how to use listdlg

How do i use listdlg? I read the documentation, it said

listdlg('ListString',S), what is ListString and what is S?

i wish to make it so that matlab grabs all the names of the files from a directory and stick them into the listbox. Thanks

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

In the above, 'ListString' is a literal string constant. In the context, it indicates that the value that follows is the value for the ListString parameter. According to the documentation, very top of the table of options, the parameter (S) to be supplied for the 'ListString' option is,

'ListString' Cell array of strings that specify the list box items.

To get information about all of the files in the directory, use

fileinfo = dir('*');
fileinfo([fileinfo.isdir]) = [];

The first line gets the directory information. The second line checks the directory information and then removes all of the entries that have to do with directories (folders), since you said you wanted the names of "the files" and some people do not consider folders to be files themselves (even though they actually are, technically speaking.)

Now that you have that, you can construct the cell array of strings, one filename per cell, by invoking,

S = {fileinfo.name};

Answer 2

[Wayne King]

d = dir;
  str = {d.name};
  [s,v] = listdlg('PromptString','Select a file:',...
                  'SelectionMode','single',...
                  'ListString',str)

 'ListString',S 
 is what is called a name-value pair. S is cell array of strings of what is  listed in your dialog.

[Andy]

can you give me an example? i did what you did there, but it says

??? Attempt to reference field of non-structure array.

thanks

Answer 3

[Wayne King]

You copied and pasted this into the command window? This should work.

d = dir;
str = {d.name};
[s,v] = listdlg('PromptString','Select a file:',...
                  'SelectionMode','single',...
                  'ListString',str)

[Wayne King]

in MATLAB cd to some directory that has the files you want to select from, then copy the above code and paste it into the command window.

[Andy]

i am trying to use another directory, so what i got is

d = rootdir;

str = {d.name};

[s,v] = listdlg('PromptString','Select a file:',...

'SelectionMode','single',...

'ListString',str)

and it doesnt work

[Walter Roberson]

"dir" in Wayne's answer is a call to the dir() function, not the name of a directory.

cd(rootdir);

now follow Wayne's instructions.