Must I have Matlab R2012b to run user submitted apps (not build/create them)?

As subject header... Many of the Matlab apps submitted to file exhange by users look very interesting and I'd love to try them, but I'm having no luck installing.

The documentation I can find only makes mention of apps (and the app tab) in 2012b, but I see comments on at least one app submission page indicating I can install in 2012a.

Can I install and use apps in my copy of 2012a, or am I out of luck until my college move to b?

Answer 1

[Helen Chen]

Sorry, you need to have R2012B to run apps.

[Grufff]

Okay, thanks very much for the swift clarification Helen.

I'll just go and sit in the corner and weep quietly with disappointment :(

[Gergely Öllös]

Usually you can run your apps on previous ML versions.. The mlappinstall (silly extension:) is a simple zip file in which the application resides (along with some xml manifest info).. So you can rename the file extension to zip, unzip it and run the relevant functions/scripts from there..

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

It depends. Many of the apps don't depend on this latest release. For example, none of mine do since I developed and uploaded them when I had earlier releases. Even apps developed on R2012b might not require R2012b and might run fine on any number of prior versions. Download it and give it a try. I would say that the vast majority of apps in the File Exchange do not require R2012b.

[Matt Tearle]

There are apps and there are Apps. I think Grufff was referring to the latter: *.mlappinstall files. These are a new feature in 12b.

[Image Analyst]

Ah, I didn't know that. I never went to the "Apps" tab in File Exchange before. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Grufff]

Sorry, I perhaps should have been more specific but Matt has it right, I was indeed asking about .mlappinstall files:

http://www.mathworks.co.uk/matlabcentral/fileexchange/index?term=type%3Aapp