UndefinedFunction error was thrown on the workers for 'filedata'

When trying to run the code below:

   outfname = ["path\to\file"];
    
    % Telling workers which files to access
    poolobj = gcp;
    addAttachedFiles(poolobj, {'testdata.mat'});
    
    % Getting workers to each access the file
    spmd
        imgdata = load('testdata.mat');
    end

    
    parfor idx = 1:300
        idxCopy = idx;
        if strlength(string(idx)) == 1
            idxCopy = strcat('00', string(idx));
        elseif strlength(string(idx)) == 2
            idxCopy = strcat('0', string(idx));    
        end 
        
        this_outfname = [outfname, idxCopy, ".jpg"];
        join(this_outfname, "");
        some_function(this_outfname, imgdata, idx);
    end

where 'imgdata' is a struct with each row having data that is unique to it's associated image. That is, every element of the struct is variable. Comments are my understandings of what I'm trying to do.

Having been unable to find a working solution, this is the output that I am getting:

Warning: Files that have already been attached are being ignored. To see which files are attached see the
'AttachedFiles' property of the parallel pool. 
 ProcessPool with properties: 

            Connected: true
           NumWorkers: 4
              Cluster: local
        AttachedFiles: path\to\file
    AutoAddClientPath: true
          IdleTimeout: 30 minutes (23 minutes remaining)
          SpmdEnabled: true

Analyzing and transferring files to the workers ...done.
Error using try_exifwrite (line 15)
An UndefinedFunction error was thrown on the workers for 'imgdata'.  This might be because the file containing
'imgdata' is not accessible on the workers. Use addAttachedFiles(pool, files) to specify the required files to be
attached.  For more information, see the documentation for 'parallel.Pool/addAttachedFiles'.

Caused by:
    Unrecognized function or variable 'imgdata'.

Thank you for any help!

[benvolio]

Also, Walter Robinson proposed a solution to a very similar problem here: https://fr.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/381495-how-to-access-variables-in-parfor-loop-addattachedfiles

As I understand it and in the context of the OP, he is suggesting to "load('testdata.mat')" without having it in the spmd block. I tried this but it did not resolve the issue.

Answer 1

[Edric Ellis]

I'm a little confused by your example code there - I think there must be more going on. In your code, the piece

spmd
    imgdata = load('testdata.mat');
end

Means that imgdata is a Composite. You cannot pass a Composite into a parfor loop - that will result in an error. I think you might be able to fix things by doing this:

% make a Constant on the workers that holds the contents
% of testdata.mat:
imageConstant = parallel.pool.Constant(@() load('testdata.mat'));
% Use the Constant inside parfor:
parfor idx = 1:N
    imgdata = imageConstant.Value;
    % imgdata is now equivalent to the result of "load('testdata.mat')"
end

This uses parallel.pool.Constant to load the data into a variable on the workers.