get_non_default_value( ui_handle )

function [fields,values,ui_type] = get_non_default_value( ui_handle )
%
% get_non_default_value - get the list of <field,value> which have different values than the default
%
% format: [fields,values,ui_type] = get_non_default_value( ui_handle )
%
% input:  ui_handle     - a graphic handle of any type
%
% output: fields,values - pairs of field name and it's content which is not the default value
%         ui_type       - the type of the graphic handle given to the function
%
% example: [fields,values,h_type] = get_non_default_value( figure('name','mytest','tag','examplefig' ) )
%

% check if input is a handle
if ( nargin == 0 ) | ( isempty( ui_handle) ) | ( ~ishandle( ui_handle ) )
    fields  = {};
    values  = {};
    ui_type = [];
    error( 'invalid handle' );
end

% check the type of the graphic handle
ui_type     = get( ui_handle,'type' );

% create the same graphic element (based on the type)
switch lower( ui_type )
case 'figure',
    temp_parent         = [];
    temp_handle         = figure( 'visible','off' );
    exception_fields    = { 'children','visible' };
case 'axes',
    temp_parent         = figure( 'visible','off' );
    temp_handle         = axes( 'parent',temp_parent );
    exception_fields    = { 'parent','children','xlabel','ylabel','zlabel','title' };
case {'uimenu','uicontextmenu'},
    temp_parent         = [];
    temp_handle         = feval( ui_type );
    exception_fields    = { 'parent','children' };
case 'uicontrol',
    temp_parent         = figure( 'visible','off' );
    temp_handle         = uicontrol( 'parent',temp_parent,'style',get(ui_handle,'style') );
    exception_fields    = { 'parent','children','style' };
case 'uitoolbar',
    temp_parent         = figure( 'visible','off' ); 
    temp_handle         = uitoolbar( 'parent',temp_parent );
    exception_fields    = { 'parent','children' };
case {'uitoggletool','uipushtool'},
    temp_parent(1)      = figure( 'visible','off' ); 
    temp_parent(2)      = uitoolbar( 'parent',temp_parent(1) );
    temp_handle         = feval( ui_type,'parent',temp_parent(2) );
    exception_fields    = { 'parent','children' };
case {'line','image','light','patch','rectangle','surface','text'},
    temp_parent(1)      = figure( 'visible','off' ); 
    temp_parent(2)      = axes( 'parent',temp_parent(1) );
    temp_handle         = feval( ui_type,'parent',temp_parent(2) );
    exception_fields    = { 'parent','children' };
otherwise,
    fields  = {};
    values  = {};
    ui_type = [];
    error( 'unknown graphic object' );
end

% shared code for all elements
[fields,values]         = get_fields_and_values( ui_handle,temp_handle,exception_fields );
close_element( temp_handle,temp_parent );


% ====================================================================================
%           I n n e r    f u n c t i o n    i m p l e m e n t a t i o n
% ====================================================================================

function [fields,values] = get_fields_and_values( ui_handle,temp_handle,exception_fields )
% find all fields which are different from the default values in "temp_handle"

% initialize
fields = {};
values = {};

% get the list of fields in the ui
ui_fields = fieldnames( get( ui_handle ) );

% remove fields which are not meant to be compared
for m = 1:length(exception_fields)
    for n = length( ui_fields ):-1:1
        if strcmpi( ui_fields{n},exception_fields{m} )
            ui_fields = { ui_fields{1:n-1} ui_fields{n+1:end} }.';
            break;
        end
    end
end

% get the list of <field,value> which have different values than the default ones
for m = 1:length( ui_fields )
    if ~isequal( get( ui_handle,ui_fields{m} ),get( temp_handle,ui_fields{m} ) )
        fields{end+1} = ui_fields{m};
        values{end+1} = get( ui_handle,ui_fields{m} );
    end
end

% sort as a column vector
fields = fields.';
values = values.';

% -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function close_element( temp_handle,temp_parent )
% close all graphic handles which were created in the calling routine

delete( temp_handle );
for m = length(temp_parent):-1:1
    delete( temp_parent(m) );
end