Matlab GUI temporarily disable uitable CellSelectionCallback

I have a GUI that has a table. The table has a CellSelectionCallback function to respond to user selecting certain cells. There are also several functions that work with that table, when corresponding buttons are pressed

• A function to delete rows
• A function to add rows
• A function to programmatically select certain entries in the table. This last one is more or less a hack using java handles. Its main problem is that it can only select one entry at a time due to the provided interface

https://ch.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/348905-programatically-selecting-cells-in-a-uitable

What I want is to completely disable CellSelectionCallback while each of the above functions execute. In Python, for example, it is achieved by adding and removing listeners. I have found a solution following this logic here (see 2nd answer)

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19634250/how-to-deselect-cells-in-uitable-how-to-disable-cell-selection-highlighting

namely,

set(mtable, 'CellSelectionCallback', []);

... Do stuff ...

pause(1)
set(mtable, 'CellSelectionCallback', @mtable_CellSelectionCallback);

However, it does not seem to work. In particular, when I select uitable entries with mouse after having disabled and enabled callback in this way, I get a really weird error in the callback function which otherwise seems to work flawlessly

Error using uiwait (line 81)
Error while evaluating Table CellSelectionCallback.

Not enough input arguments.

Error in mtable_CellSelectionCallback (line 4)
    gridData = get(handles.mtable, 'Data');

any ideas are welcome

Answer 1

[Chris]

Hello, I can't imagine you are still looking for an aswer but since no one has answered this and someone may want some sort of solution I figured I'd comment:

So I did almost the same thing as you and it worked (using 2018a), with the difference being how I redefined my callback:

var = mtable.CellSelectionCallback;
mtable.CellSelectionCallback = [];
... Do Stuff ....
    
mtable.CellSelectionCallback = var;

I used dot notation, as opposed to the set function, which I imagine shouldn't matter? The key difference (probably) being that I saved the original function handle and re-assigned it at the end.

I am currently working on a GUI so I just threw the script in there, so I'll explain a little about how I implemented it in case that difference is the source of our differing results:

I made a 'CellEditCallback' so I could 'toggle' the state of the 'CellSelectionCallback' (no CellSelectionCallback vs having a CellSelectionCallback) depending on the value I entered into a cell.

I made a property of the class I was working in to hold 'var'. (obj.var)

When I called the CellEditCallback function by entering '3' (arbitrary value chosen) I assigned the value of the CellSelectionCallback function handle to obj.var, and then mtable.CellSelectionCallback = [];

At this point my CellSelectionCallback function was no longer called when selecting different cells within the table.

When I called the CellEditCallback function by entering '2' (arbitrary value chosen) into a cell in the table I reassigned the CellSelectionCallback function handle to the table: mtable.CellSelectionCallback = obj.var.

At this point my cell selection function was working like it did in the beginning before i set it to empty.

Hope this helps someone.