What is MXAM?
MES Model Examiner® (MXAM) offers fast and reliable guideline compliance verification for Simulink®, Stateflow®, Embedded Coder®, TargetLink®, ASCET®, and Enterprise Architect® models, as well as Excel® data, using general and company-specific modeling guidelines and data rules.
Certified by TÜV SÜD for IEC 61508, ISO 25119, and ISO 26262
What's new?
Highlights in MES Model Examiner® (MXAM) v.5.3
Custom processing of library blocks:
Ignore the library status of certain library blocks if these are used as standard subsystems for distributed development.
Extended support of variables from the Simulink Data Dictionary (SLDD)
Support of TargetLink 4.4
Support of ASCET 6.4.4 incl. AUTOSAR SW-Components
System requirements
The following system requirements must be in place to use MXAM v.5.3:
- Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 (64-bit versions)
- Web service Port 10117 (default) must be accessible and can be changed in the tool preferences.
- System requirements when using MXAM with MATLAB®/Simulink®/Stateflow®, and TargetLink®:
- MATLAB® version see table below
- TargetLink® (base suite) version see table below
- Port 5564 (default) must be accessible
- System requirements when using MXAM with ASCET: ASCET 6.1 to 6.4.4-0133
- System requirements when using MXAM with EXCEL: Excel 2003 and higher
Compatibility of each MXAM release with MATLAB and TargetLink releases
| MXAM Release | MATLAB Release | TargetLink Release |
| 5.3 | R2011b - R2018b | TL 3.1 - TL 4.4 |
| 5.2 | R2011b - R2018b | TL 3.1 - TL 4.3 |
| 5.1 | R2011b - R2018b | TL 3.1 - TL 4.3 |
| 5.0 | R2011b - R2018a | TL 3.1 - TL 4.3 |
| 4.7 | R2009b - R2017b | TL 3.1 - TL 4.3 |
| 4.6 | R2009b - R2017b | TL 3.1 - TL 4.2 |
| 4.5 | R2009b - R2017a | TL 3.1 - TL 4.2 |
| 4.4 | R2009b - R2017a | TL 3.1 - TL 4.2 |
| 4.3 | R2009b - R2016b | TL 3.1 - TL 4.2 |
| 4.2 | R2009b - R2016b | TL 3.1 - TL 4.2 |
| 4.1 | R2007b - R2016b | TL 2.2 - TL 4.1 |
| 4.0 | R2007b - R2016a | TL 2.2 - TL 4.1 |
| 3.9 | R2007b - R2015b | TL 2.2 - TL 4.1 |
| 3.8 and 1.9.0 | R2007b - R2015b | TL 2.2 - TL 4.1 |
Update to the latest version
- If you added MXAM folders permanently to the MATLAB path, please remove all of these folders from the path.
- If you installed the old version in a folder with a version postfix (e.g. x:\project\matlab\mxam_x_x), you can keep that directory as a backup.
- If you installed without a version postfix, you could rename the old installation directory to one with a version postfix as a backup.
Update from MXAM 1 to a current version of MXAM
A migration kit to migrate customer-specific checksets and checks is available upon request.
Please contact sales@model-engineers.com.
Installation
Manual installation
- Installer: Install MXAM by executing the setup file (.exe) and follow the setup instructions.
- The startup of the installation process might take a while depending on the security settings of the client machine.
- Installation to a write-protected directory: Right click the setup file and execute as administrator.
- Zip archive: Unzip the archive into any directory
Automatic headless installation
- Run the MXAM installation once on a machine and save your automatic installation data in the Finish Panel to auto-install.xml.
With this data, you will be able to run the same installation on another similar machine. - Configure the auto-install.xml
- Run the automatic installation: >>[installer-name].exe [ABSOLUTE-PATH/auto-install.xml]
Quick start
Starting MXAM
- For MATLAB platform: Open MATLAB, navigate to the MXAM installation directory, and execute >>mxam
- For other platforms: Start MXAM using the program shortcut or go to the MXAM installation directory and execute mxam.exe
Starting an analysis
For MATLAB platform:
- Open a model in MATLAB
- Press "Analyze" in MXAM
- Select the model in the artifact dialog
- Press "Finish"
For ASCET:
- Press "Analyze" in MXAM
- Press "Open ASCET 6" in the artifact dialog if it is not yet open
- Press "Refresh" to fetch models from the database
- Press "Finish"
For Others:
- In the Project perspective, press "Add..." in the Artifact Section to add an artifact
- Select the artifact and press "Finish"
- Press "Analyze"
Guidelines
- Go to the "Project Guidelines" perspective to see which guidelines will be checked during the analysis.
- To see the pool of all available guidelines, go to the "Library Browser" perspective and select the "Guidelines" view.
Suggestions
If you have any suggestions to help us improve the MES Model Examiner®, please do not hesitate to contact us:
Email: mxam@model-engineers.com
User Guide
The MES User Guide presents clear instructions on how to work with the MES Model Examiner® (MXAM). It provides users with information about getting started and working with MXAM.
You can easily call the User Guide by clicking on "Help > Help Contents" in the menu (see image).
How to Videos
In this video, Model Engineering Solutions (MES) will demonstrate how to set up an MXAM project as an mxmp-file. You will learn how to create and configure an MXAM project and how to save and load a project. Since this video is focused on the first step of the MXAM workflow, basic knowledge of the workflow is needed in order to watch this video.
Release Notes - V5.3.0 04-07-2019
Tool Framework
Advanced support of search query handling
All keywords for search queries in advanced search fields are summarized and described in the new lucene search fields' help.
Support for ASCET (v6.4.4 pre-release)
- All ASCET models created by ASCET in version 6.4.4 pre-release can be analyzed.
- Providing access for ASCET autosar software components (SW-Cs) in the data model.
- SW-Cs can be selected fully or partially according to their modeled hierarchical structure.
- Full analysis support for Autosar software components including control and data flow.
Improvements
- The amount of findings for one report is no longer limited.
- Links from HTML reports to MATLAB model elements no longer require MXAM to be running. (#6856)
- Support relative paths for attribute 'secondArtifactLocation' in MXAM report adapter artifact definitions. (#6935)
- Introduced additional validation markers in case of an invalid tool preference setting like a missing path value. (#6294)
Bug fixes
- Fixed a problem that could cause a MATLAB crash when starting MXAM multiple times in MATLAB 2015. (#6687)
- Fixed unexpected model closing by MATLAB after analysis. (#6869)
- Fixed project handling that was changed by the MATLAB batch API. (#6868)
- Removed falsely created validation markers. (#6905)
- Fixed a problem where the context menu could not be used in the report navigation, if the report contains an error. (#6936)
- Preserved selection in export guideline documents wizard if filtering is used. (#5687)
- Disabled drag and drop feature if invalid guideline can be created by dropping. (#6755)
- Fixed a problem where the 'New Check' dialog could not be completed. (#6860)
- Fixed a problem where findings falsely remained in the report after a repair execution. (#6978)
Guidelines, Checks, and Documents
Custom Processing of Modularization Library Blocks (BETA)
- Library blocks used for modularization purposes can now be identified in the MXAM analysis.
- MXAM differentiates modularization library blocks from the standard reusable library blocks.
- The hook function 'mes_isModularizationLibBlock' allows a user defined identification.
- For further help, see Using the Application Programming Interface (API) for MATLAB.
Extended Support for Simulink Data Dictionary
- The use of Simulink Data Dictionary (SLDD) elements is now supported by MXAM.
- Improved evaluation of variables from the different workspaces and SLDD.
- For custom check implementations, findings for SLDD objects can be linked in the report and highlighted in the model. (#6885)
Compatibility with TargetLink 4.4
- Minor adjustments to ensure compatibility of framework and checks with TargetLink 4.4.
- mcheck_mes_cgtl_9002: The check takes into account the new code generator options 'InitializeVariablesViaRestartFunction' and 'RealTimePlatformSupport'. The value of 'InitializeVariablesViaRestartFunction' is analyzed by default.
- Update of TargetLink Known Problems checks (available in the Functional Safety Solution).
- tl_pr20080215_03: The guideline and check have been removed as they are no longer relevant to the TargetLink versions supported by MXAM.
New guideline and check for unconnected transitions in Stateflow
- mcheck_mes_slsf_3300: Reduce undefined behavior during simulation and connection problems by connecting each transition to a destination. (Referenced in Guideline mes_slsf_3300, document MES Guidelines - Collection of Best Practices)
Improvements
- Improved the analysis performance of TargetLink subsystems. (#6660)
- mcheck_misra_slsf_012_a: The new check parameter 'MISRA_SL_SF.misra_slsf_012_a.Threshold' has been introduced for the value of the threshold. In addition, a repair action was added for the parameters 'Threshold' and 'Criteria for passing first input' of the Switch block.
- mcheck_misra_slsf_053_c: Previously, the check may not have provided the complete label of a transition. Now, the full label shows in the finding message. (#6779)
- mcheck_misra_slsf_025_a_1, mcheck_misra_slsf_025_b: The check parameters 'MISRA_SL_SF.misra_slsf_025_a_1.Libs2Check' and 'MISRA_SL_SF.misra_slsf_025_b.Libs2Check' now contain the TargetLink library 'tllib' by default so that TargetLink blocks can be found and analyzed. Furthermore, a warning finding is given if a library is inserted in the check parameter but cannot be loaded. (#6941)
Changes
- mcheck_misra_slsf_006_c: The check no longer analyzes PreLookup blocks. (#6743)
- mcheck_misra_slsf_004_a: The check no longer analyzes the option 'DiscreteInheritContinuousMsg' in Matlab Versions 2015b or newer, since it was removed from the model configuration parameters dialog. (#6940)
Bug fixes
- mcheck_misra_slsf_025_a_1, mcheck_misra_slsf_025_b: Previously, the checks may have aborted when attempting to close opened library models. The checks properly close those models now. (#6874)
- mcheck_misra_slsf_025_a_5: The check supports the new values 'opaque', 'transparent', and 'opaque-with-ports' of the mask parameter 'MaskIconOpaque' now. (#6907)
- mcheck_misra_slsf_006_b: The check no longer analyzes Direct Look-up Tables and Interpolation Using Prelookup blocks. (#6890)
- mcheck_mes_sf_001: The check may have given false failed findings for multi segmented transitions with non-junction destinations. (#6784)