Creating Graphical User Interfaces

GUI Building Tools

GUI Layout Tools

MATLAB includes a set of layout tools that simplify the process of creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). These tools include:

• Layout Editor - add and arrange objects in the figure window.
• Alignment Tool - align objects with respect to each other.
• Property Inspector - inspect and set property values.
• Object Browser - observe a hierarchical list of the Handle Graphics objects in the current MATLAB session.
• Menu Editor - create window menus and context menus.

Access these tools from the Layout Editor. To start the Layout Editor, use the guide command. For example,

guide

displays an empty layout.

To load an existing GUI for editing, type (the .fig is not required)

guide mygui.fig

or use Open... from the File menu on the Layout Editor.

Saving Your Layout

Once you have created the GUI layout, you can save it as a FIG-file (a binary file that saves the contents of a figure) using the Save or Save As item from the File menu. GUIDE creates the application M-file automatically when you save or activate the figure.

Displaying Your GUI

You can display the GUI figure using the openfig, open, or hgload command. These commands load FIG-files into the MATLAB workspace.

Generally, however, you launch your GUI by executing the application M-file that is generated by GUIDE. This M-file contains the commands to load the GUI and provides a framework for the component callbacks. See Configuring Application Options for more information.

Changing the Name of the M-file and FIG-file

Laying Out GUIs - The Layout Editor