Documentation

In the dialog box app, define input arguments for the startupFcn callback, and then add code to the callback. Open the dialog box app into Code View. In the Editor tab, click App Input Arguments . In the App Input Arguments dialog box, enter a comma-separated list of variable names for your input arguments. Designate one of the inputs as a variable that stores the main app object. Then click OK.

Add code to the startupFcn callback to store the value of mainapp.

function startupFcn(app,mainapp,sz,c)
    % Store main app object
    app.CallingApp = mainapp;

    % Process sz and c inputs
    ...
end

For a fully coded example of a startupFcn callback, see Plotting App That Opens a Dialog Box.

Call the dialog box app from within a callback in the main app. Open the main app into Code View and add a callback function for the Options button. This callback disables the Options button to prevent users from opening multiple dialog boxes. Next, it gets the values to pass to the dialog box, and then it calls the dialog box app with input arguments and an output argument. The output argument is the dialog box app object.

function OptionsButtonPushed(app,event) 
    % Disable Plot Options button while dialog is open
    app.OptionsButton.Enable = 'off';

    % Get szvalue and cvalue
    % ....
    
    % Call dialog box with input values
    app.DialogApp = DialogAppExample(app,szvalue,cvalue);
end

Define a property in the main app to store the dialog box app. Keeping the main app open, create a private property called DialogApp. Select Property > Private Property in the Editor tab. Then, change the property name in the properties block to DialogApp.

properties (Access = private)
       DialogApp % Dialog box app
end

Create a public function in the main app that updates the UI. Open the main app into Code View and select Function > Public Function in the Editor tab.

Change the default function name to the desired name, and add input arguments for each option you want to pass from the dialog box to the main app. The app argument must be first, so specify the additional arguments after that argument. Then add code to the function that processes the inputs and updates the main app.

function updateplot(app,sz,c) 
    % Process sz and c 
    ...
end

For a fully coded example of a public function, see Plotting App That Opens a Dialog Box.

Create a property in the dialog box app to store the main app. Open the dialog box app into Code View, and create a private property called CallingApp. Select Property > Private Property in the Editor tab. Then change the property name in the properties block to CallingApp.

properties (Access = private)
        CallingApp % Main app object
end

Call the public function from within a callback in the dialog box app. Keeping the dialog box app open, add a callback function for the OK button.

In this callback, pass the CallingApp property and the user's selections to the public function. Then call the delete function to close the dialog box.

function ButtonPushed(app,event)
   % Call main app's public function
   updateplot(app.CallingApp,app.EditField.Value,app.DropDown.Value);

   % Delete the dialog box  
   delete(app)                  
end

Open the dialog box app into Code View, right-click the app.UIFigure object in the Component Browser, and select Callbacks > Add CloseRequestFcn callback. Then add code that re-enables the button in the main app and closes the dialog box app.

function DialogAppCloseRequest(app,event)
   % Enable the Plot Options button in main app
   app.CallingApp.OptionsButton.Enable = 'on';
            
   % Delete the dialog box 
   delete(app)             
end

Open the main app into Code View, right-click the app.UIFigure object in the Component Browser, and select Callbacks > Add CloseRequestFcn callback. Then add code that deletes both apps.

function MainAppCloseRequest(app,event)
   % Delete both apps
   delete(app.DialogApp)
   delete(app)              
end