2
    a = varargin{1};
    b = varargin{2};
end
end

Inheritance from Built-In MATLAB Classes Not Supported

You cannot generate code for classes that inherit from built-in MATLAB classes. For example, you cannot generate code for the following class:

classdef myclass < double