Demo Plugin (App Designer)¶

Overview¶

DemoPlugin is the minimal example of a batch-compatible AppDesigner plugin for Microscopy Image Browser (MIB3). It does no real image processing — instead it shows how every common widget type round-trips through a BatchOpt structure, and demonstrates the three calling modes that make a plugin usable from the Batch Processing dialog and from recorded macros.

Access it via Ribbon → Plugins → Tutorials → DemoPlugin. Source: mib/plugins/Tutorials/DemoPlugin/.

Where this fits

GuiTutorial — basic GUI plugin with four real operations (no batch).
DemoPlugin (this page) — the smallest possible BatchOpt / batch template.
GuiTutorial (Batch) — the four operations plus full batch support.

Five concepts it demonstrates¶

BatchOpt structure — one struct holds every parameter; field names match widget Tags.
GUI ↔ BatchOpt sync — utils.updateGUIFromBatchOpt_Shared and utils.updateBatchOptFromGUI_Shared.
Three calling modes — interactive, headless/batch, and query.
Progress reporting — core.PoolWaitbar (safe inside parfor).
Macro registration — returnBatchOpt() fires SyncBatch so the run can be replayed.

Files¶

mib/plugins/Tutorials/DemoPlugin/
    DemoPlugin.m         ← controller
    DemoPluginGUI.mlapp  ← AppDesigner view
    icon_24px.png / icon_16px.png

The class name equals the folder name. For the view-side requirements (winController property, startupFcn, callbacks delegating to app.winController.<method>()) see GuiTutorial → The View.

The `BatchOpt` structure¶

Every tunable parameter is a field of obj.BatchOpt, and each field name must match the Tag of its AppDesigner widget exactly (case-sensitive). The shared utilities find widgets by Tag, so a mismatch silently skips the widget.

Widget type	`BatchOpt` encoding
`uieditfield`	scalar string / char
`uicheckbox`	`logical`
`uidropdown`	`{selectedString, {'opt1','opt2',…}}` (element 2 optional)
`uibuttongroup`	`{selectedRadioTag, {'Tag1','Tag2',…}}` (element 2 metadata only)
`uispinner`	`{value, [min max], 'on'/'off'}` (`'on'` = round to integer)

Defaults (constructor Step 1)

obj.BatchOpt.Parameter           = 'my parameter';                          % uieditfield
obj.BatchOpt.Checkbox            = true;                                     % uicheckbox
obj.BatchOpt.Dropdown{1}         = 'Option 3';                              % uidropdown
obj.BatchOpt.Dropdown{2}         = {'Option 1','Option 2','Option 3'};
obj.BatchOpt.RadioButtonGroup{1} = 'Radio2';                               % uibuttongroup
obj.BatchOpt.RadioButtonGroup{2} = {'Radio1','Radio2','Radio3'};
obj.BatchOpt.ParameterNumeric    = {512.125, [0 1024], 'off'};             % uispinner
obj.BatchOpt.showWaitbar         = true;
obj.BatchOpt.id = obj.mibModel.getActiveId();   % NOT a widget; stripped before recording

Batch metadata (constructor Step 2)

obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchSectionName = 'Ribbon -> Plugins';
obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchActionName  = 'Demo Plugin';
obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchTooltip.Parameter        = 'Text or numeric string';
obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchTooltip.Checkbox         = 'Logical flag (true / false)';
obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchTooltip.Dropdown         = 'Dropdown — pass a cell with the selected item string';
obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchTooltip.RadioButtonGroup = 'Radio group — pass a cell with the selected radio Tag';
obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchTooltip.ParameterNumeric = 'Numeric — pass a cell {value, [min max], roundFlag}';
obj.BatchOpt.mibBatchTooltip.showWaitbar      = 'Show or suppress the progress dialog';

Three calling modes¶

% Interactive (from the Plugins ribbon):
utils.startController(parentObj, 'DemoPlugin');

% Headless / batch (BatchOpt provided — e.g. macro replay):
BatchOpt.Parameter = 'hello';
BatchOpt.Checkbox  = false;
DemoPlugin(mibModel, parentObj, BatchOpt);

% Query mode — return default BatchOpt without executing:
DemoPlugin(mibModel, parentObj, NaN);

The constructor branches on a 3^rd argument exactly like GuiTutorialBatch: a struct runs headless, NaN advertises parameters via returnBatchOpt, anything else is an error. With no 3^rd argument it builds the GUI (core.ChildView, icon, utils.moveWindowOutside, utils.fontSizeUpdate, CloseRequestFcn, updateWidgets, listeners). In headless mode obj.view stays [].

The standard batch methods¶

updateWidgets — push BatchOpt into the GUI

function updateWidgets(obj)
    if isempty(obj.view); return; end                    % no-op in batch mode
    if isfield(obj.BatchOpt, 'id')
        obj.BatchOpt.id = obj.mibModel.getActiveId();     % keep id current (split-panel)
    end
    obj.view = utils.updateGUIFromBatchOpt_Shared(obj.view, obj.BatchOpt);
end

updateBatchOptFromGUI — pull a changed widget into BatchOpt

function updateBatchOptFromGUI(obj, event)
    obj.BatchOpt = utils.updateBatchOptFromGUI_Shared(obj.BatchOpt, event.Source);
end

Wire it as the ValueChangedFcn of every interactive widget:

function Parameter_ValueChanged(app, event)
    app.winController.updateBatchOptFromGUI(event);
end

returnBatchOpt — register the run in the macro

function returnBatchOpt(obj, BatchOptOut)
    if nargin < 2; BatchOptOut = obj.BatchOpt; end
    if isfield(BatchOptOut, 'id'); BatchOptOut = rmfield(BatchOptOut, 'id'); end
    notify(obj.mibModel, 'SyncBatch', core.ToggleEventData(BatchOptOut));
end

Calculate¶

Calculate is where the real work would go. Here it reads every BatchOpt value, shows them in the GUI text area (interactive) or prints them to the command window (headless), and demonstrates a cancellable core.PoolWaitbar. It must end with returnBatchOpt() so the operation is recorded.

Calculate (essentials)

function Calculate(obj)
    obj.BatchOpt.id = obj.mibModel.getActiveId();
    id = obj.BatchOpt.id;

    if ~isempty(obj.view) && isvalid(obj.view.gui)
        progressParent = obj.view.gui;            % UIFigure for PoolWaitbar
    else
        progressParent = obj.mibModel.mibGUI;     % batch mode fallback
    end
    if obj.BatchOpt.showWaitbar
        progressBar = core.PoolWaitbar(3, 'Starting…', progressParent, 'Demo Plugin', true);
    end

    % Virtual-stack guard (remove if your plugin supports virtual stacks):
    if strcmp(obj.mibModel.I{id}.datasetType, 'Virtual')
        % warn, then:
        notify(obj.mibModel, 'StopProtocol');
        if obj.BatchOpt.showWaitbar; progressBar.deletePoolWaitbar(); end
        obj.closeWindow(); return;
    end

    % ... do the work; poll progressBar.getCancelState() between units ...

    if obj.BatchOpt.showWaitbar; progressBar.deletePoolWaitbar(); end
    % notify(obj.mibModel, 'ShowImage');   % if you changed image/labels/mask
    obj.returnBatchOpt();                  % MUST be last
end

PoolWaitbar needs a real figure

core.PoolWaitbar requires a matlab.ui.Figure. The main MIB window (mibModel.mibGUI) is an AppContainer, so a plugin-level progress bar is only shown when the plugin's own UIFigure exists. In headless mode progress is reported by the Batch Processing GUI instead.

Registering in the Batch Processing dialog¶

To make the plugin selectable in Batch Processing, add it to controllers.BatchProcessing.initialize:

obj.Sections(secIndex).Actions(actionId).Name    = 'Demo Plugin';
obj.Sections(secIndex).Actions(actionId).Command = 'obj.mibController.startController(''DemoPlugin'', [], Batch);';
actionId = actionId + 1;

Adapting it to your own plugin¶

Copy DemoPlugin/ under mib/plugins/<YourSection>/, rename the folder, .m, and .mlapp to <YourName> (class name = folder name).
In AppDesigner, lay out your widgets and set each one's Tag to match a BatchOpt field name.
Redefine the BatchOpt defaults and mibBatchTooltip entries for your widgets.
Wire each widget's ValueChangedFcn to updateBatchOptFromGUI.
Put your processing code in Calculate, ending with returnBatchOpt().
Restart MIB — the plugin appears under Ribbon → Plugins → <YourSection> → <YourName>.

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