inputdlg saves input as a cell and not an array

Hello everyone.

I have a problem with 'inputdlg'.

I want to enter a (for example) 2*3 numerical array, when the input dialog box appears(for example my input will be [1 2 3;4 5 6]).

The problem is, this input is saved as a 1*1 cell and there is no way I can convert it to an ordinary array with numerical values.

I have already tried 'cell2mat' and 'str2double' (but maybe not using them in the right way).

By the way I am using Matlab 2016a.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Answer 1

[BhaTTa]

When you use inputdlg in MATLAB, the input you get is indeed a cell array of strings. If you enter a matrix in the format [1 2 3; 4 5 6], MATLAB treats this as a single string. To convert this string back into a numerical matrix, you need to parse the string correctly.

Here's how you can achieve what you're looking for:

% Prompt the user for input
prompt = {'Enter a matrix:'};
dlgtitle = 'Input';
dims = [1 35];
definput = {'[1 2 3; 4 5 6]'};
answer = inputdlg(prompt, dlgtitle, dims, definput);

% Check if an answer was provided
if ~isempty(answer)
    % Convert the answer from cell to string
    answerStr = answer{1};
    
    % Safely evaluate the input string to convert it to a numerical matrix
    try
        % Attempt to evaluate the input string
        matrix = eval(answerStr);
        
        % Check if the result is a numeric matrix
        if isnumeric(matrix)
            disp('The matrix is:');
            disp(matrix);
        else
            error('Input is not a numeric matrix.');
        end
    catch ME
        % Handle cases where the input cannot be evaluated to a matrix
        disp(['Error converting input to a matrix: ', ME.message]);
    end
end