highlight(hObject,Descriptor)

function highlight(hObject,Descriptor)
    
% 
% highlight  brings to front all the elements contained in a panel
% associated to a tab.
%
% 
% Call & Parameters:
%   
%    highlight(hObject,Descriptor)
%
%       - hObject : is the handle of the object that calls the function. For 
%                   example the button/tab that the user has pusshed. 
%
%       - Descriptor: Is the descriptor that identifies the type of
%                     element. As default, if not defined by the user, the descriptor for
%                     push buttons is "PB_" and "P_" for panels. The first
%                     descriptor is used for the panels and the second for
%                     the push buttons.
% Name scheme:
%    
%    The function asume that the elements in the GUI are bundled into
%    Panels where each panel is related with a tab. For instance, imagine
%    that we want two tabs named 'analisys' and 'synthesis'. Each tab will 
%    have its own panels named 'P_Analysis' and 'P_Synthesis' which would 
%    include one push button each one. Those push buttons are used for launching 
%    the corresponding m-file scripts. They will be named 'PB_Analysis' and
%    'PB_Synthesis' respectively. According to this name scheme, 'P_' and 
%    'PB_' would be the Descriptors for the panels and push buttons.
%
% Usage:
%
%    Push buttons are used to emulate the tabs. Once you push a push
%    button, in its callback function you have to use this highlight
%    function with hObject the handle of the push button and the
%    corresponding descriptor depending on your name scheme.
%
%    The main point is to identify and relate every element on the gui by
%    the 'UserData' property to identify all the elements belonging to the
%    same tab. For instnce in our example environment, we could use number
%    '1' for analysis tab and '2' for synthesis. Every element that belongs
%    to tab 'anaylsis' will have the value '1' in its 'UserData' property
%    while all elements from tab 'synthesis' will be distinguished by
%    having the vlue '2' in the 'UserData' property.
   


    % If user hasn't defined the identifiers, the default values are used.
    % 'P_' for panels and 'PB_' for push buttons.
    if ~exist('Descriptor','var')
        Descriptor={'P_','PB_'};
    end

    % First descriptor is used for panels 
    panel_desc=Descriptor{1};
    % The second descriptor is used for the push buttons.
    button_desc=Descriptor{2};
    
    % Get the descriptor's length for the comparisons of the tag's char
    % strings.
    match_panel=length(panel_desc);
    match_button=length(button_desc);


    Pare = (get(hObject,'Parent'));
    Fills = allchild(Pare);
    

    % Get the descriptors of all the push buttons apart from the one that
    % has launched the function (the one that user has pushed).
    botons = Fills((strncmp(get(Fills,'Tag'),button_desc,match_button).*~strcmp(get(Fills,'Tag'),get(hObject,'Tag')) == 1));
    %Getting the panels descriptors.
    panells = Fills((strncmp(get(Fills,'Tag'),panel_desc,match_panel) == 1));
    
    % Generate an array with the groups which belong each panel.
    UData=zeros(size(panells));
    for index=1:length(panells)
        if isempty(get(panells(index),'UserData'))
            UData(index)='a'; UData(index)='';
        else
            UData(index)=get(panells(index),'UserData');
        end
    end
    
    % Panel that belongs to the same group/tab of the selected button.
    panell_principal = panells(((UData == get(hObject,'UserData'))==1));
    % Other panels that do not belong to the same group that the selected button. 
    panells = panells((~(UData == get(hObject,'UserData'))==1));
    
    % Main panel activation and hide all other panels.
    set(panells,'Visible','off');
    set(panell_principal,'Visible','on');
    
    % Set priority to the pushed button.
    uistack(hObject,'top');
    uistack(botons,'bottom')
    
    set(hObject,'BackgroundColor',[0.7020 0.7020 0.7020].*0.997)
    set(hObject,'ForegroundColor',[0 0 0]) 
    set(hObject,'FontWeight','demi');
    set(hObject,'FontAngle','normal');
    %set(botons,'BackgroundColor',get(hObject,'BackgroundColor').*0.997)
    set(botons,'BackgroundColor',[0.7020 0.7020 0.7020])
    set(botons,'ForegroundColor',[0.5 0.5 0.5])
    set(botons,'FontWeight','light');
    set(botons,'FontAngle','italic');
    
end