MATLAB: Implementation of subclass from triangulation

classcrashhierarchyoop

Hi everyone,
I am trying to implement a derived class from the 'triangulation' class available in Matlab 2014. The aim is to introduce additional properties and methods. I tried to mimic the example available in the Matlab documentation, but I failed even in creating a simple constructor. The minimal example is the following
classdef mymesh < triangulation
  properties
      Obj = [];
  end
    methods
        % constructor
        function primal = mymesh(P,T,M)   % M is the object code
            primal = primal@triangulation(T,P);
            primal.Obj = M;
        end
    end
  end
But trying to call it with the code
P = [0 0 0; 0 1 0; 1 1 0; 1 1 1];
T = [1 2 3 4];
M = ones(size(T,1),1);
c = mymesh(P,T,M);
makes Matlab crash. Can anyone point my were I am wrong?
Thank you in advance
Fabio

Best Answer

Fabio,
To follow up on Rebecca's (correct, IMO) answer, you can overload properties and methods of the triangulation class, to make your new class look exactly like a triangulation.
 classdef MyTri
   properties(Hidden = true)
      TR
   end
   properties(Dependent)
      Points
      ConnectivityList
   end
   methods
      function obj = MyTri(varargin)
         % your constructor here, which creates a triangulation and stores it in obj.TR
      end
      function p = get.Points(obj)
         % Property getter method, so that MyTri.Points behaves like triangulation.Points
         p = obj.TR.Points;
      end
      function c = get.ConnectivityList(obj)
         % Another property getter
         c = obj.TR.ConnectivityList;
      end
   end
end
If you're familiar with python, using the dependent property with a getter is similar to using python's @property decorator on a class method (I'm a MATLAB guy but have to admit that python deals with this way more elegantly).
You may also wish to add a custom isa() method, to return true for both 'MyTri' and 'triangulation' objects in a fashion consistent with the application of isa() to a subclass. I've left that out here, because of course this isn't strictly a subclass.
Adding set.Points and set.ConnectivityList methods (very similar syntax to the getters example above) will allow you to modify your triangulation as normal, if that's what you require.
Finally, having done this myself, I have a bunch of methods to overload the triangulation class methods, just by passing variables through. To save anyone the unbelievable nuisance of duplicating this work, here they are (Caveat emptor: My unit tests don't have 100% coverage yet, so please test them as you use them!):
    % Overload all the triangulation class methods for this class
    function PC = barycentricToCartesian(obj, ti, B)
        PC = barycentricToCartesian(obj.TR, ti, B);
    end
    function B = cartesianToBarycentric(obj, ti, PC)
        B = cartesianToBarycentric(obj.TR, ti, PC);
    end
    function [CC, r] = circumcenters(obj, varargin)
        [CC,r] = circumcenters(obj.TR, varargin{:});
    end
    function ti = edgeAttachments(obj, varargin)
        ti = edgeAttachments(obj.TR, varargin{:});
    end
    function E = edges(obj)
        E = edges(obj.TR);
    end
    function FN = faceNormal(obj, varargin)
        FN = faceNormals(obj.TR, varargin{:});
    end
    function FE = featureEdges(obj, filterangle)
        FE = featureEdges(obj.TR, filterangle);
    end
    function [FBtri, FBpoints] = freeBoundary(obj)
        [FBtri, FBpoints] = freeBoundary(obj.TR);
    end
    function [IC,r] = incenter(obj,ti)
        [IC,r] = incenter(obj.TR,ti);
    end
    function [tf] = isConnected(obj,varargin)
        tf = isConnected(obj.TR,varargin{:});
    end
    function [vi,d] = nearestNeighbor(obj,varargin)
        [vi,d] = nearestNeighbour(obj.TR,varargin{:});
    end
    function N = neighbors(obj, varargin)
        N = neighbors(obj.TR, varargin{:});
    end
    function SZ = size(obj)
        SZ = size(obj.TR);
    end
    function ti = vertexAttachments(obj, varargin)
        ti = vertexAttachments(obj.TR, varargin{:});
    end
    function VN = vertexNormal(obj,varargin)
        VN = vertexNormal(obj.TR,varargin{:});
    end
Hope this helps, please upvote me if it does :)
Tom
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