External Interfaces/API

The Engine Library

The engine library contains the following routines for controlling the MATLAB computation engine. Their names all begin with the three-letter prefix eng. These tables list all the available engine functions and their purposes.

Table 4-1: C Engine Routines  

Function	Purpose
engOpen	Start up MATLAB engine
engClose	Shut down MATLAB engine
engGetArray	Get a MATLAB array from the MATLAB engine
engPutArray	Send a MATLAB array to the MATLAB engine
engEvalString	Execute a MATLAB command
engOutputBuffer	Create a buffer to store MATLAB text output
engOpenSingleUse	Start a MATLAB engine session for single, nonshared use

Table 4-2: Fortran Engine Routines  

Function	Purpose
engOpen	Start up MATLAB engine
engClose	Shut down MATLAB engine
engGetMatrix	Get a MATLAB array from the MATLAB engine
engPutMatrix	Send a MATLAB array to the MATLAB engine
engEvalString	Execute a MATLAB command
engOutputBuffer	Create a buffer to store MATLAB text output

The MATLAB engine also uses the mx prefixed API routines discussed in Creating C Language MEX-Files and Creating Fortran MEX-Files.

Communicating with MATLAB

On UNIX, the engine library communicates with the MATLAB engine using pipes, and, if needed, rsh for remote execution. On Microsoft Windows, the engine library communicates with MATLAB using ActiveX. ActiveX and DDE Support contains a detailed description of ActiveX.

Calling MATLAB from C and Fortran Programs

GUI-Intensive Applications