Question

Is there a way to create two toggle buttons in a Matlab GUI such that one toggles the other? In other words, if button A is on, how can I create a button B that when turned on makes A go off?

Answer 1

I have version R2009a, so I don’t know if this works for you or not:

I defined two push buttons with guide (with default names). When the first is clicked it is disabled (Enable: Off), its Value set to 1 and its String to On; the second push button is set to the other state. A similar behavior is given to the other button.

% --- Executes on button press in pushbutton1.
function pushbutton1_Callback(hObject, eventdata, handles)
set(handles.pushbutton1,'Value',1,'String','On','Enable','Off')
set(handles.pushbutton2,'Value',0,'String','Off','Enable','On')
get(handles.pushbutton1)

% --- Executes on button press in pushbutton2.
function pushbutton2_Callback(hObject, eventdata, handles)
set(handles.pushbutton1,'Value',0,'String','Off','Enable','On')
set(handles.pushbutton2,'Value',1,'String','On','Enable','Off')

If you want to toggle the behavior of button2 according to the state of button1 then do the following:

% --- Executes on button press in pushbutton1.
function pushbutton1_Callback(hObject, eventdata, handles)

% this toggles button1 between 0 and 1 and its label between 'On' and 'Off'
p = 1-get(handles.pushbutton1,'Value');   
set(handles.pushbutton1,'Value',p)
if p==0
    set(handles.pushbutton1,'String','Off')
else
    set(handles.pushbutton1,'String','On')
end



% --- Executes on button press in pushbutton2.
function pushbutton2_Callback(hObject, eventdata, handles)

% Behavior of button2 is dependent on state of button1
p = get(handles.pushbutton1,'Value');

if p==0
    % Do this when button1 has its label to 'Off' (and Value to 0)
else
    % This will execute when button1 has a Value of 1 (and its label showing 'On')
end

Is this what you need?