Ptolemy II Matlab Interface

This directory contains the Ptolemy II Matlab Interface for Windows written by Zoltan Kemenczy of Research in Motion Limited.

Christopher Hylands wrote the notes below, so any mistakes are his.

Overview

The Ptolemy II Matlab interfaces uses the Java Native Interface to invoke the Matlab engine, evaluate Matlab expressions and return the results to Ptolemy II. The Matlab interface works only under Windows, and requires that Matlab be installed on your local machine.

Running

To use the Matlab interface, you must have ptmatlab.dll in your path, which is initially created in this directory, and eventually moved to $PTII/bin. It is best if your path includes $PTII/bin.

The Matlab interface also requires that libeng.dll be in your path.
libeng.dll is located in the bin/win32 subdirectory of Matlab. You can either set your path permanently using the Control panel, or set it temporarily in your current Bash shell.

Under Windows 2000, you set the path via the Environment tab of the System control panel (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panels -> System -> Advanced -> Environment Variables

Under Cygwin Bash, if your Ptolemy II installation was at c:/ptII, then you might do

PATH=/cygdrive/c/ptII/bin:$PATH
export PATH

Compiling

The Ptolemy II Matlab interface requires the GNU C compiler.

Instructions about compiling the Matlab interface can be found at $PTII/doc/install.htm

Below are instructions for building the interface at UC Berkeley:

Go to http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/ and install the Cygwin Setup tool
Start up the Cygwin Setup tool and install
```
    Basic
    Devel:	Needed for gcc
```
Install or mount the Matlab share. In the UC Berkeley EECS Department, the Matlab binary is at available as \\winsww\public\matlab\matlab-6.0\bin\win32\Matlab.exe
To mount this, bring up the Run window with: Start -> Run
Type in \\winsww
Right click on sww, select 'Map Network Drive'
Click Finish
For me, this ended up on the e: drive
Add the Matlab directory to your path. You can either add it permanently to you path, or add it temporarily. If you are on a laptop, and the Matlab installation is a remote file system, you should mount it temporarily:
```
   bash-2.05$ PATH=/cygdrive/e/public/matlab/matlab-6.0/bin/win32:$PATH
```

Verify that matlab is in your path

   bash-2.05$ type matlab
   matlab is /cygdrive/e/public/matlab/matlab-6.0/bin/win32/matlab

Reconfigure Ptolemy II so that it knows that you now have matlab:
```
   cd $PTII
   rm config.*
   ./configure
```
Build the Matlab interface
```
   cd $PTII/ptolemy/matlab
   make
```
Run a test:
```
   vergil "$PTII/ptolemy/matlab/demo/MatlabExpression/MatlabExpression.xml" 
```
Note that during the preinitialize phase there may be a delay while the Matlab engine starts up over the network.

Troubleshooting

Things to try:

Be sure that you can run Matlab by hand outside of Ptolemy II using Start -> Programs -> Matlab N.N -> Matlab N.N.
This will test that Matlab is properly installed on your machine and that you have a license
Be sure that ptmatlab.dll is in you path.
Under bash, try:
```
type ptmatlab.dll
```
You should get something like:
```
ptmatlab.dll is /cygdrive/c/ptII/bin/ptmatlab.dll
```
If ptmatlab.dll is not found, then set your path and be sure to export PATH
```
PATH=/cygdrive/c/ptII/bin:$PATH
export PATH
```
It is better to start vergil and then use File -> Open of a Matlab model than it is to pass the Matlab model as a command line argument.
The reason is that the failure to load the Matlab interface might result in errors and starting vergil with a Matlab model as a command line may result in the error message being hidden.