MATLAB: How do i stop the Timer Object from running

Question

Hey guys, I have this matlab function which is a timer function. It continuously reads numerical data from a text file (which updates every 10ms) and plot this data with time every (plot updates every second). In matlab, i type "timerPlot" to run the timer object function, but i have no idea how to stop it fro running. The only way i can stop it is if i close the plot window (which ends the timer via producing an error). Ive tried using stop(t) but it just says "Undefined function or variable 't'." Heres the code:

    function [t] = livePlot(period, filename)
        period = 1;
        filename = 'C:\Program Files\...' %%Location of text file
        close all;        
        t = timer('StartDelay', 1, 'Period', period, ...
                  'ExecutionMode', 'fixedRate');               
        %%timer object callback functions
        t.StopFcn  = {@stopFigure};
        t.TimerFcn = {@updateFigure};
        %%initialize timer object user data
        d = get(t, 'UserData');     
        d.data = []; % array for the data to plot
        axes('Position', [0 0 1 1], 'Visible', 'off');      
        d.axes_handle = axes('Position', [.2 .1 .7 .8]);    
        d.line_handle = plot(NaN,NaN);
        d.fid = fopen(filename, 'r');    
        set(t, 'UserData', d);         
        start(t);                          
    end
    function stopFigure(obj, event)
        % close function handle
        d = get(obj, 'UserData');         
        fclose(d.fid);                    
        delete(t)
        disp('Timer has stopped.');
    end
    function updateFigure(obj, event)
        d = get(obj, 'UserData');         
        % read new data from file
        tmp = readFile(obj);
        % append to array in user data
        d.data = [d.data transpose(tmp)];
        % update the plot 
        set(gcf, 'CurrentAxes', d.axes_handle);
        set(d.line_handle, 'XData', 1:length(d.data), 'YData', d.data);
        % store the timer object user-data
        set(obj, 'UserData', d);
    end
    function [tmp] = readFile(obj)
        % read binary data. file-ID is in the timer user-data
        d = get(obj, 'UserData');         
        tmp = fscanf(d.fid, '%f', inf);             
        fprintf('Current file location : %d \n', ftell(d.fid));
        fseek(d.fid, -1, 0);    %%Reset the file position indicator back to beginning of file
        fseek(d.fid, 1, 0);
        set(obj, 'UserData', d); 
    end

Thanks.

Answer 1

You may find this useful:

%---------------------------------------------------------------------
function StopTimer(handles)
try
  fprintf('Entering StopTimer...\n');
  listOfTimers = timerfindall % List all timers, just for info.
  % Get handle to the one timer that we should have.
  if isempty(listOfTimers)
    % Exit if there is no timer to turn off.
    fprintf('There are no timers to turn off. Leaving StopTimer().\n');
    return;
  end
  handleToTimer = getappdata(handles.figMainWindow, 'timerObj');
  % Stop that timer.
  stop(handleToTimer);
  % Delete all timers from memory.
  listOfTimers = timerfindall
  if ~isempty(listOfTimers)
    delete(listOfTimers(:));
  end
  fprintf('Left StopTimer and turned off all timers.\n');
catch ME
  errorMessage = sprintf('Error in StopTimer().\nThe error reported by MATLAB is:\n\n%s', ME.message);
  fprintf('%s\n', errorMessage);
  WarnUser(errorMessage);
end
return; % from StopTimer