How to Convert Cell Array contents to look like they do when I OPEN the variable it the MatLab Variable Viewer

I've got a cell array, TheDatabaseInfo, that I'm trying to load into a UITABLE (in the 'Data' portion of the call) but I'm getting an error because some of the elements of the cell array are multi-dimensional. In the example show here, element 16 is a vertical array [0;8;0;0] and, so, the UITABLE operation fails.

My ideal solution would be to alter the cell array so that it looks just like it does when I view the contents in the MatLab Variable Viewer (see image). For example, replace element 16 with a string '[0;8;0;0]'. And, of course, do that with any other cell array elements that could cause an error when creating my table.

Any ideas?

[Jan]

Please provide a small test array, preferrably in Matlab syntax, such that we can use it by copy&paste.

Answer 1

[Jan]

You can convert the elements of the array manually:

Data = {1, [1;2;3;4], 1:2, 'String', {'cell'}};

S = cell(size(Data));
for k = 1:numel(Data)
  C = Data{k};
  if isnumeric(C)
    if length(C) == 1
      S{k} = sprintf('%g', C);
    elseif isvector(C)
      if length(C) < 4  % For example
        if size(C, 1) == 1
           S{k} = ['[', sprintf('%g,', C(1:end-1)), sprintf('%g]', C(end))];
        else
           S{k} = ['[', sprintf('%g;', C(1:end-1)), sprintf('%g]', C(end))];
        end
      end
    end
  elseif ischar(C)
    S{k} = C;
  elseif iscell(C)
    tmp  = sprintf('%d,', size(C));
    S{k} = ['{', tmp(1:end-2), '} cell'];
  end

    if isempty(S{k})  % Fallback if other methods did not match:
      tmp  = sprintf('%d,', size(C));
      S{k} = ['[', tmp(1:end-2), '] ', class(C)];
    end
  end

This can be improved in a lot of ways: Shorten too long outputs, explicit output of short cell strings, include the type of integer classes, flexible display of digits after the decimal point for floating point values, etc.

Answer 2

[Dwight Bartholomew]

Thanks Jan, That worked GREAT!