Trigger a function inside a running GUI from cmd or powershell without reopening it

Hello, I want to trigger or call a function inside my GUI, so it can do some tasks. The GUI is already running, and I don't to open a new one. While triggering the function I also want to send some instruction to the function as text or number, so it can conduct a particular process. Is it possible?

Answer 1

[Aditya]

Hi Mubin,

I understand that you are looking to invoke functions within a MATLAB GUI from an external command line tool. This process is inherently complex due to the separation between the GUI and command-line environments. However, you do have the option to utilize MATLAB's command line interface to call the necessary function handles as outlined.

For clarity, here is a step-by-step example that you can follow to implement such functionality within your GUI code:

% Inside your GUI code 
function myGUI 
% Define a global variable 
global commandToRun; 

% Initialize the global variable 
commandToRun = ''; 

% Set up a timer to periodically check for commands 
t = timer('ExecutionMode', 'fixedRate', 'Period', 1, 'TimerFcn', @checkCommand); 
start(t); 

% Rest of your GUI setup code... 
end 

% Timer callback function 
function checkCommand(~, ~) 
global commandToRun; 
if ~isempty(commandToRun) 
    % Execute the function with the command 
    executeFunction(commandToRun); 
    
    % Reset the command 
    commandToRun = ''; 
end 
end 

% Function to execute commands 
function executeFunction(command) 
% Your function code here, using 'command' as input 
disp(['Executing command: ', command]); 
% ... (function code) 
end

To trigger the function within your GUI from MATLAB's command line or from within a script, you would set the global variable as follows:

% From MATLAB command line or a script 
global commandToRun; 
commandToRun = 'instruction1’; % This could be any text or number 

For additional information on the use of global variables in MATLAB, please consult the following documentation:

• https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2020b/matlab/ref/global.html

Hope this helps!