Using assignin with structure elements

Hi,

I have created a script where I want to assign a character string to an element in a structure, namely the "description" field of Simulink data objects in the workspace. I have seutp a loop to assign each using the following command:

assignin('base',myVar,myDes)

myVar is the variable as a string (e.g., 'name.Description'). myDes is the character string to be assigned as a description. When I run the command, I get this error:

Error using assignin
Invalid variable name "name.Description" in
ASSIGNIN.

Error in AddDescriptionToDDEntries (line 15)
    assignin('base',myVar,myDes)

If I perform the assignment at the command line using an "=", it works fine. What am I missing?

Thanks!

Answer 1

[per isakson]

"What am I missing?" assignin() cannot assign to a field of a structure.

It's possible to do it with evalin(). Compare the note of the documentation on assignin()

To assign values to specific elements of an array, use the evalin function.

evalin('base','X(3:5) = -1')

I assume that you read TUTORIAL: Why Variables Should Not Be Named Dynamically (eval)

[Walter Roberson]

You can evalin to get the current structure, modify the local copy, then assignin the entire structure from the modified version.

[John F]

Thanks folks!. The combo of these two helped a lot.