How can I force Matlab to run an enum class constructor?

I have the following enum class:

classdef MyEnum
    properties
        prop1
    end
    enumeration
        A( 1, 2 )
        B( 3, 4 )
    end
    methods( Access = public )
        function this = MyEnum( x, y )
            fprintf( 'Running MyEnum constructor...\n' );
            this.prop1 = x + y;
        end
    end
end

The first time I instantiate an object of type MyEnum after opening Matlab or clearing classes, or when I make a change to MyEnum.m and save it, Matlab runs the constructor once for each enumeration:

>> foo = MyEnum.A;
Running MyEnum constructor...
Running MyEnum constructor...
>> foo = MyEnum.B;
>> clear classes
>> foo = MyEnum.B;
Running MyEnum constructor...
Running MyEnum constructor...
>>

These seem to be the only ways to run the constructor; running "clear MyEnum" and instantiating another object also doesn't run the constructor. I'd like to run it without clearing everything (as "clear classes" does). Is there a way to do this?

Answer 1

[Matt J]

I'd like to run it without clearing everything (as "clear classes" does). Is there a way to do this?

You don't need to clear everything. Clearing both the class and any lingering objects of the class in the workspace would be sufficient. For example,

>> clear classes;

>> obj=myclass.A;
Running myclass constructor...
Running myclass constructor...

>> clear obj; clear myclass;

>> obj=myclass.A;
Running myclass constructor...
Running myclass constructor...

[Matt]

Excellent! But, and I probably should've mentioned this before but I was hoping a simple explanation would help and I wouldn't need to dive into really hairy details, my issue is when running unit testing code on the class - it's a property of the test case so I can run unit testing on it with ParameterCombination = 'sequential':

classdef MyEnumTest < matlab.unittest.TestCase
    properties( TestParameter )
        testEnum = arrayfun( @( x ) x, ...
            eval( 'enumeration( ''myPackage.MyEnum'' )' ), ...
            'UniformOutput', false );
    end
    methods( Test = true, ParameterCombination = 'sequential' )
        function SomeUnitTest( testCase, testEnum )
            % Test each enumeration
        end
    end
end

I'm running the unit testing with the code coverage plugin and the MyEnum constructor isn't getting picked up. I was hoping to add a second simple test and just run the constructor. I could set testEnum to a cell array of strings, but then I'd have to update it if/when the enumeration list changes.