Hey Theo,
Using a button to initiate an action in MATLAB can be achieved through different approaches. Your idea of using a button-polling function with parfeval and setting up a listener in your app can work well. Here's a general outline of how you can implement this approach:
- Connect the physical button to your MATLAB system: Ensure that the physical button is connected to your computer or microcontroller and is recognized as an input device.
- Create a polling function: Write a MATLAB function that continuously polls the state of the button. This function should check the state of the button at regular intervals and return the state (pressed or released). You can use the parfeval function to run this polling function asynchronously in an independent thread. Here's an example:
function buttonState = pollButton()
% Code to read the state of the button
% Return the button state (pressed or released)
end
% Run the button polling function asynchronously
f = parfeval(@pollButton, 0);
3.Create an app with a listener: In your MATLAB app, create a listener object that listens for changes in the button state.
The listener should be triggered whenever the button state changes (from pressed to released or vice versa). Inside
the listener callback, you can perform the desired action. Here's an example:
classdef MyApp < matlab.apps.AppBase
properties
ButtonListener
end
methods (Access = protected)
function createComponents(app)
% Create the components of your app
% Create the button listener
app.ButtonListener = event.listener(f, 'ObjectCompleted', @app.buttonStateChanged);
end
function buttonStateChanged(app, ~, ~)
% Callback function triggered when the button state changes
buttonState = f.fetchOutputs(); % Get the button state from the polling function
if buttonState == 'pressed'
% Perform the desired action
end
end
end
end
% Create and run the app
app = MyApp();
app.run();
In this approach, the button polling function runs asynchronously in a separate thread, allowing your app to remain responsive while continuously checking the button state. Whenever the button state changes, the listener callback is triggered, and you can perform the desired action based on the button state.
Note that the implementation details may vary depending on the specific hardware and setup you are using to connect the physical button to MATLAB. Make sure to adapt the code to match your specific requirements and hardware configuration.
Additionally, consider handling any necessary debouncing or noise filtering for the button input to ensure reliable button state detection.
