MATLAB: How to build a modal dialog box (GUI) that waits for input from a user

dialoginputMATLABmsgboxuiuitoolsuiwaituser

I want to build a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that waits for input from a user. I would like to know how to create a modal figure that pauses the execution of a MATLAB file to prompt a user for input.

Best Answer

There are several ways to program GUIs to wait for user input.
Method 1: Use one of MATLAB's custom dialog box functions
Here is a list of the dialog box functions shipped with MATLAB that can be used along with UIWAIT, as of MATLAB 7.3 (R2006b):
     dialog       - Create dialog figure.
     errordlg     - Error dialog box.
     export2wsdlg       - Export variables to workspace
     helpdlg      - Help dialog box.
     imageview    - Show image in figure with zoom.
     inputdlg     - Input dialog box.
     listdlg      - List selection dialog box.
     menu         - Generate menu of choices for user input.
     movieview    - Show movie in figure with replay button.
     msgbox       - Message box.
     pagesetupdlg - Page setup dialog.
     printdlg     - Print dialog box.
     printpreview - Display preview of figure to be printed.
     questdlg     - Question dialog box.
     uigetpref    - Question dialog box with preference support.
     soundview    - Show sound in figure and play.
     uigetdir       - Open standard dialog for selecting a directory
     uigetfile    - Standard open file dialog box.
     uiputfile    - Standard save file dialog box.
     uisetcolor   - Color selection dialog box.
     uisetfont    - Font selection dialog box.
     uiopen       - Show open file dialog and call OPEN on result.
     uisave       - Show open file dialog and call SAVE on result.
     uiload       - Show open file dialog and call LOAD on result.
     uiimport     - Start the GUI for importing data (Import Wizard).
     waitbar      - Display wait bar.
     warndlg      - Warning dialog box.
For example:
h=helpdlg('Push OK to plot peaks');
uiwait(h);
peaks;
Method 2: UIWAIT
This method involves writing a function which creates the GUI manually. Here is a quick example.
The following function creates a new figure with an editable text box and a push button. The function creates these objects and then makes a call to the UIWAIT function. UIWAIT tells the function to pause its execution until a certain condition is met. In this case, the input argument f (the handle to the GUI figure) tells UIWAIT to pause execution until either "f" is closed or until "uiresume(f)" is called. Pressing the "Done" pushbutton accomplishes two tasks:
- Causes the string property of the editable text box to be updated internally.
- Its CallBack "uiresume(f)" continues the execution of the function.
%%Beginning of function GETINFO %%
function out = getinfo;
f = figure('Units','Normalized',...
     'Position',[.4 .4 .3 .3],...
     'NumberTitle','off',...
     'Name','Info');
e = uicontrol('Style','Edit',...
     'Units','Normalized',...
     'Position',[.1 .4 .3 .1],...
     'Tag','myedit');
p = uicontrol('Style','PushButton',...
     'Units','Normalized',...
     'Position',[.6 .4 .3 .1],...
     'String','Done',...
     'CallBack','uiresume(gcbf)');
uiwait(f)
out = str2num(get(e,'String'));
close(f)
To call GETINFO from a MATLAB file or the Command Line:
a = getinfo
This example can be easily extended to include more edit boxes.
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