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addSetting

Add new setting

Description

s = addSetting(parentgroup,name) adds a new setting to the specified parent settings group and returns a Setting object containing the new setting. By default, settings are not hidden, which means that they display in the parent settings group.

example

s = addSetting(___,Name,Value) specifies setting properties using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, 'PersonalValue',10 adds a new setting with a personal value of 10. Specify name-value pairs after all other input arguments.

example

Examples

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Create a settings group and add a new setting to the group. Use the value of the setting in your code.

Create the settings group mysettings.

s = settings;
addGroup(s,"mysettings");

Add the setting MyWorkAddress to mysettings and assign it a value.

addSetting(s.mysettings,"MyWorkAddress");
s.mysettings.MyWorkAddress.PersonalValue = "3 Apple Hill Drive";
s.mysettings.MyWorkAddress
ans = 
  Setting 'mysettings.MyWorkAddress' with properties:

          ActiveValue: "3 Apple Hill Drive"
       TemporaryValue: <no value>
        PersonalValue: "3 Apple Hill Drive"
    InstallationValue: <no value>
         FactoryValue: <no value>

Display the value of the setting.

fprintf("Work address: %s.\n", s.mysettings.MyWorkAddress.ActiveValue)
Work address: 3 Apple Hill Drive.

Use removeGroup to remove mysettings.

removeGroup(s,"mysettings");

Use the settings function to access the root of the settings tree. Create a settings group, add a new hidden setting to the group, and use the value of the setting in your code.

Create the hidden settings group myhiddensettings.

s = settings;
newHiddenGroup = addGroup(s,"myhiddensettings",Hidden=true);

Add the setting MyHiddenWorkAddress to myhiddensettings and give it a value. Notice that the new setting does not appear when you display the parent settings group.

addSetting(newHiddenGroup,"MyHiddenWorkAddress",Hidden=true, ...
    PersonalValue="1 Lakeside Campus Drive");
s.myhiddensettings
ans = 
  SettingsGroup 'myhiddensettings' with no properties.

Display the value of the hidden setting.

fprintf("Work address: %s.\n", newHiddenGroup.MyHiddenWorkAddress.ActiveValue)
Work address: 1 Lakeside Campus Drive.

You can remove the hidden group in the same way you would a visible group.

removeGroup(s,"myhiddensettings")

Create a settings group and specify a default validation function for the group. This function validates the values of all settings within the group that do not have their own validation functions defined.

Create a validation function numericValidationFcn that throws an error when the input is not numeric.

function numericValidationFcn(x)
    errorMsg = "Value must be numeric."; 
    assert(isnumeric(x),errorMsg);
end

Use the settings function to access the root of the settings tree and then create the settings group myNumericSettings. Specify the validation function.

s = settings;
newNumericGroup = addGroup(s,"myNumericSettings",...
    ValidationFcn=@numericValidationFcn);

If you create a new setting in the myNumericSettings group and attempt to set the value of the setting to a nonnumeric value, MATLAB errors. For example, MATLAB errors if you run this statement, which attempts to set PersonalValue to a string instead of a numeric value.

addSetting(newNumericGroup,"mySetting",PersonalValue="Hello")

Use removeGroup to remove myNumericSettings.

removeGroup(s,"myNumericSettings");

Input Arguments

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Parent settings group to add setting to, specified as a SettingsGroup object. Use the settings function to access the root settings group object and all the available settings groups.

Name of setting to add, specified as a character vector or string scalar. If name already exists in the specified settings group, MATLAB® throws an error.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: addSetting(a,'mySetting','PersonalValue',10,'Hidden',true) adds a new hidden setting with a personal value of 10 to the specified parent settings group.

Personal value of setting, specified as MATLAB data of any type except for handle types. Data containers such as cell arrays, structs, and objects that include handles are also not supported. This argument is required when creating read-only settings.

Hidden state, specified as true or false.

When set to true, the settings groups and settings within the group do not display, although they remain accessible.

Read-only state, specified as true or false. When true, the personal or temporary value of the setting cannot be changed. The PersonalValue argument is required when creating read-only settings.

Function to validate setting, specified as a function handle. When specified, the function is used to validate the value of the setting.

The function handle must be associated with a function that accepts the potential setting value as an input argument, has no output arguments, and throws an error if the validation fails.

The function handle must point to a function on the MATLAB path. Anonymous or nested function handles are not supported.

Version History

Introduced in R2019b