MATLAB 5.0 Enhancements (Upgrading from MATLAB 4 to MATLAB 5.0)

Upgrading from MATLAB 4 to MATLAB 5.0

Improvements to Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

General GUI Enhancements

MATLAB 5.0 provided general enhancements that are useful in the GUI area:

Starting MATLAB with the -nosplash argument suppresses the splash screen on UNIX.
Using the CloseRequestFcn callback can abort a figure close command.
Stacking of figure and axes graphics objects can be varied to affect the order in which MATLAB displays these objects.
The mouse pointer can be set to a number of different symbols or you can create a custom figure pointer.
On the Windows platforms, edit controls now have a three-dimensional appearance.

MATLAB 5.0 provided features that make it easier to create MATLAB GUIs. Major enhancements includedst box objects to display and select one or more list items. You can also create modal or non-modal error, help, and warning message boxes. In addition, uicontrol edit boxes now support multiline text.

**Table 1-39: New GUI Functions**
Function	Description
`msgbox`	Display message box.
`dragrect`	Drag pre-defined rectangles.
`inputdlg`	Display a dialog box to input data.
`questdlg`	Question dialog.
`rbbox`	Rubberband box.
`selectmoveresize`	Interactively select, move, or resize objects.

MATLAB 5.0 also added more flexibility in callback routines. You can specify callbacks that execute after creating, changing, and deleting an object.

**Table 1-40: New Program Execution Functions**
Function	Description
`uiresume`	Resume suspended M-file execution.
`uiwait`	Block program execution.
`waitfor`	Block execution until a condition is satisfied.

Guide

Guide is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) design tool. The individual pieces of the Guide environment are designed to work together, but they can also be used individually. For example, there is a Property Editor (invoked by the command propedit) that allows you to modify any property of any Handle Graphics object, from a figure to a line. Point the Property Editor at a line and you can change its color, position, thickness, or any other line property.

The Control Panel is the centerpiece of the Guide suite of tools. It lets you "control" a figure so that it can be easily modified by clicking and dragging. As an example, you might want to move a button from one part of a figure to another. From the Control Panel you put the button's figure into an editable state, and then it's simply a matter of dragging the button into the new position. Once a figure is editable, you can also add new uicontrols, uimenus, and plotting axes.

**Table 1-41: Guide Tools**
Tool	Command	Description
Control Panel	`guide`	Control figure editing.
Property Editor	`propedit`	Modify object properties.
Callback Editor	`cbedit`	Modify object callbacks.
Alignment Tool	`align`	Align objects.
Menu Editor	`menuedit`	Modify figure menus.

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