Creating Graphical User Interfaces

An Address Book Reader

This example shows how to implement a GUI that displays names and phone numbers, which it reads from a MAT-file.

Techniques Used in This Example

This example demonstrates the following GUI programming techniques:

• Uses open and save dialogs to provide a means for users to locate and open the address book MAT-files and to save revised or new address book MAT-files.
• Defines callbacks written for GUI menus.
• Uses the GUI's handles structure to save and recall shared data.
• Uses a GUI figure resize function.

Managing Shared Data

One of the key techniques illustrated in this example is how to keep track of information and make it available to the various subfunctions. This information includes

• The name of the current MAT-file
• The names and phone numbers stored in the MAT-file
• An index pointer that indicates the current name and phone number, which must be updated as the user pages through the address book
• The figure position and size
• The handles of all GUI components

The descriptions of the subfunctions that follow illustrate how to save and retrieve information from the handles structure. See Sharing Data with the Handles Structure for background information on this structure.

View Completed Layout and Its GUI M-File

If you are reading this in the MATLAB Help browser, you can click the following links to display the GUIDE Layout Editor and the MATLAB Editor with a completed version of this example. This enables you to see the values of all component properties and to understand how the components are assembled to create the GUI. You can also see a complete listing of the code that is discussed in the following sections.

Note    The following links execute MATLAB commands and are designed to work within the MATLAB Help browser. If you are reading this online or in PDF, you should go to the corresponding section in the MATLAB Help Browser to use the links.

• Click here to display this GUI in the Layout Editor.
• Click here to display the GUI M-file in the MATLAB Editor.

The List Box Callback and Create Function

Running the GUI

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