MATLAB: Protected External Methods

externalMATLABmethodsobject oriented programmingoopprotected

As a coding standard, our lab uses external methods as a way of maintaining our modular code. However, I've found that MATLAB doesn't have a way to make the Access for external methods protected. I've found that I can make external methods private by adding a /private/ folder to the class folder, so I was wondering if there was a 'protected' equivalent.

Best Answer

http://www.mathworks.com/help/techdoc/matlab_oop/brqy3km-14.html#brqy3km-15 under "Specify Method Attributes in classdef File" ...

Basically, inside the class definition create a methods block with properties Acess = protected. Inside that block add the function footprint.

methods (Access = protected)
  [a,b,c]=protectedmethod(x,y,z);
end

Then create a seperate m file in the root class directory named protectedmethod with the header

function [d,e,f]=protectedmethod(u,v,w)

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Cannot access protected property

Jeroen - I think the problem is that you are trying to access the protected member of the derived class from the base class. Look at class property attributes and consider how protected is defined as access from class or subclasses.

Generally, you can't access derived class members from the base class (though with MATLAB it seems you can if you assign access as public). Why not overload this method in the derived classes and call the base class method when needed? See calling base class methods from subclass objects for the manner in which to do this.

MATLAB: Are .m files in a subfolder of a class folder considered methods of that class

Files in a subfolder of a class folder are not considered methods of the class.

Please refer to the following example:

@myClass > myClass.m:

classdef myClass
    methods
        function classObj = myClass()
            classObj.method1()
            classObj.method2()
        end
    end
end

@myClass > method1.m:

function method1(classObj)
    disp('method in class folder')
end

@myClass > subfolder > method2.m:

function method2(classObj)
    disp('method in subfolder')
end

-----

>> m = myClass
method in class folder

Unrecognized method, property or field 'method2' for class 'myClass'.

Error in myClass (line 5)

classobj.method2()

As you can see, 'method1' is part of the class, but 'method2', which is in a subfolder of '@myClass', is not treated as a method of the class.

For more details about using class folders in MATLAB, please see the following documentation page:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_oop/organizing-classes-in-folders.html

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Cannot access protected property

MATLAB: Are .m files in a subfolder of a class folder considered methods of that class

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