MATLAB: How to forbid opening of two copies of Matlab? Is it possible

parallel computingpreferences

The second time I clicked on the icon of the program, run another copy. Can I set Matlab to a second copy does not run when I click on the icon again?

Best Answer

You could add some code to the startup.m file to close Matlab automatically, when another instance is running already. But this code runs after the long initialization phase, but I assume you want the existing instance to be activated immediately.

Then there is no clean solution, because this behavior concerns other programs also and is controlled by the OS. But you can emulate this behavior by replacing the original Icon by a small batch script or application, which checks for an open instance and activates it on demand. This is not really complicated, but take some hours to implement. Is it really worth to implement a non-standard behavior, which might be more confusing then useful?

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to forbid several calls to the same function

During myfun create a GUI, you cannot enter new commands in Matlab's command window. But if myfun is ready, the prompt appears again and you can start myfun again.

You can set the Tag of the created figure uniquely and reject the processing of myfun is a figure with this tag is existing already.

function myfun
TagName  = 'myUniqueTag_myfun';
existing = findobj(allchild(0), 'flat', 'Tag', TagName);
if ~isempty(existing)
  figure(existing(1));  % bring figure to front
  return;
end
figure('Name', 'myfun', 'Tag', TagName);
...

From an earlier discussion about timer objects I've learned, that this method can fail, if myfun is called from a callback of a timer. Then several figures can be created and using figure(existing(1)) is safer than using just figure(existing).

When you are using GUIDE to create the GUI, the option "GUI allows only one instance to run (singleton)" inserts similar code.

MATLAB: Some functions does not open

The functions cannot be "opened", because they are compiled. Some functions of Matlab's toolboxes are shipped as M-files, some are "built-in". Then only the documentation in the help section is visible for the users.

What is the purpose of "opening" the code of min?

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to forbid several calls to the same function

MATLAB: Some functions does not open

Related Question