Thread Subject: Tempoarily Disable a GUI while a function is running

I have a complicated function that take awhile to run. I
have set up a GUI using GUIDE to handle different variables.
 The problem I have is the user can click the run button, or
a slider control multiple times. This calls multiple
instances of the function, with bizarre results. In a
couple cases enough functions are called to crash Matlab.

I tried making the waitbar() modal. However, you can still
sneak in 2-3 button presses. Even worse, if you click a
slider control it locks and then proceeds to repeatedly push
the slider button (calling a function instance every time)
until it reaches the max limit!!!

I'm pretty sure the following code will work:
    set(hObject, 'Enable', 'off')
    
    set(handles.lblWait, 'String', 'Thinking ...')
    pause(0.01)
    fcnTestPlot(fVal, handles); % <-- this is "long" fcn

    pause(0.01)
    set(handles.lblWait, 'String', '')
    set(hObject, 'Enable', 'on')

 It seems like a bit of a hack; i.e. is there a better way?

"Adam " <not.my.email@mathworks.com> wrote in message
news:fc71me$ouq$1@fred.mathworks.com...
>I have a complicated function that take awhile to run. I
> have set up a GUI using GUIDE to handle different variables.
> The problem I have is the user can click the run button, or
> a slider control multiple times. This calls multiple
> instances of the function, with bizarre results. In a
> couple cases enough functions are called to crash Matlab.
>
> I tried making the waitbar() modal. However, you can still
> sneak in 2-3 button presses. Even worse, if you click a
> slider control it locks and then proceeds to repeatedly push
> the slider button (calling a function instance every time)
> until it reaches the max limit!!!

*snip*

Read this section from the documentation that discusses Callback
Interruption:

http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/index.html?/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/creating_guis/bq61qtj-1.html

Note this is from the MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b) documentation, but I don't believe
there was any change in this functionality from MATLAB 7.4 (R2007a) to 7.5.

--
Steve Lord
slord@mathworks.com

"Adam " <not.my.email@mathworks.com> wrote in message
<fc71me$ouq$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> I have a complicated function that take awhile to run. I
> have set up a GUI using GUIDE to handle different variables.
> The problem I have is the user can click the run button, or
> a slider control multiple times. This calls multiple
> instances of the function, with bizarre results. In a
> couple cases enough functions are called to crash Matlab.
>
> I tried making the waitbar() modal. However, you can still
> sneak in 2-3 button presses. Even worse, if you click a
> slider control it locks and then proceeds to repeatedly push
> the slider button (calling a function instance every time)
> until it reaches the max limit!!!
>
> I'm pretty sure the following code will work:
> set(hObject, 'Enable', 'off')
>
> set(handles.lblWait, 'String', 'Thinking ...')
> pause(0.01)
> fcnTestPlot(fVal, handles); % <-- this is "long" fcn
>
> pause(0.01)
> set(handles.lblWait, 'String', '')
> set(hObject, 'Enable', 'on')
>
> It seems like a bit of a hack; i.e. is there a better way?


You might wish to use my "enable/disable figure" submission
on the File Exchange:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=15895
- it disables the entire figure, as well as all contained UI
controls and menus, in a single command. After your callback
function ends, you can call this function again to re-enable
the figure.

Yair Altman
http://ymasoftware.com

"Steven Lord" <slord@mathworks.com> wrote in message
<fc7qds$6pt$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
>
> "Adam " <not.my.email@mathworks.com> wrote in message
> news:fc71me$ouq$1@fred.mathworks.com...
> >I have a complicated function that take awhile to run. I
> > have set up a GUI using GUIDE to handle different variables.
> > The problem I have is the user can click the run button, or
> > a slider control multiple times. This calls multiple
> > instances of the function, with bizarre results. In a
> > couple cases enough functions are called to crash Matlab.
> >
> > I tried making the waitbar() modal. However, you can still
> > sneak in 2-3 button presses. Even worse, if you click a
> > slider control it locks and then proceeds to repeatedly push
> > the slider button (calling a function instance every time)
> > until it reaches the max limit!!!
>
> *snip*
>
> Read this section from the documentation that discusses
Callback
> Interruption:
>
>
http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/index.html?/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/creating_guis/bq61qtj-1.html
>
> Note this is from the MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b) documentation,
but I don't believe
> there was any change in this functionality from MATLAB 7.4
(R2007a) to 7.5.
>
> --
> Steve Lord
> slord@mathworks.com

so a dialog box doesn't automatically set Interruptible to
'off' and BusyAction to 'cancel'. However, setting these
properties has no effect. Please run this code, and click
on the left, slider button.

What am I missing?

Also, callback_interrupt.m didn't come with my matlab
installation.

% --- begin code -------------------------------------------
function testCallback()
    cellName = {'BusyAction', 'Interruptible'};
    cellValue = { 'cancel', 'off'};

    hFig = figure('Position', [100 100 320 240], ...
                  cellName, cellValue);
    
    hSld = uicontrol(hFig, 'Style', 'slider', ...
                    'Position', [10 10 300 20], ...
                    'BackgroundColor', [0.9 0.9 0.9], ...
                    'Callback', @fcnRun, ...
                    'Value', 0.1, ...
                    cellName, cellValue);
                
    hTxt = uicontrol(hFig, 'Style', 'edit', ...
                    'Position', [100 100 120 20], ...
                    'BackgroundColor', 'white', ...
                    cellName, cellValue);
                
    function y = fcnRun(hObject, eventdata)
        hBox = msgbox('Please Wait', 'WindowStyle', 'modal');
        set(hBox, cellName, cellValue);

        y = zeros(1, 1e6);
        
        % do something that takes time
        for idx = 1: length(y)
            y(idx) = sin(idx * 2 * pi / 100) + randn(1, 1);
        end
        
        set(hTxt, 'String', sum(y))

        close(hBox)
    end

end
% --- end code --------------------------------

Yair, thanks for the link, but I can't use functionality
that is undocumented and unsupported.

"Adam " <not.my.email@mathworks.com> wrote in message
<fc71me$ouq$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> I have a complicated function that take awhile to run. I
> have set up a GUI using GUIDE to handle different
variables.
> The problem I have is the user can click the run button,
or
> a slider control multiple times. This calls multiple
> instances of the function, with bizarre results. In a
> couple cases enough functions are called to crash Matlab.
>
> I tried making the waitbar() modal. However, you can
still
> sneak in 2-3 button presses. Even worse, if you click a
> slider control it locks and then proceeds to repeatedly
push
> the slider button (calling a function instance every time)
> until it reaches the max limit!!!
>
> I'm pretty sure the following code will work:
> set(hObject, 'Enable', 'off')
>
> set(handles.lblWait, 'String', 'Thinking ...')
> pause(0.01)
> fcnTestPlot(fVal, handles); % <-- this is "long" fcn
>
> pause(0.01)
> set(handles.lblWait, 'String', '')
> set(hObject, 'Enable', 'on')
>
> It seems like a bit of a hack; i.e. is there a better
way?

Yes, this is bizarre. I don't understand what is going on,
but I don't think fcnRun is called multiple times.

I tried this variant, which I think works

   function y = fcnRun( hObject, eventdata ) %#ok<INUSD>
        ii = ii + 1; % ii=1; in the outer function
        fprintf( '%i', ii )
        
        set( hSld, 'Enable', 'off' )
        set( hFig, 'Pointer', 'watch' )
        drawnow
        
        y = zeros(1, 1e6);
        
        % do something that takes time
        for idx = 1: length(y)
            y(idx) = sin(idx * 2 * pi / 100) + randn(1, 1);
        end
        
        set( hTxt, 'String', sum(y) )

        set( hSld, 'Enable', 'on' )
        set( hFig, 'Pointer', 'arrow' )

    end