How do I pause Matlab execution to wait for file edits

Hello, I am trying to open and edit a file within a Matlab function and pause Matlab execution until the file is closed. However, the code I have implemented takes a very long time to return when the file being editied is closed by the user. My code is listed below:

  function [x] = DoSomething(u)
  ef = matlab.desktop.editor.openDocument(fullfile(pwd,'Inputs.m'));  % opens the file in the editor
  waitfor(ef,'Opened',0);  % this line waits for the editor property 'Opened' to change from a 1 to a 0 when the file is closed
  x = u;
  return

This coding works within the function however the waitfor takes a very long time to detect that the file was closed in the editor and then allow Matlab to continue computations within the m-file. The time to detect closing can vary up to several minutes.

Answer 1

[Jan]

It is a bad idea to edit M-files during the execution. It would be much better to edit a file, which contains the modified parameters only. Using a standard GUI to modify the parameters is smarter also, than using Matlab's editor as GUI.

You could use a listener to check for changed files:

  w = System.IO.FileSystemWatcher(pwd);
  w.Filter = 'Input.m';
  w.NotifyFilter = System.IO.NotifyFilters.LastWrite;
  addlistener(w, 'Changed', @changedFcn);
  w.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

Now you have to implement the resuming in the changedFcn. But I think this is too indirect. Use a standard GUI instead to modify the parameters and leave the M-files untouched.