Default get method to return specific property

I'm in the process of refactoring some MATLAB legacy software involving data obtained during a broad set of tests. I'm trying to create a class that contains the data of each individual channel, together with some extra info (e.g. its physical units).

Just for the sake of placing this question here, the class could look like this:

classdef Channel < handle   
    properties (Access = 'private')        
        prvValue, prvUnits;    
    end
        
    properties (Dependent)        
        value, units;    
    end
        
    methods        
        function this = Channel(value, units)            
                this.value = value;            
                this.units = units;        
        end
                
        function set.value(this, value)                
            this.prvValue = value;        
        end
                
        function out = get.value(this)            
            out = this.prvValue;        
        end
               
        function set.units(this, units)            
            this.prvUnits = units;        
        end
        
        function out = get.units(this)            
            out = this.prvUnits;        
        end  
    end
end

You can create an object of such a class with something like:

> ch1 = Channel([1:10], 'm');

And access to its dependent properties with:

>> ch1.value
ans =     
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10

>> ch1.units
ans =   
'm'

This would nonetheless require to change every single line in the legacy code that access to the data from something like "ch1" to "ch1.value".

Now my question: is there any way to define a sort of "default get method" that returns a particular property of the class ("value", in this case)? In other words, something that behaves like this:

>> ch1
ans =     
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10

>> ch1.units
ans =    
'm'

Any help will be welcome. Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

[Guillermo Benito]

I think I have found in the meantime something that seems -so far- to do exactly what I was aiming at: make the new class inherit from MATLAB's standard double class:

classdef ChannelDouble < double    
    properties        
        units    
    end
    
    methods        
        function this = ChannelDouble(data, units)                        
            this = this@double(data);            
            this.units = units;                   
        end    
    end  
end

This class delivers:

>> ch1 = ChannelDouble([1:10], 'm')

ch1 =   

1×10 ChannelDouble array with properties:   
 
units: 'm'  

double data:     
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10

>> ch1.^2  % <--- Standard notation returns the data just like a double array would do

ans =
     
1     4     9    16    25    36    49    64    81   100

>> ch1.units

ans =
    
'm'

If anybody can think of a better solution your, please let me know. Otherwise I will leave this reply here in case it can help somebody with a similar problem.