Stream Call

Connects to a remote host. This block is intended for use in the main diagram.

Library

QUARC Targets/Communications/Intermediate

Description

The Stream Call block establishes a connection to a remote host using non-blocking I/O. Non-blocking I/O is used so that the I/O does not interfere with the sample rate of the model. However, as a result, communication protocols that do not support non-blocking I/O are not supported by the Intermediate Stream blocks.

The first time the block executes it begins to connect to the remote host. It does not wait for the connection to be established, but continues the connection process each time the block executes. Once a connection is established, it outputs the connection at its stm port. This stream signal is passed as an input to other Intermediate Stream blocks to refer to the stream.

The connection is maintained as long as the cls input remains zero or false. If the cls input becomes non-zero then it closes the connection. When the cls input returns to zero then it reestablishes a connection as it did in the beginning. Note that the connection will not be established the first time the block executes if the cls input is non-zero at that time. When the block is not connected to a remote host then it outputs an invalid stream at its stm port so the other Intermediate Stream blocks know not to use the connection.

The current state of the connection is output at the con port. The states and their integral values are:

If an error occurs then the err output will be a negative error code. Otherwise the err output will be zero. Note that only errors that occur in establishing the connection are reported. Once the connection is established this block simply outputs the stream. It does not detect if the connection is lost due to an error. As a result, it will not close the connection if the remote host closes the connection or an established connection is lost. Instead, the other Intermediate Stream blocks, such as the Stream Read and Stream Write blocks will report an error if the connection is lost and when they do, the cls input of the Stream Call block should be set to a non-zero value to close the current connection. Typically, a Compare To Zero block is used with the other Intermediate Stream blocks to detect if an error occurs (if the err output of these blocks is less than zero) and the output of the Compare To Zero block is fed to the cls input of the Stream Call block. Doing so ensures that the connection is closed when an error occurs and that the connection is reestablished as soon as possible.

The connection is closed when the model is terminated or the cls input is non-zero. Note that the cls input must be maintained at a non-zero value to ensure that the connection remains closed. Otherwise the Stream Call block will reconnect.

Remote hosts are identified by a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), such as tcpip://remotehost:8000 or serial://remotehost:1?baud=57600. QUARC uses URI's for all its communications because it provides a uniform, extensible and flexible means of identifying the communication protocol to use and the associated communication parameters. Refer to Universal Resource Identifiers for more information.

The URI may be specified in the dialog parameters or via an input port. Which option is used is determined by the Source of URI parameter. When the URI is specified via an input, the input is typically driven by a Model Argument block, which allows a model argument to be used to assign the URI at runtime.

When the URI is specified as a dialog parameter and is not evaluated then the URI is configuration-dependent. A separate URI may be entered for each model configuration as well as for normal simulation. Thus, it is possible to employ a different URI for each target, without making a new diagram. The URI that is entered becomes the URI for the currently active configuration when the Simulation mode is set to External. It becomes the URI for normal simulation when the Simulation mode is set to Normal.

Streams have an associated buffer that is independent of any buffering in the underlying protocol. The stream buffer is designed to maximize use of the available bandwidth. For example, if the Stream Write block is configured to maximize throughput rather than minimize latency then it simply buffers data until the stream buffer is full and only then does it flush the stream buffer to the underlying communication channel. Similarly, the Stream Read block simply returns data from the stream buffer. It only reads from the underlying communication channel when there is not enough data in the stream buffer, at which point it attempts to read enough bytes to fill the entire stream buffer.

Helpful Hints

Firewall

If the server is remote then any firewall on the server must be configured to allow incoming access on the port being used.

Multiple NICs and UDP

When using the UDP protocol, the network interface card (NIC) through which datagrams are sent may be specified using the nic option. This option is particularly useful when broadcasting datagrams in order to restrict broadcast messages to a particular NIC. Without the nic option, most operating systems send broadcast messages through all the NICs. However, Windows 7 does not broadcast to all NICs in this case, but chooses one arbitrarily. Hence, specifying the nic option allows the NIC used for broadcast messages to be controlled. Refer to the UDP Protocol for details.

Input Ports

cls

Used to close the stream. Setting this input to a non-zero value will cause the connection to be closed. The connection will remain closed as long as this input is non-zero. When this input is zero or false, then a new connection will be established. The connection will be maintained as long as this input is zero.

uri

A string specifying the URI to which to connect. The string must be a null-terminated vector of characters represented as a vector of uint8 quantities. It may be variable-sized. This string is typically provided either directly or indirectly by a Model Argument block or String Constant block.

This input is only available if the Source of URI parameter is set to External input port. Refer to the documentation below on the Source of URI parameter for details.

Output Ports

stm

A reference to the stream. This reference is always valid but will not refer to a connected stream if the connection was not established or is still pending. It has a data type of t_stream_ptr. It cannot be plotted and may only be connected to the stm input of one of the Stream blocks. It may not be connected to a Stream Accept block. Attempting to do so will result in an error being returned by the Stream Accept block.

con

A uint8 state code indicating the current status of the connection. The different connection states and their values are given in the table above in the Description section.

err

An int32 error code indicating the results of the operation. If there are no errors during the establishment of a connection, then this output will be zero. The -QERR_WOULD_BLOCK error is never output at this port, even though non-blocking I/O is used, because this condition is not considered an error by the block. Otherwise another negative error code is returned. See Error Codes for the different error codes and their values. Use the Compare to Error block rather than the error code itself to check for specific error codes.

Parameters and Dialog Box

Source of URI

Indicates whether the URI should be determined from the dialog parameters or an input port. If this field is set to Specify via dialog (do not evaluate) then the URI is specified via the URI of host to which to connect parameter. In this case, the URI is not evaluated as a MATLAB expression but is interpreted as a literal string. However, format specifiers are recognized. Refer to qc_perform_substitutions for a list of the format specifiers available.

If format specifiers which change frequently, such as '%{time}' or '%{instance}', are used in the URI then the Stream Call block cannot be placed in a referenced model, because the URI will change from the time the code is built to when the code is run. As a result, Simulink will insist that the code be rebuilt because block parameters in referenced models are inlined. Instead, specify the source of the URI as External input port and pass the URI from the top-level model. Use a String Constant block in the top-level model to generate the URI.

If this field is set to Specify via dialog (evaluate) then the URI is also specified via the URI of host to which to connect parameter. However, in this case, the URI is evaluated as a MATLAB expression. This option is convenient for using a variable in the MATLAB workspace for the URI.

If this field is set to External input port then the URI of host to which to connect parameter is ignored and an extra input port is provided which determines the URI.

URI of host to which to connect (tunable offline)

The URI identifying the remote host to which to connect. This parameter identifies the communication protocol and associated parameters. For example, tcpip://quanser-dev:18000 connects to the remote host called quanser-dev using TCP/IP on port 18000. This field is only used if the Source of URI parameter is set to Specify via dialog (do not evaluate) or Specify via dialog (evaluate). Refer to Universal Resource Identifiers for more information about URIs and the communications protocols supported by QUARC.

Send buffer size in bytes (tunable offline)

The size of the buffer used by the stream for sending data. This buffer is independent of any buffering in the underlying communication protocol. Increasing the buffer size may increase transmission performance. The buffer size must be at least as large as the maximum vector that will be sent. For example, if a double 3-vector is transmitted using the Stream Write block then the stream buffer size must be at least 24 bytes in length since a double is 8 bytes and a 3-vector is being sent.

Receive buffer size in bytes (tunable offline)

The size of the buffer used by the stream for receiving data. This buffer is independent of any buffering in the underlying communication protocol. Increasing the buffer size may increase reception performance. The buffer size must be at least as large as the maximum vector that will be received. For example, if a double 5-vector is received using the Stream Read block then the stream buffer size must be at least 40 bytes in length since a double is 8 bytes and a 5-vector is being received.

Byte ordering (tunable offline)

The order in which bytes are transmitted or received. Little endian ordering means that the least significant byte of individual values, such as doubles, is transmitted or received first. Big endian ordering means that the most significant byte of individual values is transmitted or received first. The remote host must use the same byte ordering.

Sample time

The sample time of the block. A sample time of 0 indicates that the block will be treated as a continuous time block. A positive sample time indicates that the block is a discrete time block with the given sample time.

A sample time of -1 indicates that the block inherits its sample time. Since this is a source block, only inherent the sample time when it is placed in a conditionally executed subsystem, like a Triggered Subsystem, Enabled Subsystem, Function Call Subsystem or in a referenced model.

To use the fundamental sampling time of the model, set the sample time to qc_get_step_size, which is a QUARC function that returns the fundamental sampling time of the model.

The default sample time is set to qc_get_step_size.

Non-blocking (tunable offline)

Check this option to make the stream non-blocking. In this case, all blocks using the stream become nonblocking; this block will not wait for the connection to be established and Stream blocks using this stream will not wait for data to be sent or received. Instead, whenever a block would otherwise wait, the error code -QERR_WOULD_BLOCK is returned. See Error Codes for the different error codes and their values. Use the Compare to Error block rather than the error code itself to check for specific error codes.

Active during normal simulation (tunable offline)

Indicates whether this block should execute during normal simulation. If this option is not checked then the block will not connect to the remote host during normal simulation. This parameter has no effect on generated code.

Targets

See Also

• Stream Answer block
• Stream Read block
• Intermediate Communications
• MATLAB Stream Functions
• Communications Using the C Language

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