How to access and manipulate the cursor Editor

Hello!

I am currently working with the Matlab Editor and would like to modify a few things about the cursor.

To do that, I need to know how I can access and manipulate the cursor using a Matlab script.

How do I:

• Get the info whether the cursor is in the editor?
• Write the cursor's current position into a variable?
• manipulate the cursor's position using code (move it to the left / up /down / right)?

Thank you in advance,

Martin Schmelzle

Answer 1

[Hassaan]

@Martin Schmelzle An initial implementation. May need adjustment as per your needs:

direction = 'down'

activeEditor = matlab.desktop.editor.getActive;
currentPosition = activeEditor.Selection(1:2); % Assuming no selection for simplicity

switch lower(direction)
    case 'up'
        newPosition = max(currentPosition(1) - 1, 1); % Prevent moving above first line
        activeEditor.Selection = [newPosition, currentPosition(2), newPosition, currentPosition(2)];
    case 'down'
        % You need to consider the total number of lines in the document
        newPosition = currentPosition(1) + 1; % Add logic to prevent moving beyond the last line
        activeEditor.Selection = [newPosition, currentPosition(2), newPosition, currentPosition(2)];
    case 'left'
        newPosition = max(currentPosition(2) - 1, 1); % Prevent moving before first column
        activeEditor.Selection = [currentPosition(1), newPosition, currentPosition(1), newPosition];
    case 'right'
        newPosition = currentPosition(2) + 1; % Assuming infinite right movement is allowed
        activeEditor.Selection = [currentPosition(1), newPosition, currentPosition(1), newPosition];
end

Manipulating the cursor like this might not work for all cases, especially for moving up or down, where you'd have to take into account the number of characters in the line to position the cursor correctly. Additionally, these approaches may use undocumented features or features that are not primarily intended for cursor manipulation, so they might be subject to change in future MATLAB releases or might not work as expected in all scenarios.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you find the solution helpful and it resolves your issue, it would be greatly appreciated if you could accept the answer. Also, leaving an upvote and a comment are also wonderful ways to provide feedback.

It's important to note that the advice and code are based on limited information and meant for educational purposes. Users should verify and adapt the code to their specific needs, ensuring compatibility and adherence to ethical standards.

Professional Interests

• Technical Services and Consulting
• Embedded Systems | Firmware Developement | Simulations
• Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Feel free to contact me.