List Box Directory Reader :: GUI Applications (Creating Graphical User Interfaces)

Creating Graphical User Interfaces

List Box Directory Reader

This example uses a list box to display the files in a directory. When the user double clicks on a list item, one of the following happens:

If the item is a file, the GUI opens the file appropriately for the file type.
If the item is a directory, the GUI reads the contents of that directory into the list box.
If the item is a single dot (.), the GUI updates the display of the current directory.
If the item is two dots (..), the GUI changes to the directory up one level and populates the list box with the contents of that directory.

The following figure illustrates the GUI.

$directory list GUI for C:\\GUI\\tools$

View Layout and 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.

Implementing the GUI

The following sections describe the implementation:

Specifying the Directory to List -- shows how to pass a directory path as input argument when the GUI is run.
Loading the List Box -- describes the subfunction that loads the contents of the directory into the list box. This subfunction also saves information about the contents of a directory in the handles structure.
The List Box Callback -- explains how the list box is programmed to respond to user double clicks on items in the list box.

Plot Push Button Callback Specifying the Directory to List