How to make matlab wait for a value to be input in an empty excel cell

Hi,

I am trying to do some calculations using a table on my excel file as an input to my MATLAB code. Is it possible to tell MATLAB to wait until an empty excel cell receives a value (from other programs)?

For example, consider a MATLAB code that calculates the Z column using values from the Y column. The problem is that the Y column is calculated using another (very slow) program.

X | Y | Z |

-----------

1 | 23| 91|

2 | 42| 24|

3 | 26| 34|

4 | □|___|

5 | _ | __ |

□ is the empty cell waiting for an input from the other program. Once this value is received, MATLAB calculates the Z-value, and the other program calculates the next Y-value in the next row using the Z-value just calculated from MATLAB.

My explanation might be confusing, but I hope you understand my question.

Thank you very much in advance!

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

Can't you just put xlsread() in a loop and check the value. Then break from the loop once the cell is not empty. I'd also put a check on time since you don't want to get into an infinite loop you can't get out of, like wiat for 100 seconds or so

startTime = tic;
elapsedTime = toc(startTime);
while elaspedTime < 100
    [numbers, strings, raw] = xlsread(......
    if ~isempty(some cell........
         break;  % Exit from the loop since they entered something.
    end
    elapsedTime = toc(startTime);
end

[Kota Matsuo]

Exactly what I need! I was looking for the "isempty" command. As you guessed I am fairly new to MATLAB. And so the timing and while loop structure you wrote is also very helpful for me. Thank you so much!

P.S. I took a look at your demos and tutorials on your File Exchange. Your work looks very interesting! I will definitely go through them ;)