Main Content

App Designer

Create apps interactively

expand all in page

Description

App Designer is an interactive development environment for designing an app layout and programming its behavior.

You can use App Designer to:

  • Interactively create, edit, and share apps.

  • Interactively create custom UI components to use in apps or share with others.

  • Explore featured examples to help you get started with building apps using MATLAB®.

  • Take a guided tutorial to learn the basics of interactive app development in MATLAB.

For more information, see Create and Run a Simple App Using App Designer.

App Designer development environment

Open the App Designer

  • MATLAB Toolstrip: On the Apps tab, click Design App.

  • MATLAB command prompt: Enter appdesigner.

Examples

expand all

When you open App Designer, the App Designer Start Page appears.

App Designer Start Page

To create an app, select one of the app templates from the Apps section of the Start Page:

  • Blank App — Create a blank app file.

  • 2-Panel App with Auto-Reflow — Create an app with two panels that automatically resize and reflow to fit different device screen sizes.

  • 3-Panel App with Auto-Reflow — Create an app with three panels that automatically resize and reflow to fit different device screen sizes.

A new file named app1.mlapp opens in App Designer. The app1.mlapp file does not appear in the MATLAB Current Folder browser until you save it.

To learn more about how to design your app using App Designer, see Create and Run a Simple App Using App Designer.

Create a custom UI component that you can use in your apps or share with others.

When you open App Designer, the App Designer Start Page appears.

App Designer Start Page

To create a custom UI component, select one of the templates from the Custom UI Components section of the Start Page:

  • Blank Component — Create a blank custom UI component file.

  • Blank Component with Grid Layout — Create a custom UI component with a grid layout that manages the UI component layout and size in an app.

A new file named comp1.mlapp opens in App Designer. The comp1.mlapp file does not appear in the MATLAB Current Folder browser until you save it.

To learn more about creating custom UI components using App Designer, see Create a Simple Custom UI Component in App Designer.

Open an existing app created in App Designer by clicking the Open button on the App Designer Start Page. Alternatively, if you have recently opened an app, click the app name in the Recent Files section to reopen the file.

App Designer Start Page

After creating an app, you can package it into a single installer file that you can easily share with others.

With the app open in App Designer, select the Designer tab. Then select Share > MATLAB App.

Share button drop-down list. The options in the list are MATLAB App, Web App, and Standalone Desktop App.

Fill out the Package App dialog box, then click Package to create an installation file to share your app with your users.

For more information, see Package Apps in App Designer.

Related Examples

Programmatic Use

expand all

appdesigner opens the App Designer Start Page.

appdesigner(filename) opens the specified MLAPP file in App Designer. Specify filename as a string scalar or character vector.

If the MLAPP file is not on the MATLAB path, specify the full path. For example, appdesigner("C:\Documents\myapp.mlapp") opens the specified file in App Designer.

Version History

Introduced in R2016a