Any way to get the "current" class

Hi,

I am writing some object oriented code (with classdef), and it would be convenient for me to have a function like this:

meta.class.getCurrent()

Where it returns the metadata of the class in which it is called. In the event that the function is called from some other place (script or simple function) it should error

Is there a way to get that?

Thanks, Joan

[Joan Puig]

One of the goal is to be able to write error messages that include the class name on it. At the same time, to make the code as easy to maintain as possible, I don't want to hardcode the class name.

Answer 1

[per isakson]

This might be a start. (TODO: not a class, class in package, function in package.)

    >> MyTestClass.Update
    Class_name:  MyTestClass
    Method_name: Update

where

    classdef    MyTestClass  < handle
        methods ( Static )
            function    Update()
                [ cls, method ] = current_class();
                fprintf( 'Class_name:  %s\nMethod_name: %s\n', cls.Name, method )
            end
        end
    end

and

    function    [ cls, str ] = current_class( )
    %      
    %   See also: mfilename
        dbk = dbstack( 1, '-completenames' );
        if isempty( dbk )
            str = 'base';
        else
            str = dbk(1).name;
        end
        cac = regexp( str, '\.', 'split' );
        switch  numel( cac )
            case 1
            case 2
                cls = meta.class.fromName( cac{1} );
                str = cac{2};
            case 3
            otherwise
        end
    end

[Joan Puig]

Yes, this sounds like it should work.

Thanks!

Answer 2

[Sean de Wolski]

Not sure I totally understand what you want. You have a class, C, and you pass an object, obj, of class C into some function, foo, via one of its methods or some other function and you want to be able to retreive the metadata of the obj or of class C? If the object is available, use:

?obj

http://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2013a/matlab/ref/metaclass.html

If that is not the case, could you please clarify. You could have your function to a simple:

isa(obj,'C')

as well or instead...

[Joan Puig]

Using the metaclass(object) will get me a step closer, but in the static context I do not have access to an object to be able to pass it in.