How do I run static analysis on custom classes?

Is there a mechanism in MATLAB to get it to run a static analysis/linter to ensure that my classes are being accessed correctly (no typos, undefined fields,...)? For example, say I have myclass.m:

classdef myclass
    properties
        prop (1,1) int16 {mustBePositive} = 1
    end
    
    methods
        % ...
    end
end

and script.m:

test = myclass;
test.prop = 2; % is fine

test.porp = 2; % error, 'prop' is misspelled

test.name = 'test'; % error, no property named 'name'

test.prop = 1.1; % error, 'prop' is an integer

test.prop = [1 2]; % error, 'prop' must have size (1,1)

The errors only show up once I run the code and not while I am editing. Is there a linter or something similar to what I get in C/C++ (in vscode for example) that can give me these errors without running everything? At the very least I'd like to be able to identify the first two issues (which are really the same issue) of trying to access a property that doesn't exist.

Answer 1

[Subhajyoti]

Hi @Benjamin Cerjan,

When you are typing in the MATLAB Editor, there are handy suggestions pop-up for objects, functions, variables, etc. by default. You can refer to the following link to know more about ‘Customize Code Suggestions and Completions’ in MATLAB:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/customize-code-suggestions-and-completions.html

Also, you can run MATLAB Code in Visual Studio Code (VS Code) with features such as syntax highlighting, code analysis, navigation support, and more using the ‘MATLAB’ extension.

You can refer to the following link to know more about ‘Run MATLAB in Visual Studio Code’:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/cloudcenter/ug/run-matlab-in-visual-studio-code.html

Also, the following is a helpful resource you can refer to ‘Avoiding Repetitive Typing with Tab Completion’ in MATLAB:

https://www.mathworks.com/company/technical-articles/avoiding-repetitive-typing-with-tab-completion.html

I hope this helps.

[Benjamin]

Sure, but what if I edit the class after I write the script? Or if I ignore/miss the completions it doesn't flag test.name as an error (even though it should know that isn't a valid property?

I have a project where I recently altered one of the class used in several different places and it is tedious and error-prone to try and go through everything by hand looking for places where old names are referenced.