Running MATLAB from Mac Automator

When I run MATLAB from a Terminal window with this command

/Applications/MATLAB_R2014a.app/bin/matlab

it opens MATLAB normally.

I have been experimenting with Automator to open MATLAB as part of a workflow. Inside Automator, I choose "Run Shell Script" and put the above command inside the script.

I then run the application. It definitely opens MATLAB -- the splash screen appears -- but then it shuts down immediately, presumably because the script is completing and exiting. Anyone know how to get MATLAB to stay open in this situation?

Answer 1

[Ken Atwell]

Two possibilities to try:

• Add -desktop to the command line invocation of MATLAB
• Add & to the end of the command line to fork the MATLAB process

[the cyclist]

Thanks, Ken. (Had a suspicion you would step in here!)

I tried the ampersand already, to no avail, but I'll try the -desktop as well.

[the cyclist]

Using "-desktop" did it! Thanks.

Just because you may be interested in why ...

I was doing it to see if I could get around the blurry rendering on Retina displays that recent versions of MATLAB have.

The answer there only works for MATLAB called from a shell, so I wanted to try it, but using automator to call the shell from the dock.

Added these lines to the bash script:

export MATLAB_JAVA="/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home"

/Applications/MATLAB_R2014a.app/bin/matlab -desktop

and voila, crisp MATLAB again!

Answer 2

[florian]

I created the following based on your work - thank you guys! http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/102946#answer_131990