CODEWITHSUNDEEP
matlab
Feel My Black Hole
Feel My Black Hole

Reputation: 113

Is it possible to send commands between two MATLAB windows open on the same computer?

I want to have two MATLAB windows open on the same computer. The desired scenario is as follows: MATLAB window 1 is continuously running a script that has nothing to do with MATLAB window 2. At the same time, MATLAB window 2 is running a script that continuously checks for a certain condition, and if it is met, then it will terminate the script running on MATLAB window 1, and then terminate its own script as well. I want to have two MATLAB windows instead of one since I believe it will be more time efficient for what I am trying to do. I found an interesting "KeyInject" program at http://au.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/40001-keyinject , but I was wondering if there is a simpler way already built into MATLAB.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 405

Answers (2)

Joe Voytovich
Joe Voytovich

Reputation: 38

Do you want simple, or a flexible, infinitely expandable version 1.0? Simple would be to trigger System A via a file created by System B.

Simple would have System B create a file, then System A would check for the file with the command

    if exist ( fileName, 'file' )

then do your shutdown commands. On startup, System A would delete the file with

delete ( fileName );

The second option is to use the udp command. UDP allows any data to be sent between processes, whether on the same computer or over a network. (See https://www.mathworks.com/help/instrument/udp.html for more info).

Upvotes: 1

Rody Oldenhuis
Rody Oldenhuis

Reputation: 38032

I see several ways:

  1. Restructure to avoid this XY problem

  2. Use (mat) files (as Hoki suggested), possibly using the parallel computing toolbox to keep everything in one MATLAB session.

  3. Write some MEX functions that communicate with each other via a global pipe.
  4. Write an Auto(Hot)key script.

Option 2 is probably easiest. Take a look at events and listeners if you write in OOP, otherwise, you'd have to poll inside a loop

Option 3 is harder and way more time consuming to implement, but allows for much faster detection of the condition, and much faster data transfer between the sessions. Use only if speed is essential...but I guess that doesn't apply :)

Option 4: the AutoHotkey solution is probably the most Horrible Thing® you could do on an already Horrible Construction®, but oh what fun!! In both MATLAB sessions, you create a (hidden) figure with the name Window1 or Window2, respectively. These window names are something that AutoHotkey can easily track. If the conditions are met, you update the corresponding window name, triggering the remainder of the AutoHotkey script: press a button in the other window! If you need to transfer data between the windows: you can create basic edit boxes in both GUIs, and copy-paste the data between them. If you're on Linux: you can use Autokey for the same purpose, but by then you're basically writing Python code doing the heavy lifting, so just use Python.

Or, you know, use KeyInject. Less fun.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions