Tutorial on how to build a GUI programmatically? (without using GUIDE)

I am looking for a tutorial on how to build a GUI in Matlab without using GUIDE. Unfortunately most information online is about GUIDE and GUIDE's output.

For example, I don't understand why this works:

    bgColor = get(source,'BackgroundColor');
     if all(bgColor)
     bgColor = [1 1 1];
     disp white
     end

but this doesn't work:

    if bgColor = [1 1 1]
    dips white
    end

I have also difficulties understanding the concept of handles and callback function. Is a handle a predetermined value? I thought it was. But if I write

    'callback',{@my_funct,h1}

am I assigning the handle h1?

These are the kind of questions I have, that's why I would like to read a good tutorial. I haven't found one yet.

[Stephen23]

Excellent tutorial from Rik:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/483657-how-to-create-a-gui#answer_394878

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

This

if bgColor = [1 1 1]
    dips white
end

doesn't work for two reasons. One is that first it does the assignment, NOT comparison, bgColor = [1 1 1], and this produces an error:

Error: File: test1.m Line: 9 Column: 12
The expression to the left of the equals sign is not a valid target for an assignment.

If you want to go the difficult and tedious route of setting up all the controls yourself, with all their properties, sizes, locations, callbacks, etc. instead of using GUIDE, then you can get hints from the examples here: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/24861-41-complete-gui-examples

The second problem is there is probably no function called "dips" - perhaps you misspelled disp???

There is a replacement for GUIDE out but it's not well publicized. I don't even remember how to get to it. It's been officially released and you're free to use it but I think it's not fully supported yet and is just kind of an early preview for people who want to try it, and it's still a work in progress. Sorry, I don't have the information on it, but someone will add that, I'm sure.

[Serena De Stefani]

Yes the dips is a typo! sorry... It seems to work with a double equal (==).

Thanks for the link. That's useful, but I was also looking for something with detailed explanations for a beginner... do you know of anything?

[Image Analyst]

You really should use all(bgcolor == [1,1,1]) if you want to check all of them.

Sorry, I use GUIDE so I can't give you any more advice on how to avoid it. I have no interest whatsoever in delving into the low level function calls necessary to build a user interface - it's a waste of my time. I can do it much, much faster with GUIDE so I don't bother torturing myself with such low level tedium. My time is better spent on the main algorithm, not trying to recreate what GUIDE can already do. Good luck though.

[Image Analyst]

Here is the link to the appdesigner, the new user interface program that is a replacement for GUIDE:

http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/app-designer/index.html

It is only available starting with MATLAB R2016a, which just became available online within the last few days. I don’t have that version yet but I plan on getting it soon. And then I will start experimenting with AppDesigner. From what I can see so far, it seems nicer and more sophisticated than GUIDE.