unicode symbols on popupmenu / pushbutton

I am trying to create either array of buttons or a popupmenu with following unicode symbols (arrows) in text fields ←↑→↓↖↗↘↙ My initial attempt below

    selections = [char(8592), char(8593), char(8594), char(8595), char(8598), char(8599), char(8600), char(8601)]   
h = uicontrol('Style', 'popupmenu');
    set(h, 'Tag', 'popupHeading');
    set(h, 'Units', 'pixels');
    set(h, 'Position', [50 50 130 20]);
    set(h, 'String', selections);

h2 = uicontrol('Style', 'pushbutton');
  set(h2, 'String', selections(2));

result is no text in uicontrol objects and the cmd output of

Warning: popupmenu control requires a non-empty String
Control will not be rendered until all of its parameter values are valid 
selections =

←↑→↓↖↗↘↙

I can get rid of the warning by cating blank string ('') into selections but symbols still wont appear. Do you know any workaround to do this?

I am using matlab R2013a if it isnt possible in this version please provide info which version might support it

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

MATLAB R2014b is the first that supported Unicode for uicontrols.