Opening file with external application fails

Hi,

I'm attempting to open a file with an external application by calling system as follows:

[status, results] = system('open -a myExtApp path/to/filename.extension')

This results in the applicaiton (myExtApp) to bounce a couple time on my deck, then it disappears. The app fails to launch, although status is 0.

If I type

open -a myExtApp path/to/filename.extension

straight from terminal, then it does launch the file fine.

Any help would be appreciated... Thanks!

N

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

At the terminal, give the command

printenv

and in MATLAB give the command

system('printenv')

and compare the two. Look in particular at PATH and any variable starting with LD_ or DYLD_

On my OS-X system, in addition to changes to PATH, I see DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH and DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH set within MATLAB but not set at the terminal. You might need to do something like,

system('unset DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH; open -a myExtApp path/to/filename.extension')

[Nicolas]

Yes! Thank you very much. Could you tell me what happens when I unset these variables? How does it prevent the app from launching? I wasn't able to gather much info on this. Thanks!

[Walter Roberson]

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/dyld.1.html

It will take me a bit of time to write up an explanation.