Problem to output value from custom GUI with radiobuttons

Hi everyone,

I am new to creating GUI's. I have a very specific GUI I need for my thesis, that I can only create "programmatically". I want one option from two sets of radio buttons to be selected, and have that choice output as a cell array in my main script. The options are the names of metal alloys.

More specifically, I need the cell array alloy containing a name like 'FeSi' or 'CuSn' to be called in my main code like this:

alloy = Options_AmorphousAlloy3()

What I have is very basic, but I need someone to help me understand how I can output set(handles.Alloy,'Value'). I have done lots of reading, but I think I just need someone to help me understand how this goes together...

So far I have my callback functions, an output and an input function. The error I am getting "Unrecognized function or variable 'set'" (see image below).

Thank you so much if anyone has the time to help!

function varargout = Options_AmorphousAlloy3()
handles.FigureH = figure;

hp1 = uipanel('Title','Crystalline Alloys','FontSize',12,...
 'Units', 'normalized','Position',[.08 .2 .4 .7]);

hp2 = uipanel('Title','Amorphous Alloys','FontSize',12,...
 'Units', 'normalized','Position',[.52 .2 .4 .7]);

Pushbutton1 = uicontrol(gcf,'Style', 'push', 'String', 'Continue', ...
'Units', 'normalized', 'Position', [0.4 0.03 0.1 0.1], ...
'CallBack', @Pushbutton1_Callback); 

Pushbutton2 = uicontrol(gcf,'Style', 'push', 'String', 'Close', ...
'Units', 'normalized', 'Position', [0.5 0.03 0.1 0.1], ...
'CallBack', @Pushbutton2_Callback); 

handles.radio(1) = uicontrol('Parent', hp1, ...
               'Style', 'radiobutton', ...
               'Callback', @myRadio, ...
               'Units',    'normalized', ...
               'Position', [0.2, 0.2, 0.5, 0.1], ...
               'String',   'FeSi', ...
               'Value',    1);

handles.radio(2) = uicontrol('Parent', hp1, ...
               'Style', 'radiobutton', ...
               'Callback', @myRadio, ...
               'Units',    'normalized', ...
               'Position', [0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.1], ...
               'String',   'CuSn', ...
               'Value',    0);

handles.radio(3) = uicontrol('Parent', hp1, ...
               'Style', 'radiobutton', ...
               'Callback', @myRadio, ...
               'Units',    'normalized', ...
               'Position', [0.2, 0.6, 0.5, 0.1], ...
               'String',   'AlCu', ...
               'Value',    0);

handles.radio(4) = uicontrol('Parent', hp2, ...
               'Style', 'radiobutton', ...
               'Callback', @myRadio, ...
               'Units',    'normalized', ...
               'Position', [0.2, 0.26667, 0.5, 0.1], ...
               'String',   'FeBSiP', ...
               'Value',    0);

handles.radio(5) = uicontrol('Parent', hp2, ...
               'Style', 'radiobutton', ...
               'Callback', @myRadio, ...
               'Units',    'normalized', ...
               'Position', [0.2, 0.5333333, 0.5, 0.1], ...
               'String',   'FeCoBSiNb', ...
               'Value',    0);  

           ...


guidata(handles.FigureH, handles);

function Options_AmorphousAlloy3_OpeningFcn(hObject, eventdata, handles, varargin)

set(handles.Alloy, 'Value', {'zero'});
uiwait(handles.Options);

function varargout = Options_AmorphousAlloy3_OutputFcn(hObject, eventdata, handles) 

varargout{1} = get(handles.Alloy, 'Value');

function myRadio(RadioH, EventData)
handles = guidata(RadioH);
otherRadio = handles.radio(handles.radio ~= RadioH);
set(otherRadio, 'Value', 0);

for k = 1:length(handles.radio) 
if (get(handles.radio(k),'Value') == get(handles.radio(k),'Max'))
idx = get(handles.radio(k),'String');
set(handles.Alloy,'Value') = {idx};
break
end

guidata(handles.FigureH, handles)
end

function Pushbutton1_Callback(ObjectH, EventData)
uiresume(gcbf)
close(gcf)

function Pushbutton2_Callback(ObjectH, EventData)
close(gcf)

Answer 1

[Robert U]

Hi Sarah,

the way how handles are assigned and used in guidata is not correct. Please refer to the documentation of guidata(). The correct workflow of assigning handles to guidata is to attach the handles to a figure.

Since you have to rewrite several parts of your code, I attached a simple example I used here, to illustrate the work flow:

function GUI_breakOP
    % 1 create figure
    GUI.fh = figure;
    
    % 2 create whatever handle you want to attach to figure GUI.fh
    GUI.h1 = uicontrol('style','Edit',...
                       'string','XX',...
                       'Units','normalized',...
                       'Position',[0.1 0.1 0.8 0.2],...
                       'backgroundcolor','c',...
                       'Tag','EditField2',...
                       'Enable','off');
        
    GUI.h2 = uicontrol('Style','PushButton',...
                       'String','Start',...
                       'Units','normalized',...
                       'Position',[0.1 0.4 0.3 0.2],...
                       'callback',{@func_compute},...
                       'Tag','StartButton',...
                       'backgroundcolor',...
                       'g','FontSize',12);
                       
    GUI.h3 = uicontrol('Style','PushButton',...
                       'String','Stop',...
                       'Units','normalized',...
                       'Position',[0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2],...
                       'callback',{@breakOP},...
                       'Tag','StopButton',...
                       'backgroundcolor',...
                       'r','FontSize',12);
    
    % 3 create own handles & flags/variables to exchange
    myHandle = guihandles(GUI.fh);  % save gui handles to struct
    myHandle.breakOP = false;       % flag for break OP
    
    % 4 attach to figure GUI.fh
    guidata(GUI.fh,myHandle);       % save structure

end

% now guidata can be used within functions called via GUI.fh
function func_compute(~,~)
    % 1 retrieve myHandle
    myHandle = guidata(gcbo);
    % 2 manipulate myHandle values
    myHandle.breakOP = false;   % flag for break OP
    % 3 save changed myHandle via guidata to figure
    guidata(gcbo,myHandle);     % save structure
    
    if ~isempty(str2num(myHandle.EditField2.String))
        a = str2num(myHandle.EditField2.String);
    else
        a = 1;
    end
    
    while 1
        myHandle = guidata(gcbo);                   % get structure
        myHandle.EditField2.String = num2str(a);    % edit field string
        pause(0.01);
        if myHandle.breakOP                         % check for break OP flag
            break;
        end
        a = a +1;
    end
    
end

function breakOP(~,~)
    % 1 retrieve myHandle
    myHandle = guidata(gcbo);   % get structure
    % 2 manipulate myHandle values
    myHandle.breakOP = true;    % change break OP flag
    % 3 save changed myHandle via guidata to figure
    guidata(gcbo,myHandle);     % save structure
end

Kind regards,

Robert

[Sarah Armstrong]

Hi Robert,

Thank you so much for taking the time. I don't quite understand everything yet, but the code is working now! I will keep reading everything you sent me and read other well-built GUIs.

Thank you,

Sarah