how can we construct different cells inside cell-array?

hi there,

I have a cell array of 1x6 size; 6 cell in one rows which contains a data set. Now, I want to construct a 7th cell in which I wanted to store some information regarding experiment. For that, I need to make different cell inside the 7th cell. for instance:

cell_array {1,7} ={ {Date :}, {Name :}, {Exp_time :}, {Remarks : }}

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Sushil

Answer 1

[Voss]

Perhaps a structure would be useful for storing that information:

exp_info = struct( ...
    'Date','2022.06.29', ...
    'Name','experiment_1', ...
    'Exp_time','00:05:00', ...
    'Remarks','Wednesday morning at five o''clock, as the day begins');

Store it in the 7th cell of cell_array, like you plan to:

cell_array = repmat({rand(10)},1,6);
cell_array{1,7} = exp_info

cell_array = 1×7 cell array
    {10×10 double}    {10×10 double}    {10×10 double}    {10×10 double}    {10×10 double}    {10×10 double}    {1×1 struct}

cell_array{1,7}

ans = struct with fields:
        Date: '2022.06.29'
        Name: 'experiment_1'
    Exp_time: '00:05:00'
     Remarks: 'Wednesday morning at five o'clock, as the day begins'

Or rearrange the thing and store the experimental data in the same structure:

% - one possibility -
exp_info.Results = cell_array(1:6)

exp_info = struct with fields:
        Date: '2022.06.29'
        Name: 'experiment_1'
    Exp_time: '00:05:00'
     Remarks: 'Wednesday morning at five o'clock, as the day begins'
     Results: {[10×10 double]  [10×10 double]  [10×10 double]  [10×10 double]  [10×10 double]  [10×10 double]}

% - another possibility -
exp_info.Results = cell2struct(cell_array(1:6),sprintfc('Result_%d',1:6),2)

exp_info = struct with fields:
        Date: '2022.06.29'
        Name: 'experiment_1'
    Exp_time: '00:05:00'
     Remarks: 'Wednesday morning at five o'clock, as the day begins'
     Results: [1×1 struct]

exp_info.Results

ans = struct with fields:
    Result_1: [10×10 double]
    Result_2: [10×10 double]
    Result_3: [10×10 double]
    Result_4: [10×10 double]
    Result_5: [10×10 double]
    Result_6: [10×10 double]

[Sushil Pokharel]

hi @Voss this is what I exactly need but is it possible to make user input program because I have enter this information every time when I complete the experiment.

[Voss]

You can use input to gather user input:

Date = input('Enter the Date: ','s');
Name = input('Enter the Name: ','s');
% etc.

Or you can make a GUI:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/483657-how-to-create-a-gui

https://www.mathworks.com/discovery/matlab-gui.html

[Sushil Pokharel]

hi @voss, sorry to bother you I have one more question;

I tried to make a struct_array I have written this code to store the information in such a way that every time I update the new file it supposed to add new field in the cell but instead of creating new field it is replacing the previous field. For instance previously if I have cell_blocknew{1,c}.file1, the new file is

cell_blocknew{1,c}.file2 But I wanted in cell_blocknew{1,c}->file1

cell_blocknew{1,c}->file2

and each time ccell will increment by 1. e.g 1 2 3 and so on.

Do you have any suggestion? your help will be greatly appreciated.

[~,c]=size(cell_blocknew);

[~,ccell]=size(cell_blocknew{1,1});

filename=sprintf('file%d',ccell);

cell_blocknew{1,c}.(filename)= struct( ...

'Flystrain',input('please specify the fly strain: ','s'), ...

'Date',input('mm:dd:yyyy ','s'), ...

'Expt_starttime',input('hh:mm:ss ','s'), ...

'Position_deadflies',input('Enter the position of dead flies: '), ...

'Remarks',input('Note: ','s'));

[Voss]

It's not completely clear to me what you want to do or what the problem is, but instead of having numbered fields in a structure (file1, file2, etc.), maybe use a structure array (which you say you tried, so maybe this is your intent anyway):

% initialize empty struct array with the right fields:
S = struct( ...
    'Flystrain',{}, ...
    'Date',{}, ...
    'Expt_starttime',{}, ...
    'Position_deadflies',{}, ...
    'Remarks',{});

% add a new struct element to the struct array:
% (presumably this is inside a loop in the actual code)
S(end+1) = struct( ...
    'Flystrain',input('please specify the fly strain: ','s'), ...
    'Date',input('mm:dd:yyyy ','s'), ...
    'Expt_starttime',input('hh:mm:ss ','s'), ...
    'Position_deadflies',input('Enter the position of dead flies: '), ...
    'Remarks',input('Note: ','s'));

I call the structure array S because I'm not sure how it would fit in with your variables.

[Sushil Pokharel]

So, actually I have a cell array of 1x7: cell_array{1,1:6},cell_array{1,7}. What I am trying to do is I am trying struct_array inside cell_array{1,7} in order to store some information. and what I want is each time when I update the data in cell_array have to store separate information. So that I need struct_array inside the cell_array{1,7} should be increamented by 1.

for instance:

cell_array{1,7}(1)='Flystrain',input('please specify the fly strain: ','s'), ...

'Date',input('mm:dd:yyyy ','s'), ...

'Expt_starttime',input('hh:mm:ss ','s'), ...

'Position_deadflies',input('Enter the position of dead flies: '), ...

'Remarks',input('Note: ','s'));

similarly,

cell_array{1,7}(2)='Flystrain',input('please specify the fly strain: ','s'), ...

'Date',input('mm:dd:yyyy ','s'), ...

'Expt_starttime',input('hh:mm:ss ','s'), ...

'Position_deadflies',input('Enter the position of dead flies: '), ...

'Remarks',input('Note: ','s'));

but things are not working in my way. when I try to store

cell_array{1,7}(2)='Flystrain',input('please specify the fly strain: ','s'), ...

'Date',input('mm:dd:yyyy ','s'), ...

'Expt_starttime',input('hh:mm:ss ','s'), ...

'Position_deadflies',input('Enter the position of dead flies: '), ...

'Remarks',input('Note: ','s'));

it just replace cell_array{1,7}(1). Does it make sense to you? i have tried the recent one which you just send me. still its not working. So, sorry I am killing your time.

[Sushil Pokharel]

Dear voss, I really appreciate your help. thank you so much you are absolutely right. I made a slight mistake in my code. Thank you so once again for your time and your constant help.