compiler.build.standaloneApplication

Create a standalone application for deployment outside MATLAB

Syntax

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(AppFile)

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(AppFile,Name,Value)

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(opts)

results = compiler.build.standaloneApplication(___)

Description

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(AppFile) creates a deployable standalone application using a MATLAB^® function, class, or app specified by AppFile. The executable file extension is determined by your operating system.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(AppFile,Name,Value) creates a standalone application with additional options specified as one or more name-value pairs. Options include the executable name, help text, and icon image.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(opts) creates a standalone application with additional options specified by a compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions object opts. You cannot specify any other options using name-value pairs.

results = compiler.build.standaloneApplication(___) returns build information as a compiler.build.Results object using any of the input arguments in previous syntaxes. Build information includes the build type, paths to the compiled files, and build options.

Examples

Create a Standalone Application

Create a standalone application that displays a magic square.

Write a MATLAB function that generates a magic square. Save the function in a file named mymagic.m.

function out = mymagic(in)

if ischar(in)
    in=str2double(in);
end
out = magic(in)

Build a standalone application using the compiler.build.standaloneApplication command.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication('mymagic.m');

This generates the following files within a folder named mymagicstandaloneApplication in your current working directory:

• mymagic.exe or mymagic.sh—Executable file that has the .exe extension if compiled on a Windows^® system or the .sh extension if compiled on Linux^® or macOS.

• mccExcludedFiles.log—Log file that contains a list of any toolbox functions that were not included in the application. For information on non-supported functions, see MATLAB Compiler Limitations.

• readme.txt—Readme file that contains information on deployment prerequisites and the list of files to package for deployment.

• requiredMCRProducts.txt—Text file that contains product IDs of products required by MATLAB Runtime to run the application.

To run mymagic with the input argument 4, execute !mymagic 4 in the MATLAB command window from the mymagicstandaloneApplication folder, mymagic.exe 4 in an MS-DOS window, or ./mymagic.sh 4 in a Linux or macOS terminal window.

The application outputs a 4-by-4 magic square.

    16     2     3    13
     5    11    10     8
     9     7     6    12
     4    14    15     1

Customize an Application Using Name-Value Pairs

Customize a standalone application using name-value pairs on a Windows system to specify the executable name and version, add a function file, and interpret command line inputs as numeric doubles.

Write a MATLAB function that uses a subfunction to compute the diagonal components of a magic square. Save the functions to files named mymagicdiag.m and mydiag.m.

function out = mymagicdiag(in)
X = magic(in);
out = mydiag(X)

function out = mydiag(in)
out = [diag(in)]';

Build the standalone application using name-value pair arguments to specify additional options.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication('mymagicdiag.m',...
    'ExecutableName','MagicDiagApp','ExecutableVersion','1.1',...
    'AdditionalFiles','mydiag.m',...
    'TreatInputsAsNumeric','On')

The following files are generated within a folder named MagicDiagAppstandaloneApplication in your current working directory:

• MagicDiagApp.exe

• mccExcludedFiles.log

• readme.txt

• requiredMCRProducts.txt

To run MagicDiagApp.exe with the input argument 4, execute !MagicDiagApp.exe 4 in the MATLAB command window from the MagicDiagAppstandaloneApplication folder or execute MagicDiagApp.exe 4 in an MS-DOS window.

The application outputs the diagonal entries of a 4-by-4 magic square.

    16     11     6    1

Customize Multiple Applications Using an Options Object

Customize multiple standalone applications using a compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions object on a Windows system to specify a common output directory, interpret command line inputs as numeric doubles, and display progress information during the build process.

Write a MATLAB function that generates a magic square. Save the function in a file named mymagic.m.

% mymagic.m
function out = mymagic(in)
out = magic(in)

Create a StandaloneApplicationOptions object using the function mymagic.m and additional options specified as name-value pairs.

opts = compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions('mymagic.m',...
    'OutputDir','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\MagicBatch',...
    'TreatInputsAsNumeric','On',...
    'Verbose','On')

opts =

  StandaloneApplicationOptions with properties:

            ExecutableName: 'mymagic'
        CustomHelpTextFile: 'D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\helpfile.txt'
              EmbedArchive: on
            ExecutableIcon: 'C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2020b\toolbox\compiler\resources\default_icon_48.png'
    ExecutableSplashScreen: 'C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2020b\toolbox\toolbox\compiler\resources\default_splash.png'
         ExecutableVersion: '1.0.0.0'
                   AppFile: 'D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\mymagic.m'
      TreatInputsAsNumeric: off
           AdditionalFiles: {}
       AutoDetectDataFiles: on
                   Verbose: on
                 OutputDir: 'D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\MagicBatch'

Pass the StandaloneApplicationOptions object as an input to the build function.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(opts);

Use dot notation to change the input file of an existing StandaloneApplicationOptions object.

opts.AppFile = 'mymagic2.m';

This allows you to compile multiple applications using the same options object.

Get Build Information From Standalone Application

Create a standalone application and save information about the build type, included files, and build options to a compiler.build.Results object.

Save the compiler.build.standaloneApplication information to a Results object by declaring an output variable.

results = compiler.build.standaloneApplication('mymagic.m')

results = 

  Results with properties:

            BuildType: 'standaloneApplication'
                Files: {2×1 cell}
              Options: [1×1 compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions]

The Files property contains the paths to the generated standalone executable and readme files.

Input Arguments

AppFile — Path to main file

character vector | string scalar

Path to the main file used to build the application, specified as a row character vector or a string scalar. The file must be a MATLAB function, class, or app of one of the following types: .m, .p, .mlx, .mlapp, or a valid MEX file.

Example: 'mymagic.m'

Data Types: char | string

opts — Standalone application build options

compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions object

Standalone application build options, specified as a compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions object.

Name-Value Pair Arguments

Specify optional comma-separated pairs of Name,Value arguments. Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name must appear inside quotes. You can specify several name and value pair arguments in any order as Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN.

Example: 'EmbedArchive','on'

'AdditionalFiles' — Additional files

character vector | string scalar | cell array of character vectors | string array

Additional files to be included in the standalone application, specified as a character vector, a string scalar, a string array, or a cell array of character vectors. File paths can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

Example: 'AdditionalFiles',["myvars.mat","myfunc.m"]

Data Types: char | string | cell

'AutoDetectDataFiles' — Flag to automatically include data files

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Flag to automatically include data files, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• If you set this property to 'on', then data files that are provided as inputs to certain functions (load, fopen, etc) are automatically included in the standalone application.

• If you set this property to 'off', then data files must be added to the application using the AdditionalFiles property.

Example: 'AutoDetectDataFiles','Off'

Data Types: logical

'CustomHelpTextFile' — Path to help file

'' (default) | character vector | string scalar

Path to a help file containing help text for the end user of the application, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

Example: 'CustomHelpTextFile','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\helpfile.txt'

Data Types: char | string

'EmbedArchive' — Flag to embed deployable archive (.ctf file) in application

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Flag to embed the standalone archive, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• If you set this property to 'on', then the standalone archive is embedded into the standalone executable.

• If you set this property to 'off', then the standalone archive is generated as a separate file.

Note

This property is ignored for Java libraries.

Example: 'EmbedArchive','Off'

Data Types: logical

'ExecutableIcon' — Path to icon image

matlabroot\toolbox\compiler\resources\default_icon_48.png (default) | character vector | string scalar

Path to an icon image, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The image is used as the icon for the standalone application executable. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute. Accepted image types are .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .bmp, and .gif.

Example: 'ExecutableIcon','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\images\myIcon.png'

Data Types: char | string

'ExecutableName' — Name of generated application

'AppFile' (default) | character vector | string scalar

Name of the generated application, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The default value is the file name of AppFile. Target output names must begin with a letter or underscore character and contain only alpha-numeric characters or underscores.

Example: 'ExecutableName','MagicSquare'

Data Types: char | string

'ExecutableVersion' — Executable version

'1.0.0.0' (default) | character vector | string scalar

Executable version, specified as a character vector or a string scalar.

Note

This is only used on Windows operating systems.

Example: 'ExecutableVersion','4.0'

Data Types: char | string

'OutputDir' — Path to output directory

'ExecutableNamestandaloneApplication' (default) | character vector | string scalar

Path to the output directory where the build files are saved, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

If no path is specified, a build folder named ExecutableNamestandaloneApplication is created in the current working directory.

Example: 'OutputDir','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\MagicSquarestandaloneApplication'

Data Types: char | string

'TreatInputsAsNumeric' — Flag to interpret command line inputs

'off' (default) | on/off logical value

Flag to interpret command line inputs as numeric values, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• If you set this property to 'on', then command line inputs are treated as numeric MATLAB doubles.

• If you set this property to 'off', then command line inputs are treated as MATLAB character vectors.

Example: 'TreatInputsAsNumeric','On'

Data Types: logical

'Verbose' — Flag to control build verbosity

'off' (default) | on/off logical value

Flag to control build verbosity, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• If you set this property to 'on', then the MATLAB command window displays progress information indicating code generation stages and compiler output during the build process.

• If you set this property to 'off', then the command window does not display progress information.

Example: 'Verbose','On'

Data Types: logical

Output Arguments

results — Build results

compiler.build.Results object

Build results, returned as a compiler.build.Results object. The Results object contains the build type, the paths to the compiled files, and the build options, specified as a StandaloneApplicationOptions object.