Specifying Code

By default, MATLAB executes the .m file that you are publishing. However, you can specify any valid MATLAB code in the MATLAB expression pane. For example, if you want to publish a function that requires input, then run the command function(input). Additional code, whose output you want to publish, appears after the functions call. If you clear the MATLAB expression area, then MATLAB publishes the file without evaluating any code.

Evaluating Code

Another way to affect what MATLAB executes during publishing is to set the Evaluate code option in the Publish setting pane. This option indicates whether MATLAB evaluates the code in the .m file that is publishing. If set to true, MATLAB executes the code and includes the results in the output document.

Because MATLAB does not evaluate the code nor include code results when you set the Evaluate code option to false, there can be invalid code in the file. Therefore, consider first running the file with this option set to true.

For example, suppose that you include comment text, Label the plot, in a file, but forget to preface it with the comment character. If you publish the document to HTML, and set the Evaluate code option to true, the output includes an error.

Use the false option to publish the file that contains the publish function. Otherwise, MATLAB attempts to publish the file recursively.

Including Code

You can specify whether to display MATLAB code in the final output. If you set the Include code option to true, then MATLAB includes the code in the published output document. If set to false, MATLAB excludes the code from all output file formats, except HTML.

If the output file format is HTML, MATLAB inserts the code as an HTML comment that is not visible in the web browser. If you want to extract the code from the output HTML file, use the MATLAB grabcode function.

For example, suppose that you publish H:/my_matlabfiles/my_mfiles/sine_wave.m to HTML using a publish configuration with the Include code option set to false. If you share the output with colleagues, they can view it in a web browser. To see the MATLAB code that generated the output, they can issue the following command from the folder containing sine_wave.html:

grabcode('sine_wave.html')

Catching Errors

You can catch and publish any errors that occur during publishing. Setting the Catch error option to true includes any error messages in the output document. If you set Catch error to false, MATLAB terminates the publish operation if an error occurs during code evaluation. However, this option has no effect if you set the Evaluate code property to false.

Limiting the Amount of Output

You can limit the number of lines of code output that is included in the output document by specifying the Max # of output lines option in the Publish settings pane. Setting this option is useful if a smaller, representative sample of the code output suffices.

For example, the following loop generates 100 lines in a published output unless Max # of output lines is set to a lower value.

for n = 1:100
  disp(x)	
end;

Choosing an Image Format

When publishing, you can choose the image format that MATLAB uses to store any graphics generated during code execution. The available image formats in the drop-down list depend on the setting of the Figure capture method option. For greatest compatibility, select the default as specified in this table.

Setting an Image Size

You set the size of MATLAB generated images in the Publish settings pane on the Edit Configurations dialog window. You specify the image size in pixels to restrict the width and height of images in the output. The pixel values act as a maximum size value because MATLAB maintains an image’s aspect ratio. MATLAB ignores the size setting for the following cases:

Capturing Figures

You can capture different aspects of the Figure window by setting the Figure capture method option. This option determines the window decorations (title bar, toolbar, menu bar, and window border) and plot backgrounds for the Figure window.

This table summarizes the effects of the various Figure capture methods.

Specifying a Custom Figure Window

MATLAB allows you to specify custom appearance for figures it creates. If the Use new figure option in the Publish settings pane is set to true, then in the published output, MATLAB uses a Figure window at the default size and with a white background. If the Use new figure option is set to false, then MATLAB uses the properties from an open Figure window to determine the appearance of code-generated figures. This preference does not apply to figures included using the syntax in External Graphics.

Use the following code as a template to produce Figure windows that meet your needs.

% Create figure
figure1 = figure('Name','purple_background',...
'Color',[0.4784 0.06275 0.8941]);
colormap('hsv'); 

% Create subplot
subplot(1,1,1,'Parent',figure1); 
box('on');

% Create axis labels
xlabel('x-axis');
ylabel({'y-axis'})

% Create title
title({'Title'});

% Enable printed output to match colors on screen
set(figure1,'InvertHardcopy','off')

By publishing your file with this window open and the Use new figure option set to false, any code-generated figure takes the properties of the open Figure window.

Creating a Thumbnail

You can save the first code-generated graphic as a thumbnail image. You can use this thumbnail to represent your file on HTML pages. To create a thumbnail, follow these steps:

Running an Existing Publish Configuration

After saving a publish configuration, you can run it without opening the Edit Configurations dialog box:

Creating Multiple Publish Configurations for a File

You can create multiple publish configurations for a given file. You might do this to publish the file with different values for input arguments, with different publish setting property values, or both. Create a named configuration for each purpose, all associated with the same file. Later you can run whichever particular publish configuration you want.

Use the following steps as a guide to create new publish configurations.

Reassociating and Renaming Publish Configurations

Each publish configuration is associated with a specific file. If you move or rename a file, redefine its association. If you delete a file, consider deleting the associated configurations, or associating them with a different file.

When MATLAB cannot associate a configuration with a file, the Edit Configurations dialog box displays the file name in red and a File Not Found message. To reassociate a configuration with another file, perform the following steps.

You can rename the configurations at any time by selecting a configuration from the list in the left pane. In the right pane, edit the value for the Publish configuration name.

Using Publish Configurations Across Different Systems

Each time you create or save a publish configuration using the Edit Configurations dialog box, the Editor updates the publish_configurations.m file in your preferences folder. (This is the folder that MATLAB returns when you run the MATLAB prefdir function.)

Although you can port this file from the preferences folder on one system to another, only one publish_configurations.m file can exist on a system. Therefore, only move the file to another system if you have not created any publish configurations on the second system. In addition, because the publish_configurations.m file might contain references to file paths, be sure that the specified files and paths exist on the second system.

MathWorks^® recommends that you not update publish_configurations.m in the MATLAB Editor or a text editor. Changes that you make using tools other than the Edit Configurations dialog box might be overwritten later.