xlswrite dropping strings

I'm trying to write to an xls file and for the most part it's working, however it is not writing my strings.

result.xls_full_data: {401x17 cell}

xlswrite(file_out, results.xls_full_data, 1, '2');

what am I missing here?

Thanks!

Answer 1

[Kye Taylor]

It's hard to tell without more detail on the contents of result.xls_full_data. However, if your strings are nested in a cell inside a cell, xlswrite will overlook them. To be precise, consider the two different cell arrays below

 X = [num2cell(rand(4,7)),{'red';'blue';'green';'yellow'}]

and

 Y = [num2cell(rand(4,7)),{{'red'};{'blue'};{'green'};{'yellow'}}]

The difference between X and Y is that the cells containing strings in X are cells whose contents are strings, whereas the cells containing strings in Y are actually cells whose contents are cells whose contents are strings. (cell of cell of string)

If you attempt the following commands, you'll see that the strings in Y are not written to the mySecond.xls file.

 xlswrite('myFirst.xls',X,1,'2');

 xlswrite('mySecond.xls',Y,1,'2');

Perhaps this explains the behavior you're observing?

[Trader]

Kye,

I'm pretty sure I have the "Y" situation, how can you assign a string from one structure to another?

Here's what I have going on basically:

metrics.position(1) = {'waiting'};

results.full_data(end+1,:) = {metrics.position(1)}

[Kye Taylor]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but after the assignment

metrics.position(1) = {'waiting'};

metrics.position is a cell. Then, to avoid the cell-of-cell-of-string situation, modify your next assignment to

results.full_data(end+1,:) = metrics.position(1)

provided results.full_data is already a cell. If that doesn't work, what is returned when you type

class(results.full_data)

?

[Trader]

I see how that would work however the situation I'm in is just a little more complex...

the structure metric has several arrays, so how would you write the following?

metrics.position(1) = {'waiting'};

metrics.action(1) = {'short'};

metrics.name(1) = {'abc'};

results.full_data(end+1,:) = {metrics.position(1) metrics.action(1) metrics.name(1)}

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it!

[Kye Taylor]

No problem!

There's two ways we can proceed, but it depends on your answer to the following: Do you have all of metrics.position, metrics.action, and metrics.name before creating results.full_data?

Other questions that could help if answered include:

1.) True or False? The output of class(results.full_data) is cell.

2.) What is the size of metrics.position, metrics.action, and metrics.name?

3.) How big do you expect results.full_data to be when it's all over? I.e. how many cells will you write to in the excel file?

In the meantime, if metrics.position, metrics.action, and metrics.name are n-by-1 cell arrays, then you may want to try

results.full_data = [metrics.position,metrics.action,metrics.name];

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

In

xlswrite(file_out, results.xls_full_data, 1, '2');

You're writing out to sheet "1" (which is fine), but cell "2" which I don't think is. Give it an upper left cell designation, like "A1" or "c23" or something like that.