How do I call a function from the MATLAB Editor into AppDesigner

I have written a few functions in MATLAB's script Editor and I want to call these functions in AppDesigner. Is there any way of doing this without changing the internals of the functions? For example, if I'm using a plot function to plot a simple straight line graph, how can I call this function in AppDesigner?

Answer 1

[M]

I don't know exactly what you mean by "without changing the internals of the functions", but in the CodeView of AppDesigner, you can call your function in the same way as you would do it in the editor.

Answer 2

[Ameer Hamza]

If your function does not interact with the graphic elements of the app and just give you a non graphic output then you can simply call your function inside the App designer callback functions without any modification. For example, if you have defined a function myFunction() and it is placed in MATLAB path then you can simply call this function inside the app designer callback functions

function ButtonPushed(app, event)
  output = myFunction()
end

But if your function needs to interact with the components of the app then you will need to make some modification. For example, to plot on the axes component of App Designer, you will need to call it as follows

plot(app.UIAxes, x, y) % you need to explicitly specify the axes, whereas normally it is optional.

Similarly, all function trying to modify the App designer components will need access to the app object and then they will be able to make any modification to the app component. The easiest way to do that is to add an extra input to myFunction() i.e. change the definition as

function output = myFunction(app, previous_inputs)
  % old code
  plot(app.UIAxes, x, y)
end

In this way with little modification, you can make your own function to interact with the app components.

[AJ Naik]

Regarding the MATLAB path, I have saved my app and my external functions in separate folders on Desktop, and both folders cannot be opened at the same time to make those codes a part of the MATLAB path. Do I need my app and my functions to be in the same folder or is it not an issue?

[sean borgsteede]

I too am running into this problem. I have scripts that I tend to use without the GUI and I also would like to use them in the GUI. Due to that, I have a folder of functions that need to be in my path during GUI execution. This works just great on my computer, but if I package it(exe or app), how do I ensure these external files will be in my path once the app/exe is installed?