Documentation/Nightly/Extensions/MatlabBridge

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Introduction and Acknowledgements

Author: Andras Lasso (PerkLab, Queen's University), Jean-Christophe Fillion-Robin (Kitware), Kevin Wang (Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network Toronto), Gabor Fichtinger (PerkLab, Queen's University)
Contact: Andras Lasso, <email>lasso@cs.queensu.ca</email>
Project website: http://www.slicerrt.org
License: Slicer license

SparKit   NA-MIC

Extension Description

MatlabBridge is an extension of 3D Slicer to allow running Matlab functions directly in 3D Slicer. Highlights: The extension allows running of Matlab functions directly from 3D Slicer: it takes the input from the data loaded into Slicer and visualizes the results in Slicer right after the execution is completed If you change any input on the GUI (and the “AutoRun” option is enabled) the bridge automatically re-runs the Matlab script with the updated parameters and shows the new results If you change your Matlab function then you can re-run the function and see the updated results with a single click The graphical user interface is generated automatically from a standard command-line interface definition XML file (no GUI programming needed) You can get started quickly by generating a skeleton Matlab function and interface definition XML file using the Matlab Module Generator module No building of 3D Slicer or MEX files, etc. are needed – the only requirements are to download and install 3D Slicer with the MatlabBridge extension and have Matlab on your computer The Matlab module behaves exactly as any other command-line-interface module, the Matlab engine is started automatically in the background (and it is kept running in the background so that you don’t have to wait for Matlab startup each time you run your function) Demo videos: Creating and using a Matlab module Editing and debugging a Matlab module Tutorial: How to create, run, customize Matlab modules

Modules

• Matlab Module Generator (in the module list: Developer Tools / Matlab)
• Matlab Commander (in the module list: Developer Tools / Matlab)

Use Cases

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  Example Matlab module user interface in Slicer

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  Matlab Bridge modules appear under the Developer Tools / Matlab category

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  A skeleton Matlab script can be created and installed using the Matlab module generator.

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  The Matlab Commander allows running any commands from the user interface or from another Slicer module.

Tutorials

• Comprehensive MatlabBridge tutorial: how to create, run, customize Matlab modules

Information for Developers

• Source code: https://subversion.assembla.com/svn/slicerrt/trunk/MatlabBridge/
• Issue tracker: open issues and enhancement requests
• See some information on the design of the module at the 2013 Summer Project week wiki.

Tested with Matlab R2012a and R2013a.