Matlab COM connection using an actxserver

Hello,

I'm running a Matlab script to invoke an another software (Surfer) to calculate grids from data. The code was downloaded from fileexchange - ( gridding_surfer ). The code worked perfectly some months ago, however now I'm not able to run the code.

After I run

SurferApp = actxserver('surfer.application');

I'm getting an error code:

Error using feval
Server Creation Failed: Server execution failed

Error in actxserver (line 86)
        h=feval(['COM.' convertedProgID], 'server', machinename, interface);

Apparently the progID is not working, I checked the Windows registry, but everything seems to be fine there and a progID is associated the application. Is there a way how to debug it more in detail, e.g. list or edit or progID?

[Jason Xu]

Hi David, I was wondering if you can open two Surfer softwares by using actxserver? Thanks

[Guillaume]

@Jason,

Most likely no. That's not because of actxserver but because the Microsoft COM technology it relies on doesn't allow you to do that.

The only ways this could be possible would be if either:

• You were trying to launch two different version of the software AND the softwate use a versioned progID
• The software COM interface has been specifically designed to start several instances.

Answer 1

[Guillaume]

Most likely, the problem is with your surfer application. The error message you see comes from Windows, not matlab.

You could see if the invocation works from a different client, e.g. vbscripting host with this VB script

'Save as surfer.vbs in the current matlab folder
Dim objsurf
Set objsurf = CreateObject("surfer.application")

Then in matlab:

dos(sprintf('cscript.exe "%s", fullfile(pwd, 'surfer.vbs')))

The above is equivalent to launching the vb script from a Windows command prompt. Most likely you'll get the same error, indicating that the problem is with surfer.

As for finding the cause of the error, unfortunately it can be anything. Maybe the program is not installed properly, maybe there's a bug in it, maybe it checks for a license which is not present, maybe ...