Manage Navigation Backlinks in External Requirements Documents

A backlink is a navigation link in an external document that allows you to navigate from a requirement to the linked item in MATLAB^® or Simulink^®. A backlink either has a corresponding direct link that points from the item in MATLAB or Simulink to the external requirement, or matches a link that points from an item in MATLAB or Simulink to an imported referenced requirement, which is an slreq.Reference object that serves as a proxy object for the external requirement. See Differences Between Importing and Direct Linking.

When you create a direct link from an item in MATLAB or Simulink to a requirement in an external document, you can insert a backlink. You cannot insert a backlink when you create a link from an item in MATLAB or Simulink to an imported referenced requirement but you can insert one after you create the link. You can also remove backlinks from an external document if the original link was removed.

You can insert backlinks in:

Microsoft^® Word documents
Microsoft Excel^® spreadsheets
IBM^® DOORS^® modules
IBM DOORS Next projects

Enable Bidirectional Traceability to Create Backlinks

To create backlinks when you create direct links to requirements in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and IBM DOORS:

Open the Requirements Editor.
In the Links section, click .
In the Requirements Settings dialog box, select the Selection Linking tab.
Under When creating selection-based links, select Modify destination for bidirectional linking.

The Requirements Settings Selection Linking tab is shown. Under When creating selection-based links, Modify destination for bidirectional linking is selected.

Note

You cannot enable creating backlinks when you link to requirements in IBM DOORS Next. Instead, insert the backlinks after you create the link. For more information, see Insert and Remove Backlinks.

For more information about creating direct links, see Link Directly to Requirements in Third-Party Applications.

Insert and Remove Backlinks

If you did not create backlinks when you created direct links to requirements in third-party applications, you can insert the backlinks afterwards by updating the backlinks.

To update backlinks in the Requirements Editor:

Open the Requirements Editor. At the MATLAB command prompt, enter:
```
slreq.editor
```
In the Requirements Editor, click Show Links to view the loaded link sets.
Select the link set that contains the links that you want to use to insert backlinks or to remove stale backlinks. Right-click the link set and select Update Backlinks.
A dialog box displays the number of links checked and the number of backlinks added and removed. Click OK.

Alternatively, you can update backlinks programmatically by using updateBacklinks.

When you update backlinks, the software removes backlinks from the external document if the original link in Requirements Toolbox™ no longer exists.

Note

Requirements Toolbox only removes backlinks in IBM DOORS Next when the current configuration context in MATLAB matches the configuration context in IBM DOORS Next.