Engine functions: Calling MATLAB from a C application

Question

I'm trying to call a user-defined MATLAB function from a C application, but I'm having trouble getting even the simplest engine scenario to work. Below is a program that should simply print a = 1 into the MATLAB command window. But when I run it, nothing happens!

#include "engine.h"
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main() 
{ 
  Engine *ep; 

  if (!(ep = engOpen("\0"))) { 
    fprintf(stderr, "\nCan't start MATLAB engine\n"); 
    return EXIT_FAILURE; 
  } 

  engOutputBuffer(ep, NULL, 0); 

  engEvalString(ep, "a = 1"); 

  engClose(ep); 
  return EXIT_SUCCESS; 
} 

Answer 1

stdout output is not sent to the MATLAB Engine console. You can specify your own output buffer using

char engOutput[300];
engOutputBuffer(ep, engOutput, 300);

engEvalString(ep, "disp('test')");

You will then have to print engOutput yourself.

If the purpose of the print is just to verify the engine is working, you can go to the engine console and type "a" to see that the variable was created.