MATLAB App Designer

Comparing GUIDE and App Designer

MATLAB® offers users two interactive design environments for building apps: App Designer and GUIDE (GUI Design Environment).

Interactive Design Environment Introduced in Works with
App Designer R2016a uifigure
GUIDE 5.0 (1996) figure

App Designer is the recommended environment for building apps in MATLAB, and GUIDE will be removed in a future release of MATLAB. 

After GUIDE is removed, existing GUIDE apps will continue to run in MATLAB, but will not be editable using the GUIDE environment. To continue editing an existing GUIDE-based app and help maintain its compatibility with future MATLAB releases, you can use the GUIDE to App Designer Migration Tool for MATLAB on File Exchange. Alternatively, you can export it from GUIDE to a single MATLAB file by selecting File > Export to MATLAB-file.

To help in deciding how to best proceed with your existing GUIDE app, please consider the following options and which will best meet your needs.

What can I do with my GUIDE app when GUIDE is removed?

 

Options 
 Action Do Nothing Export to .m Migrate to
App Designer		 Rebuild with
App Designer
Run app        
- Initial effort to run app n/a Low Med High
Edit app layout        
- Interactively        
- Programmatically        
Edit app code (behavior)        
- Effort to maintain code Med Med Med Low
- Effort to enhance app High High Med Low

When creating new apps, you are strongly encouraged to use App Designer and the appdesigner function instead. To learn more about the benefits of App Designer and the features it supports, please review the table below.   

Key
 Support for interactive and programmatic app building
Support for programmatic app building only

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Component Library

    

Property Inspector

    

Component Browser

    

Callback Sharing

    

Custom App Icon

 

  

Diff & Merge Using Comparison Tool

 

  

Single-File Management for Code and User Interface

 

  

Modern Look & Feel

 

  

Toolstrip-Based Desktop

 

  

Rich Canvas Interactions

 

  

Embedded Code Editor

 

  

Rich Property Editors

 

  

App Metadata Management

 

  

Robust Programming Editor and Workflow

 

  

Quick Start Interactive Tutorial

 

  

App Testing Framework Support

 

  
App Templates    

Code Editor

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Code Debugger

    

Code Folding

    

Code Analyzer

    

App Input Arguments

    

Rich Programming Aids

    

Quick Code Navigation

    

Global Component Rename

    

Utility Functions via Custom App Methods

    

Graphics Support

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

2D & 3D Plotting

    

Axes Support (axes, polaraxes, geoaxes)

    

Axes Interactions (pan, zoom, rotate)

    

Figure Interactions (keyboard and mouse events)

    

Printing

    

See Displaying Graphics in App Designer in the MATLAB documentation for more information.

App Sharing and Access

Design Environment 

GUIDE4

App Designer

Share as MATLAB App Install File

    

Share as MATLAB Standalone Desktop App 1

    

Share as MATLAB Web App 1

    

Create, Edit, and Run Apps in MATLAB Online 2

    

Export as Standalone MATLAB Class File

    

Containers and Layout Managers

Design Environment 

GUIDE4

App Designer
Context Menu    
Toolbar    

Panel

    

Menu Bar

    

Tab Group

    

Scrollable Containers

    

Grid Layout Manager

    
Auto-Reflow    

Common Components

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Button

    

Drop Down

    

Edit Field (Text)

    

Label

    

List Box

    

Radio Button Group

    
Slider    
Table    
Text Area    
Toggle Button Group    
Date Picker    
Edit Field (Numeric)    
Image    
Spinner    
State Button    
Tree    

Dialogs and Notifications

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Alert Dialog

    

Confirmation Dialog

    
Progress Dialog    
Color Picker    
File Selection    
Save File    
Folder Selection    
Load Variable    
Save Variable    

Instrumentation

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Gauge

    

90 Degree Gauge

    

Linear Gauge

    

Semicircular Gauge

    

Knob

    

Discrete Knob

    

Lamp

    
Switch
    
Rocker Switch
    
Toggle Switch
    
Airspeed Indicator 3
    
Altimeter 3
    
Climb Rate Indicator 3
    
EGT Indicator 3
    
Heading Indicator 3
    
Artificial Horizon 3
    
RPM Indicator 3
    
Turn Indicator 3
    

Component Extensibility

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Custom Components

    

HTML Component

    
ActiveX Control4    
  1. Requires MATLAB Compiler.
  2. MATLAB Online is available with select licenses. Check your eligibility on mathworks.com/products/matlab-online.html.
  3. Requires Aerospace Toolbox.
  4. Will be removed in a future release.