It is unclear what "inactivity" exactly means, when the "Matlab-programs" are still running. Do you mean the Matlab application or does Matlab run any user-defined code?
In both cases it might be brute to kill the process after a fixed period of time. But if brute methods are ok, you couldlog the users off from the terminal server after a certain delay. This would free even more resources.
A more or less dirty trick would be a timer, which obtains the contents of the command window every 5 minute and stores its fingerprint. When it did not change for 2 hours, exit the Matlab session - after showing a dialog to warn the user. To my surprise this can be achieved using 3 functions from the FEX written by the same author (shameless self-advertisment):
- http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/32005-cmdwintool
- http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/31272-datahash
- http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/24871-autowarndlg
function QuitOnIdle
UD.Time = now;
UD.Hash = '';
T = timer('ExecutionMode', 'fixedSpacing', ...
'BusyMode', 'drop', ...
'ObjectVisibility', 'off', ... % Hide timer handle
'Period', 300, ... % 5 minutes
'TimerFcn', @checkActivity, ...
'UserData', UD, ...
'Tag', 'QuitOnIdle_Timer'); % If somebody is wondering
start(T);
function checkActivity(TimerH, EventData)
UD = get(TimerH, 'UserData');
CmdText = CmdWinTool('getText');
newHash = DataHash(CmdText);
if ~isequal(newHash, UD.Hash)
UD.Now = now;
UD.Hash = newHash;
set(TimerH, 'UserData', UD);
elseif etime(now, UD.Now) > 2 * 3600 % 2 hours without a change
Opt.Delay = 120; % Wait 2 minutes
Opt.Button = {'Shut down', 'Keep running'}; % 1st is default
Opt.Interpreter = 'tex';
Opt.Wrap = true;
[Reply, TimeOut] = AutoWarnDlg( ...
{'This Matlab session is shut down automatically after 2 hours of idle.'}, ...
'You have a chance to keep this session running.'}, ...
'Auto Shutdown', Opt);
if strcmp(Reply, 'Shut down')
try
% New Matlab versions allow to save open files in the editor programatically!
% But this should be included in TRY CATCH, because older versions do not know this.
% Close open figures:
try
close('all', 'hidden'); % close all figures
catch % DeleteFcn crashed?
Figs = findobj(allchild(0), 'flat', 'type', 'figure');
set(Figs, 'DeleteFcn', '', 'HandleVisibility', 'on');
close('all'); % close all figures
end
% Close all open files:
fclose('all');
% Save the current workspace to a MAT file in the user folder?
folder = strtok(userpath, pathsep); % First userpath folder only
file = fullfile(folder, sprintf('AutoSave_%s.mat', datestr(now, 0)));
evalin('base', ['save(''', file, ''')]);
catch
end
% Delete this timer?!
% Goodbye:
quit('force');
else
UD.Now = now; % Start a new period
set(TimerH, 'UserData', UD);
end
end
Now add a call to this function inside startup.m, or if this is user-defined add it with admin privileges in matlabrc.m.
Test this exhaustively! This has been written from scratch in the forum's editor, so neither MLint nor runtime checks have been applied!
It kills Matlab sessions and the users will be very angry if they loose any data. Let all users sign on paper (not any checkbox dialog, which is ignored by all adult computer users), that they know and accept this restriction. Check what happens, if teh system clock is reset at the change of the daylight saving time or if the user resets the clock. And again:
Killing sessions is potentially evil! Do not blame me in case of troubles.
[EDITED] I forgot to mention a thrilling method to catch the user's attention: Let the machine beep massively before the closing dialog appears.
See also for saving currently used data and files:
