MATLAB Graphic User Interface (GUI)

Opening MATLAB:

When you open MATLAB, you will see three sections on the bottom, and a bunch of buttons at the top of the window (don't worry about these yet).

Command Window (shown in Red):

• This is where you can type in commands and tell MATLAB what to do and where MATLAB answers what you have asked of it.

• It runs commands one at a time - the code for your script goes in another spot.

• I mostly use the command window to explore and troubleshoot things in MATLAB.

Workspace (shown in blue below):

• This is where all of the information and data you want to work on is temporarily stored while you're using MATLAB.

• When you load a file or create a new variable, the information is stored here and you can use this information to things.

• Unless you explicitly save or export the data from the workspace - this information is lost once you close MATLAB.

New Script (shown in green):

• This will open a new window (or a section in your main window) - this is where the code for your script goes

  • If you don't like that it's a new window and want to combine it with the main window, click the 'circle with the down-triangle' on the top-right, then click 'dock' (shown in orange).

• Make sure you save your script by clicking 'Save' (shown in red)

• You can run the entire script by clicking 'Run' (shown in green)

  • When you're creating a new script, you generally don't want to run the entire thing straight away

  • You can run individual sections of code by highlighting what you want pressing 'F9', or you right-click the highlighted portion and click 'Evaluate Section'

    • You don't have to highlight entire lines, you can highlight small parts to check your inputs.

    • Check the command window and workspace to see if the output is what you were expecting

Set Path (shown in orange):

• When you click 'Set Path', a new window will pop-up - this is how you install EEGLAB and other MATLAB plugins

• I download the plugin folder and paste them into the 'MATLAB' folder inside 'Documents' (shown in green below) - make sure the files are unzipped first

  • e.g. you can see how EEGLAB is a folder (shown in blue below) inside Documents > MATLAB

• Then I tell MATLAB where that plugin is by clicking 'Add Folder' - a browser window will pop-up

  • Navigate to the 'MATLAB' folder in 'Documents' and click to highlight the EEGLAB folder, then click Select Folder (shown in orange below)

  • Then click 'Save' and 'Close' on the Set Path window.