Workaround for fake file in memory?

I have a mex function which reads data from a file and process it

result = mex_process_data(string_path_to_file);

The data is downloaded from website directly using

data = urlread2(url);

Now I save the data to a file and pass the filepath to the mex function. The IO is time-wasting. Is there a way to pass the data directly to the mex function without saving it to a temporary file (using Java class?)?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

urlread2 is from the File Exchange . It outputs a string, not a file. If you are writing to a file then that is in your own code.

If the mex requires a filename instead of a string, then change the mex. Or write to an solid state drive, or to a ramdisk.

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

I don't think so. If the mex file was written to accept a text string that represents a filename, then you're stuck with that. If you want it to accept a numerical array then you'd have to rewrite the mex code to do that.

Answer 3

[Guillaume]

There's nothing built into matlab for this and yes, it would be nice if matlab io supported streams instead of just concrete files.

The only way I can think to work around this (short of rewriting your mex so it does the url fetching itself) is to implement a ram drive.