Strange error which appears running on WINDOWS, but not linux

I am a beginner at Matlab and I have written a function which seems to work when a colleague runs it on linux, but when I run it on my windos PC I get the following error at random points in my event loop. (function tacked on below)

Perhaps relevant comments about the data: There are 95 events in all, each event has time/voltage readings from three transducers with 20,000 data points from each transducer for each event.

I wonder if I am accidentally doing something bad in terms of memory usage. The error message is:

??? Error using ==> print>LocalPrint at 286
C:\Users\ilevine\AppData\Local\Temp\tpf8232741_5a20_4d50_8ad0_9ae4a3d3d2c9.ps:
Cannot open file: permission denied.

Error in ==> print at 228
    LocalPrint(pj);

Error in ==> readf6 at 63
print('-dpdf',cur);

Many thanks if you can help!

Ilan Levine

The function is:

function  h=readf6(~)
%Read in files from Ubi, store in vectors, find average and sigma of
%pretrigger data, overplot waveforms of each piezo in same window. v4,
%looped and amde input name variuation. 5 outputs all 95 figures

av=0;
sig=0;
vmax = zeros(3,1);
%
t= 5e-7:5e-7:0.01;
%subplot(3,1,1)
% Convert number to string to make filenames. Different branches for different powers of 10.
isnine=0;
for n=1:95
%    isnine=isnine+1;
    str=num2str(n);
                 if(n<10)
                      fn=['00',str];
                 elseif(n<100)
                       fn=['0',str];
                 else
                    fn=str;
                 end
%   disp(fn)
    cur=['C:\Users\ilevine\Desktop\lt2\from_ubi\currentpiezo\',fn,'.txt'];
%disp(cur)
    fnA{n}=cur;
%disp(fnA(n))
    data = importdata(cur);
    v1=data(:,2);
    v1a=abs(v1);
    v1m=max(v1a);
    cur=['C:\Users\ilevine\Desktop\lt2\from_ubi\newpiezo1\',fn,'.txt'];
    data = importdata(cur);
    v2=data(:,2);
    v2a=abs(v2);
    v2m=max(v2a);
    cur=['C:\Users\ilevine\Desktop\lt2\from_ubi\newpiezo2\',fn,'.txt'];
    data = importdata(cur);
    v3=data(:,2);
    v3a=abs(v3);
    v3m=max(v3a);
                if((v1m>v2m)&(v1m>v3m))
                    vmax(1)=vmax(1)+1;
                elseif ((v2m>v1m)&(v2m>v3m))
                    vmax(2)=vmax(2)+1;
                    disp(2)
                    disp(n)
                else
                    vmax(3)=vmax(3)+1;
                    disp(3)
                    disp(n)
                end
h1=plot(t,v1,t,v2,t,v3);
legend('current piezo','newpiezo1','newpiezo2');
axis([0,0.01,-5,5]);
xlabel('Time(s)');ylabel('Potential(V)');
    N=num2str(n);
    Event=['Event ',N];
title(Event);

cur=['C:\Users\ilevine\Desktop\lt2\from_ubi\zfigures\fig',N,'.pdf'];
print('-dpdf',cur);

%    if(isnine==9)isnine=0;
% end
   end    

disp(vmax)
%Next end is end of function
end

[Jan]

Please format your code using the "{} code" button.

Answer 1

[Paulo Silva]

Looks like something is blocking the access to the file, maybe it's some kind of software protection, Antivirus maybe?

[Ilan levine]

Thanks Paulo. I don't think that tis is it. Sometimes the routine processes 3 events before crashing, sometimes it processes, say 35 and then crashes....I suspect that I have violated some memory restriction...am I supposed to close after a plot command or something?

Answer 2

[Jason Ross]

Are you running Windows Vista or Windows 7 with UAC enabled? Some of the folders might be accessible only with elevated privileges.

You can test this in one of the following three ways:

• Start MATLAB in an elevated Administrator prompt
• Disable UAC entirely (this will require a reboot, and administrative privileges)
• Try and create a file of some kind in C:\Users\ilevine\AppData\Local\Temp

The solution will vary depending on what control you have over your environment. You might be able to change the MATLAB code to use a folder where you have write permission, change the machine's security configuration, change the permissions on the directory, etc.

[Ilan levine]

Thanks Jason,

I am using WINDOWS 7. The fact that I can run through several loops before dying makes me pretty sure I am not violating privileges....The entire loop processes fine N times (where N is some number <95 ) and thus executes every command without complaints, until it suddenly dies.... :(

[Jason Ross]

How much disk space is free?

Answer 3

[Peter]

I'm curious if anyone has found an answer or resolution to the problem? I'm encountering a similar issue on Windows XP with R2009a: after updating and printing a figure in a loop, the code reports an error after some (apparently) arbitrary number of loop iterations. My error is nearly identical:

Error using ==> print at 325
C:\DOCUME~1\(ADMINISTRATOR FOLDER HERE\LOCALS~\Temp\tpa4279a42_d1a8_4883_bc1b_6b2420366b56.ps:
Cannot open file: permission denied.

Error in ==> (SCRIPT NAME HERE) at (SCRIPT LINE HERE)
        print((CURRENT FIGURE HERE), '-dpdf', (FILENAME HERE));

I also have set in my code 'recycle off' to avoid MATLAB sending all the temporary post-script files to the recycle bin.