preferences_tweak.m

% Project-specific Matlab preferences/settings/history
% 
% Solution by Petr Krysl.
% 
% Most of the time, I use or develop two, three, or more Matlab projects.
% For each I like to have their separate settings: list of open files, list
% of visited folders, command history, shortcuts, and so on.
% 
% My solution is to fire up Matlab (under Windows) by double-clicking a
% batch file, which sets the UserProfile environment variable before
% invoking Matlab. Thus, Matlab is informed where to find its settings in
% this particular instance. 
% 
% One can run several instances of Matlab, each with its own set of
% preferences, settings, and history.
%  
% The project-specific settings I put into a project folder. For instance,
% one of my projects is in the folder SA_tools with the following structure:
% 
% SA_tools
%   |---profile          
%   |---beam             
%   |---truss  
%       start.bat        
%       SA_tools_init.m  
% 
% The folder "profile" holds the Matlab preferences that I want to use for
% this project (it may be created by copying the default preferences
% folder: use the Matlab command prefdir to find it; otherwise, Matlab can
% create this folder if it doesn't exist, and one can then tweak the
% preferences in any way they like). 
% 
% The batch file "start.bat" first sets the environment variable, and then
% invokes Matlab. The contents of this file are:
% 
%     set UserProfile=%cd%\profile
%     matlab.exe /nosplash /r SA_tools_init
% 
% Double-clicking start.bat I bring up Matlab, telling it to load the
% preferences from the SA_tools\profile folder, and to initialize the
% project settings by running SA_tools_init.m.
%