Creating input options based on a number

Just say I put in 7 for the amount, how would the input option print out seven b and seven c.

I can't figure out a efficient way to do it

[Oleg Komarov]

I do not understand, be more specific. 7b or sevenb or smt else?

Is that a custom made GUI or are you using some inbuilt ones (looks like inputdlg)?

[Rooy]

Is it possible when I enter seven into the input amount then I can enter seven different types of b and seven different types of c, the input dialog would then expand to seven each for b and c

[Stephen]

If you programmed a lot more GUI fields and had them set to visibility = 'off' and enabled = 'off' as a default, then you could create a callback that triggers when you input the amount 7, and toggles 7 of those input fields to visible and enabled. I think that is what you are trying to do at least.

[Oleg Komarov]

To keep it simple you can call inputdlg once asking for how many fields, then call it again setting the number of fields.

[Rooy]

IS there a way when I enter a number in the first collum of the input dialog the others expand to fit that number, if it not possible it alright. thank you for the help

Answer 1

[Oleg Komarov]

There is but you have to program it yourself:

• write completely the whole GUI, using also jTextField (java) in place of the MATLAB edit box.

To me it seems an overkill unless your primary task is to program a GUI.

I would simply go for:

n   = input('How many a and b: ');
out = NaN(n,2);

r   = 0;
tmp = input('Enter values for a: ');
while r < n
    tmp = input(repmat(' ',1,20));
    if isempty(tmp)
        continue
    else
        r = r+1;
        out(r,1) = tmp;
    end
end

r   = 0;
tmp = input('Enter values for b: ');
while r < n
    tmp = input(repmat(' ',1,20));
    if isempty(tmp)
        continue
    else
        r = r+1;
        out(r,1) = tmp;
    end
end

EDIT I decided to show you how much of an overkill is, hope you'll enjoy it :)

function varargout = myGUI2
% Syntax examples:
%                  myGUI2 -> returns both values for 'a' and 'b' in 'ans'
%            out = myGUI2 -> returns both values for 'a' and 'b' in 'out'
%    [out1,out2] = myGUI2 -> returns 'a' in 'out1' and 'b' in 'out2'
%    [...,...,S] = myGUI2 -> returns also structure with handles

S.fh    = figure(   'units',        'pixels',...
                    'position',     [500 500 200 260],...
                    'menubar',      'none',...
                    'name',         'myInputdlg',...
                    'numbertitle',  'off',...
                    'resize',       'off',...
                    'color',        [.94 .94 .94]);
% Edit box: how many a and b
S.ed    = uicontrol('style',        'edit',...
                    'unit',         'pix',...
                    'position',     [10 205 70 30],...
                    'background',   'w');
% Text: on top of edit box
S.tx    = uicontrol('style',        'text',...
                    'string',       'How many values for a and b:',...
                    'unit',         'pix',...
                    'position',     [10 240 180 15],...
                    'background',   [.94 .94 .94],...
                    'Horizontal',   'left');
% Pushbutton: refresh the uitable that accepts values for a and b
S.pb(1) = uicontrol('style',        'push',...
                    'units',        'pix',...
                    'position',     [91 208 100 25],...
                    'string',       'Refresh',...
                    'callback',     @pb_call_refresh);
% Text: warns if other than numeric values
S.tx(2) = uicontrol('style',        'text',...
                    'unit',         'pix',...
                    'position',     [10 175 180 25],...
                    'background',   [.94 .94 .94],...
                    'foreground',   'r');
% Uitable: values for a
S.ut(1) = uitable(  'unit',         'pix',...
                    'position',     [10 45 85 135],...
                    'ColumnF',      {'numeric'},...
                    'ColumnW',      {66},...
                    'ColumnN',      'a',...
                    'Enable',       'inactive',...
                    'RowName',      [],...
                    'ColumnE',      true);
% Uitable: values for b
S.ut(2) = uitable(  'unit',         'pix',...
                    'position',     [106 45 85 135],...
                    'ColumnF',      {'numeric'},...
                    'ColumnW',      {66},...
                    'ColumnN',      'b',...
                    'Enable',       'inactive',...
                    'RowName',      [],...
                    'ColumnE',      true);
% Pushbutton: done
S.pb(2) = uicontrol('style',        'push',...
                    'units',        'pix',...
                    'position',     [50 10 100 25],...
                    'string',       'Done',...
                    'callback',     @pb_call_done);
S.tmp = {};
uiwait(S.fh)
if nargout > 1
    varargout = S.tmp;
else
    varargout = {cell2mat(S.tmp.')};
end
if nargout == 3
    varargout{3} = S;
end
if ishghandle(S.fh)
    delete(S.fh)
end

      % pb_call Refresh            
      function pb_call_refresh(varargin)
          nrows = get(S.ed,'String');
          if isempty(nrows)
              return
          elseif regexp(nrows,'\D') 
              set(S.tx(2),'String','Only numeric values [0-9]!')
              set(S.ut,'enable','off')
          else
              set(S.tx(2),'String','')
              nrows = str2double(nrows);
              set(S.ut,{'Data'},{nan(nrows,1)},{'enable'},{'on'})
          end
      end

      % pb_call Done
      function pb_call_done(varargin)
          S.tmp = get(S.ut,'Data');
          uiresume(S.fh)
      end
  end