MATLAB: How to insert a MATLAB figure into an Excel Workbook through ActiveX

activexaddpicturecomfigureinsertMATLABpasteworkbook

I would like to paste a figure into a workbook directly from an MATLAB file.

Best Answer

This change has been incorporated into the documentation in Release 14 Service Pack 3 (R14SP3). For previous releases, read below for any additional information:
You can put a MATLAB figure into Excel using ActiveX. Here is an example that demonstrates two alternatives:
% Create sample image from figure
img = 'figure1.png';
plot(1:10);
print('-dpng', img);
% Get handle to Excel COM Server
Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
% Set it to visible 
set(Excel,'Visible',1);
% Add a Workbook
Workbooks = Excel.Workbooks;
Workbook = invoke(Workbooks, 'Add');
% Get a handle to Sheets and select Sheet 1
Sheets = Excel.ActiveWorkBook.Sheets;
Sheet1 = get(Sheets, 'Item', 1);
Sheet1.Activate;
% Alternative 1 BEGIN.
% Get a handle to Shapes for Sheet 1
Shapes = Sheet1.Shapes;
% Add image

Shapes.AddPicture([pwd '\' img] ,0,1,400,18,300,235);
% Alternative 1 END.
% Alternative 2 BEGIN.
% Add image
Sheet1.invoke('Pictures').Insert([pwd '\' img]);
% Alternative 2 END.
% Save the workbook and Close Excel
invoke(Workbook, 'SaveAs', [pwd '\myfile.xls']);
invoke(Excel, 'Quit');
In the above code (Alternative 1), Excel's Shapes.AddPicture Method is used to insert a figure in the Excel Sheet. The syntax for AddPicture is:
expression.AddPicture(Filename, LinkToFile, SaveWithDocument, Left, Top, Width, Height), where expression is a variable that represents a Shapes object.
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