Background

The Modelit User Interface Component Toolbox for Matlab (in short: UIC-toolbox) extends the GUI widgets in Matlab with java widgets. This is achieved by defining a co called jacontrol object as a drop in replacement for the Matlab uicontrol object. The jacontrol object effectively hides the Java implementation from the user. As a result usage of the jacontrol object does not require knowledge of java or the java syntax. The UIC-toolbox extends the default set of Matlab widgets with widgets such as sortable, editable and filterable tables, treetables, comboboxes, texteditors, spinners, password fields and much more. Apart from these user interface components the toolbox also contains layout components such as scrollpanes, splitpanes, tabpanes and panels with a built-in layout manager.

For who?

The UIC-toolbox is particularly useful to creators of professional Matlab user interfaces. The toolbox is for those who like the Matlab ecosystem but feel restricted by the available GUI widgets. For those who can not afford spending excessive amounts of time working around these limitations themselves, our toolbox provides a tested one stop solution.

Code samples

Code samples can be found here: Code-samples.

Usage

The functionality of the User Interface Components Toolbox is accessed through the jacontrol command. This command is designed to operate similar to Matlab's uicontrol command.

Calling convention : [handle]=jacontrol('Style',Value, property, value, property, value,....)

Documentation

The jacontrol object is self documented. Typing "jacontrol" (without arguments) on the command line opens a help browser with three panels. 

The panel "Styles" list all styles that are available for the jacontrol object. Analogous to the Matlab uicontrol object, the specified style determines the appearance and function of the object. 

The panel "Properties/Methods" shows the properties that can be set and the the methods that can be used on a jacontrol object with a specific style. Clicking on one of these in the help browser displays the values that can be used for selected properties or methods.

The panel "Example" shows how a jacontrol with the selected style is constructed. 

Installation

The UIC-toolbox consists of a set of m-files, generally stored in the folder "JavaComponentToolbox" and a jar-file "modelit.jar". The folder with m-files must be on the Matlab path. The jar file modelit.jar must be on the static java class path. This is achieved by creating or editing the file javaclasspath.txt in the Matlab startup folder so that this looks like:

<before>
YOURPATH\modelit.jar

With YOURPATH the path that stores modelit.jar.

Note that if you are using other third party toolboxes, javaclasspath.txt may contain references to the these too.

Using the UIC-toolbox in compiled applications

There are no limitations to using the UIC-toolbox in compiled applications.

System requirements

The UIC toolbox is compatible with Matlab R2007b and later. The latest Matlab version it has been verified with is R2021a.

API documentation

The generated documentation for the UIC-toolbox can be found here.