CODEWITHSUNDEEP
matlabfunctionuser-interfacereturnwait
user5757011
user5757011

Reputation:

How to block GUI while function with output executes?

I am creating a MATLAB application in GUIDE and now I'm facing a problem. I need to call a function that takes a long time to execute and returns a value but while executing the function I want the GUI to wait for the returned value.

I tried with waitfor but this way I can still interact with the GUI and I can't take the returned value...

waitfor(function);

I can think of something that disables all the GUI then enables it back but I have both enabled and disabled objects...

Do you know any solution to this problem?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 62

Answers (2)

Xiangrui Li
Xiangrui Li

Reputation: 2426

I like the modal dialog proposed by Sam Roberts. There is no mystery and it is user friendly.

Another dirty and easy solution may be to hide the GUI completely, if it is okay:

set(hFig, 'Visible', 'off');

And set it to 'on' after done. It will be good practice to make sure to set it to 'on' in catch block, to avoid disappearing GUI due to error during execution.

Upvotes: 0

Sam Roberts
Sam Roberts

Reputation: 24127

A simple solution is to create a modal dialog box with a message "Please wait..." just before executing your long-running function, and then to close the dialog box just after it completes. A modal dialog will be in front of the GUI, and will not allow interactions with the window behind.

It's possible for the user to click the "Close" button on the dialog, but you can override this by setting the "CloseRequestFcn" property of the dialog, so that the close button does nothing (unfortunately you can't easily hide the button).

Upvotes: 2

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