How to/Can I send commands to Matlab remotely

I have Matlab running on a computer, and I'm wondering if there is a way to send a command to Matlab from a remote computer. I understand this would require Matlab to open a port and be listening. Aside from writing a thread that runs in the background while Matlab is running, is there capability already in Matlab?

Example:

Matlab started on computer "sim"

Program in "interface" C++ code, independent program on remote computer:

     #include "MatlabInterface.h"

     int main(int argc,char*argv[])
     {
       MatlabInterface matlab("sim",PORT_NUMBER);
       std::string cmd("a=4");
       matlab.sendCommand(cmd);

       return 0;
     }

where "MatlabInterface" is a class that sets up ethernet socket calls and the "sendCommand" send a string of a certain length over that connection.

Edit:

Long story short, I'd like to run a command in the command window, but the input is an external source, not the Matlab window. Send a message to Matlab that says "Hey Matlab, run this string in your command window."

Answer 1

[Albert Yam]

What is it that you want to do remotely? If you want total control of Matlab, then just VNC.

If you want to run a script, my first thought was to have a urlread, read something like Etherpad or Evernote, to flip a trigger that is set on a timer function. Not sure if that would work like I imagine.

[Albert Yam]

http://www.mathworks.com/help/techdoc/ref/urlread.html

urlread reads the page as a string, have some keyword as the trigger (so you can regexp/strfind to find it) and eval the portion of the string after that. (Maybe an end keyword as well).

But I guess that is for shorter/simpler commands. How about uploading an M-file or txt-file to Dropbox/Google drive that you have access to, and urlwrite/run that directly. Start with an empty file, upload one with commands remotely. Not sure how files are saved there, and/or if the url changes.

Answer 2

[Jason Ross]

A few ways I can think if doing this:

• Parallel Computing Toolbox can have a MATLAB worker running on a remote server. When you submit a command, it runs on the remote machine's MATLAB worker.
• Instrument Control Toolbox has a way of providing communication over TCP/IP
• There is a TCP/UDP/IP Toolbox in the File Exchange
• You could use the iPhone/iPad application and connector to connect back to a MATLAB running on your desktop.
• Traditional remote control applications: VNC, Remote Desktop
• If the remote machine is Linux, you can use ssh/rsh to run MATLAB in a terminal shell

There are probably a few others I'm missing or that other people have done/implemented over time. Albert's suggestion of a polling function would also work, with the remote session looking for work on some set interval. Or finding work, generating an m script, then running MATLAB, passing the name of the script to it and returning results.

[Jay Kemper]

This is very close. I have the Parallel Computing toolkit, and Java can be used for the Socket command. I have successfully written a function that will listen for a string and then execute that string via "evalin('base','command')".

For a simple example, I use the function

function [] = thefunction()

evalin('base','g=56');

end

That creates a variable g and sets it to 56, but when I run

batch('thefunction',0,{});

it doesn't do anything of the sort in the base workspace. Any ideas?

[Jason Ross]

The worker that's running remotely is an entirely different process than a MATLAB that would be started on the remote machine, so I don't think they are going to communicate as you would like.