exportToZip: Identifies the dependencies of an M-file and creates a ZIP file

Files inside $matlabroot/toolbox are omitted, providing a useful way to package your work

Description

The function "mydepfun" determines the dependencies of an
M-file, ignoring files inside the MATLAB "toolbox" directory. Skipping these files gives significant performance improvements over calling "depfun" directly, especially in MATLAB installations which include multiple toolboxes. The assumption is the same as that in "mypath.m", i.e. that most of us do our work in directories outside $matlabroot/toolbox.

The function "exportToZip" creates a ZIP file containing all the dependencies identified by "mydepfun" for one or more MATLAB functions. This simplifies the process of passing your work to another user, or uploading it to MATLAB Central, by reducing both the effort required and the likelihood of a file being missed out.

The limitations of "depfun" apply: for example, that dependencies introduced by calls such as "eval('peaks')" are not identified. An additional limitation is that if files in the MATLAB toolbox directory somehow depend on files *outside* that directory (e.g.
if you have overloaded toolbox functions), these dependencies will not be picked up as they would by "depfun" itself.

The directory hierarchy is preserved by "exportToZip", which means that all required files must be on the same drive so that a "common root directory" can be determined.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the following in the creation of this submission:
depfun2, DepSubFun, mypath.m

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 7.2 (R2006a)
• Other requirements: Should work on any platform (though has only been tested on Windows) and any release since R14 (MATLAB 7.*).
• Other Files: exportToZip.m, ; mydepfun.m

[mut ante]

hi: i have the habit of mixing upper and lower case when writing important folder names... the function worked properlly after changing the string comparison functions to the corresponding ignore case functions... well this is admissible in a win system, but.... thx for this function

[Murphy O'Brien]

Great! This is just what I needed. It's perfect for releasing code to a user and also a handy way of making a new directory without all the useless files that somehow get created on the way.

[Tim Tam]

mydepfun does not appear to find dependencies of dependencies ? When I used ML's depfun it returned 30 non-toolbox m files (plus one custom DLL), while your mydepfun returned only 13 m files.

[Thierry Dalon]

Comment on Tim Tam comment:
look at the option 'recursive' of mydepfun.
exporttoZip uses this option so you get all dependencies.

[Brett Shoelson]

I second mut ante's observation, and his suggestion for improvement. This function, which has earned a spot on my shortcut bar, fails in certain cases because of case sensitivity. I replaced all instances of STRNCMP with STRNCMPI in subfunction i_root_directory, and the problem went away.