Function definitions are not permitted in this context - Decoding_Toolbox

Dear all,

I am trying to run Decoding toolbox MEG/EEG tutorial code (matlab 2014b)http://www.readout.info/tutorials/megeeg-decoding-tutorial/

But, as I run create_binned_data_from_raster_data

raster_file_directory_name = 'C:\...\Isik_26_letter_MEG_raster_data\'
save_prefix_name = 'Binned__data';
bin_width = 150;
step_size = 50;

create_binned_data_from_raster_data(raster_file_directory_name, save_prefix_name, bin_width, step_size);

i face an error: Function definitions are not permitted in this context

for the_bin_start_times in create_binned_data_from_raster_data

What does this mean and what is the solution?

%  fix the directory name in case there it does not end with a slash
last_char = raster_file_directory_name(end);
if (strcmp(last_char, '/') + strcmp(last_char, '\') + strcmp(last_char, '*')) == 0
    raster_file_directory_name = [raster_file_directory_name '/']
end


% if the directory ends with a name a * then use only those file names that have the string up to the *
% for example my_raster_directory/*PFC* will use only the files that have PFC in the file name 
if strcmp(last_char, '*')
    raster_file_dir = dir(raster_file_directory_name);
    [t r] = strtok(raster_file_directory_name, '/');
    while ~isempty(r)
        [t r] = strtok(r, '/');
    end
    raster_file_directory_name = raster_file_directory_name(1:(end - length(t)));  % remove the end string from the directory name
else
    raster_file_dir = dir([raster_file_directory_name '*.mat']);
end



if isempty(raster_file_dir)
    if isempty(raster_file_dir)
        error('The directory name given does not exist');
    else
        error('The directory name given does not contain any .mat files');
    end
end


if nargin < 5
    start_time = 1;
end
if nargin < 6
    load([raster_file_directory_name raster_file_dir(1).name]);
    end_time = size(raster_data, 2);  
end


if (length(bin_width) == 1) && (length(sampling_interval) == 1)  % if a single bin width and step size have been specified, then create binned data that averaged data over bin_width sized bins, sampled at sampling_interval intervals
    the_bin_start_times = start_time:sampling_interval:(end_time - bin_width  + 1);
    the_bin_widths = bin_width .* ones(size(the_bin_start_times));  
elseif (length(bin_width) == 1) && (length(sampling_interval) > 1) % if multiple step size have been specified indicating bin start times, but only a single bin width is given, then create binned data that averaged data over bin_width sized bins, sampled using the start bin times given by sampling_interval
    the_bin_start_times = c;
    the_bin_widths = bin_width .* ones(size(the_bin_start_times)); 
elseif (length(bin_width) > 1) && (length(sampling_interval) > 1)     
    if length(bin_width) ~= length(sampling_interval), error('If a series of bin widths are specified by having bin_width be a vector, and a series of start binning times are specified by having sampling_interval be a vector, then the length(bin_width) must equal length(sampling_interval)'); end
    the_bin_start_times = sampling_interval;
    the_bin_widths = bin_width;
end
    

if (length(sampling_interval) > 1) && (nargin > 4)
    error('If a series of start bin times are given by having sampling_interval be a vector, then one can not specify start_time and end_time arguments (i.e., the number of arguments to this function must be less than 5');
end


fprintf('\n');

% go through all the files and bin them
for i = 1:length(raster_file_dir)


    % print a message the the data is being binned (and add a dot for each file that has been binned
    curr_bin_string = [' Binning the data: ' num2str(i) ' of ' num2str(length(raster_file_dir))];
    if i == 1
        disp(curr_bin_string); 
    else
        fprintf([repmat(8,1,bin_str_len) curr_bin_string]);         
    end
    bin_str_len = length(curr_bin_string);

    
    
   load([raster_file_directory_name raster_file_dir(i).name]);  

   curr_binned_data = bin_one_site(raster_data, the_bin_start_times, the_bin_widths);  % use the below helper function to bin the data

   binned_data{i} = curr_binned_data;

   
   % save all the labels
   the_label_names = fieldnames(raster_labels);
   for iLabel = 1:length(the_label_names)
      eval(['binned_labels.' the_label_names{iLabel} '{i} = raster_labels.' the_label_names{iLabel} ';']); 
   end
       
   
   % save any extra neuron info 
   if ~isempty(raster_site_info)
       the_info_field_names = fieldnames(raster_site_info);  
       for iInfo = 1:length(the_info_field_names)
       
          if isstr( eval(['raster_site_info.' the_info_field_names{iInfo}])) 
              eval(['binned_site_info.' the_info_field_names{iInfo} '{i} = raster_site_info.' the_info_field_names{iInfo} ';']); 
          elseif isempty( eval(['raster_site_info.' the_info_field_names{iInfo}]))
             % just ignore this field if it is empty...
          else
              eval(['binned_site_info.' the_info_field_names{iInfo} '(i, :) = raster_site_info.' the_info_field_names{iInfo} ';']);   % might run into problems with this so above line could be more useful
          end
       
       end
       
   else
       binned_site_info = [];
   end
   

end


% save extra information about the bin_width, sampling_interval, etc.
binned_site_info.binning_parameters.raster_file_directory_name = raster_file_directory_name;
binned_site_info.binning_parameters.bin_width = bin_width;
binned_site_info.binning_parameters.sampling_interval = sampling_interval;

binned_site_info.binning_parameters.start_time = start_time;
binned_site_info.binning_parameters.end_time = end_time;

binned_site_info.binning_parameters.the_bin_start_times = the_bin_start_times;
binned_site_info.binning_parameters.the_bin_widths = the_bin_widths;


% if there is a field in the in the raster_site_info that has the time that was used to align the data
%  and if this time is the same for all raster files (as it should be) then save this time with the binning parameters
%  this time can then be used by plotting objects to align the data to specify what time is 0.
if isfield(binned_site_info, 'alignment_event_time')   
    if sum(abs(diff(binned_site_info.alignment_event_time))) == 0       
        binned_site_info.binning_parameters.alignment_event_time = raster_site_info.alignment_event_time(1);
    end
end


if (nargin < 5) && (length(bin_width) == 1) && (length(sampling_interval) == 1) 
    saved_binned_data_file_name = [save_prefix_name '_' num2str(bin_width) 'ms_bins_' num2str(sampling_interval) 'ms_sampled'];     
elseif (nargin > 4) && (length(bin_width) == 1) && (length(sampling_interval) == 1)  
    saved_binned_data_file_name = [save_prefix_name '_' num2str(bin_width) 'ms_bins_' num2str(sampling_interval) 'ms_sampled_' num2str(start_time) 'start_time_' num2str(end_time) 'end_time']; 
elseif (length(bin_width) == 1) && (length(sampling_interval) > 1)
    saved_binned_data_file_name = [save_prefix_name '_' num2str(bin_width) 'ms_bins_custom_sampling'];         
elseif (length(bin_width) > 1) && (length(sampling_interval) > 1)
    saved_binned_data_file_name = [save_prefix_name '_custom_bins_and_custom_sampling']; 
end


fprintf('\n')
disp(['  Saving the binned data to the file:  ' saved_binned_data_file_name])

%save(saved_binned_data_file_name, '-v7.3', 'binned_data', 'binned_labels', 'binned_site_info');
save(saved_binned_data_file_name, 'binned_data', 'binned_labels', 'binned_site_info');


function  binned_data = bin_one_site(raster_data, the_bin_start_times; the_bin_widths)  
% a helper function that bins the data for one site
  for c = 1:length(the_bin_start_times)      
      binned_data(:, c) = mean(raster_data(:, the_bin_start_times(c):(the_bin_start_times(c) + the_bin_widths(c) -1)), 2);            
  end
                

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

The ability to define local functions in scripts was introduced in release R2016b. Are you using an older release? If so you'll need to put that function in its own function file or make the whole file a function file by starting it with a function definition.