Keep GUI functions running when opening an uigetfile Dialog?

I have made a GUI "Recording" which displays real time data from Simulink on several axes.

Within this GUI "Recording" I placed a pushbutton which opens another GUI "TrendFunction" where I can display a trend function. (E.g. the data over the last 2, 5 or 10 minutes)

Now, the problem is that within the "TrendFunction" I use uigetfile() to load data. But this causes my Simulink model and thereby the recording to stop. (Both the Simulink model and all axes in "Recording" do not continue/update) It seems that all functions are set on hold until the uigetfile() dialog is closed.

So the Question is:

Is there a way to avoid holding/pausing a Simulink model when opening an uigetfile dialog in a GUI?

Answer 1

[Alfonso Nieto-Castanon]

No, as far as I know uigetfile will create a modal window (see windowstyle) which will lock matlab interface until a selection is made (and the selected filename can be returned to your originating function/script). In order to avoid this you need a non-modal file selection routine. For example, you may want to create your own display showing the available data files, and create a callback function that will implement the desired trend display once the user has selected a file. For example something based on the following:

 function TrendFunction(varargin)
  files = dir('*.mat');
  h_fig = figure;
  h_dlg = uicontrol('style','listbox','units','norm','position',[.1 .1 .8 .8],'string',{files.name},'callback',@TrendFunction_selected);
  % that is all, now return control to Matlab until a selection is made
 end

 function TrendFunction_selected(varargin)
  % when a file selection is made:
  files = get(gcbo,'string');
  selected = get(gcbo,'value');
  file = files{selected};
  data = load(file);
  % here the plotting functions
  clf(gcbf);
  h_ax = axes('parent',gcbf);
  plot(h_ax, data.x, data.y); 
 end

You can make that prettier but that should give you an idea of the code flow...

[Manuel Thomet]

Yes this works. Did somehow not think of creating it on my own.

Thank you very much.

Answer 2

[Thomas Koelen]

Try calling a function that calls the uigetfile function, maybe this works but I'm not sure.

[Manuel Thomet]

I like the idea.

Tried it, but did not succeed.

(pushbutton callback calls a function "outside" the GUI to get the file)

It seems as if it does not matter where the uigetfile is called, it still blocks my Model. I assume explicitly running it in parallel could work for me. (Multithreading?) Can I do that?