How do I make a MATLAB created table properly appear in EXCEL?

I'm attempting to write a MATLAB created table to EXCEL using the following code;

%
% Write_Parts_Table.m
%

% Clear out all workspace variables and the command window
clear all;
clc;

% Assign data
Company = {'Company_A' 'Company_B'};
Run_Numbers = {'10000' '2500'};
Make = {{'Ford' 'Audi' 'Chevy'} {'Chevy' 'Volvo'}};

% Create table from workspace variables
Z = table(Company', Run_Numbers', Make', 'VariableNames',{'Company_Name' 'Run_Numbers' 'Make'});

% Disable the warnings for adding specified worksheets. These occur because
% EXCEL has a default value of 3 worksheets / file
warning('off', 'MATLAB:xlswrite:AddSheet');

% Write table to EXCEL
writetable(Z, '(A)Parts_Info.xls', 'Sheet', 1, 'Range', 'A3');

% For inspection, have Windows open the EXCEL workbook just created
winopen('(A)Parts_Info.xls');

When I view the variable Z, I get the following;

'Company_A'  '10000'  1x3 cell
'Company_B'  '2500'  1x2 cell

When EXCEL is opened, I see the following;

Company_Name  Run_Numbers  Make
Company_A  10000  
Company_B  2500

But I expect to see this;

Company_Name  Run_Numbers  Make
Company_A  10000          Ford Audi Chevy
Company_B  2500          Chevy Volvo

It appears I have some kind of problem pertaining to the size of the data in the 'make' column.

Is this a case where I need to add more column headers? Or am I using the writetable incorrectly?

Thank you.

Answer 1

[Kirby Fears]

Brad,

Each row of Make is a collection of strings that cannot be concatenated automagically.

You can concatenate the strings yourself using a specified delimiter like this:

Company = {'Company_A' 'Company_B'};
Run_Numbers = {'10000' '2500'};
Make = {{'Ford' 'Audi' 'Chevy'} {'Chevy' 'Volvo'}};
% Create table from workspace variables
Z = table(Company', Run_Numbers', Make', 'VariableNames',{'Company_Name' 'Run_Numbers' 'Make'});

% Reassign Z.Make with concatenated strings
% I'm using a space to separate each string.
% You can use other characters like ',' or ';'
Z.Make = cellfun(@(c)delimcat(c,' '),Z.Make,'UniformOutput',false);

% below is a function to concatenate strings.
% you can paste it as a subfunction into an 
% existing function or you can make a file called
% delimcat.m and save it on your path
function c = delimcat(c,d)
c = [c;repmat({d},1,numel(c)-1),{''}];
c = [c{:}];

From here, writetable will output the concatenated Make strings.

Hope this helps.

[Brad]

Kirby, thanks for taking a look at this.