Defining a structured type in Matlab

Question

I'm pretty sure there's a feature for that in the Matlab programming/script language, but I cannot find it. I guess I'm googling with the wrong words.

What I want to do is define a category of data items that will all share the same internal structure.

Like this:

I declare PERSON to be a type of structure consisting of:
   FIRST NAME  : text;
   LAST NAME : text;
   PHONE NUMBER : integer;;

Now I declare the following variables:

PERSON MIKE

PERSON JANE

How can I do that?

Answer 1

The type you are searching for is 'Class'

classdef Person
properties
    FirstName string % *
    LastName string 
    PhoneNumber double {mustBePositive,mustBeInRange(PhoneNumber,0000000000,99999999999)} % **
end
end

Some notes:

• the class must be in its own separate .m file which has to have the same name as the class itself
• you can set validation in the property section itself. It can be of type (*) or of more complex nature (**). You can read more here Class Validation Docs
• Classes may or may not have methods, but still give them a look. Some methods like constructors, ... can be useful in any case.
• Be careful to not override already existent classes (the name is important)

To call the class just do:

 mike = person; %creates mike object
 mike.LastName='VeryImportantSurname' %assigns to its property

if you were to use constructors the code (incomplete for case handling, just an example) would be instead:

   classdef person
    properties
        FirstName string
        LastName string
        PhoneNumber double ...
            {mustBePositive,mustBeInRange(PhoneNumber,0000000000,99999999999)}
    end

    methods
        function obj=person(Fn,Ln,Pn)
            if nargin == 3
                obj.FirstName=Fn;
                obj.LastName=Ln;
                obj.PhoneNumber=Pn;
            end
        end
    end
end 

This would allow to call and assign directly:

mike=person('Mike','VeryImportantSurname',87345929) %creates mike object and assigns properties