MATLAB App Designer

Comparing GUIDE and App Designer

MATLAB®offers users two interactive design environments for building apps: App Designer and GUIDE (GUI Design Environment).

Interactive Design Environment Introduced in Works with
App Designer R2016a uifigure
GUIDE 5.0 (1996) figure

App Designer is the recommended environment for building apps in MATLAB, and GUIDE will be removed in a future release of MATLAB.

After GUIDE is removed, existing GUIDE apps will continue to run in MATLAB, but will not be editable using the GUIDE environment. To continue editing an existing GUIDE-based app and help maintain its compatibility with future MATLAB releases, you can use the GUIDE to App Designer Migration Tool for MATLAB on File Exchange. Alternatively, you can export it from GUIDE to a single MATLAB file by selecting File > Export to MATLAB-file.

To help in deciding how to best proceed with your existing GUIDE app, please consider the following options and which will best meet your needs.

What can I do with my GUIDE app when GUIDE is removed?

Options
Action Do Nothing Export to .m Migrate to
App Designer		 Rebuild with
App Designer
Run app
- Initial effort to run app n/a Low Med High
Edit app layout
- Interactively
- Programmatically
Edit app code (behavior)
- Effort to maintain code Med Med Med Low
- Effort to enhance app High High Med Low

When creating new apps, you are strongly encouraged to use App Designer and theappdesignerfunction instead. To learn more about the benefits of App Designer and the features it supports, please review the table below.

Key
Support for interactive and programmatic app building
Support for programmatic app building only

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Component Library

Property Inspector

Component Browser

Callback Sharing

自定义应用程序图标

Diff & Merge Using Comparison Tool

Single-File Management for Code and User Interface

Modern Look & Feel

Toolstrip-Based Desktop

Rich Canvas Interactions

Embedded Code Editor

Rich Property Editors

App Metadata Management

Robust Programming Editor and Workflow

Quick Start Interactive Tutorial

应用Testing Framework Support

应用Templates

Code Editor

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Code Debugger

Code Folding

Code Analyzer

App Input Arguments

Rich Programming Aids

Quick Code Navigation

Global Component Rename

Utility Functions via Custom App Methods

Graphics Support

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

2D & 3D Plotting

Axes Support (axes, polaraxes, geoaxes)

Axes Interactions (pan, zoom, rotate)

Figure Interactions (keyboard and mouse events)

Printing

SeeDisplaying Graphics in App Designerin the MATLAB documentation for more information.

App Sharing and Access

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Share as MATLAB App Install File

Share as MATLAB Standalone Desktop App1

Share as MATLAB Web App1

Create, Edit, and Run Apps in MATLAB Online2

Export as Standalone MATLAB Class File

Containers and Layout Managers

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer
Context Menu
Toolbar

Panel

Menu Bar

Tab Group

Scrollable Containers

Grid Layout Manager
Auto-Reflow

Common Components

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Button

Drop Down

Edit Field (Text)

Label

List Box

Radio Button Group
Slider
Table
Text Area
Toggle Button Group
Date Picker
Edit Field (Numeric)
Image
Spinner
State Button
Tree

Dialogs and Notifications

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Alert Dialog

Confirmation Dialog
Progress Dialog
Color Picker
File Selection
Save File
Folder Selection
Load Variable
Save Variable

Instrumentation

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Gauge

90度计

Linear Gauge

Semicircular Gauge

Knob

离散的旋钮

Lamp
Switch
Rocker Switch
Toggle Switch
Airspeed Indicator3
Altimeter3
Climb Rate Indicator3
废气温度指示器3
Heading Indicator3
Artificial Horizon3
RPM Indicator3
Turn Indicator3

Component Extensibility

Design Environment

GUIDE4

App Designer

Custom Components

HTML Component
ActiveX Control4
  1. Requires MATLAB Compiler.
  2. MATLAB Online is available with select licenses.Check your eligibilityon mathworks.com/products/matlab-online.html.
  3. Requires Aerospace Toolbox.
  4. Will be removed in a future release.