Extend MATLAB Using Extension Points

Since R2025a

You can extend various functionalities of MATLAB® using extension points. For example, you can use extension points to add items to the quick access toolbar or to the Files panel context menu.

To use extension points:

  1. Create a JSON-formatted file named extensions.json.

  2. Add a set of JSON declarations to the file.

  3. Enable your customizations by adding extensions.json to the path.

Create extensions.json

To start extending MATLAB, create a JSON-formatted file named extensions.json and place it in a folder named resources. You can create more than one extensions.json file, as long as they are in different resources folders.

Add JSON Declarations

For each extension point that you want to use, add a set of JSON declarations to the extensions.json file. Add the JSON declarations to a single top-level JSON object in the extensions.json file. MATLAB extension points are organized by category in a tree-based hierarchy under the top-level namespace mw.

JSON uses braces to define objects and refers to objects as collections of name and value pairs. Because these terms are overloaded in the context of MATLAB, this documentation uses the term "property" instead of "name." JSON uses brackets to define arrays.

For example, this set of JSON declarations uses the mw.desktop.quickAccess extension point to add an item to the quick access toolbar and the mw.desktop.fileBrowsers.contextMenu extension point to add an item to the Files panel context menu.

{
    "mw.desktop.quickAccess": {
        "items": [
            {
                "name": "openCustomFunction",
                "type": "PushButton",
                "action": {
                    "text": "Open Custom Function",
                    "description": "Open my custom function",
                    "icon": "./icons/Open_16.png",
                    "callback": "openMyFunction"
                }
            }
        ]
    },
    "mw.desktop.fileBrowsers.contextMenu": {
        "sections": [
            {
                "name": "myToolbox.myCustomSection",
                "type": "SimpleMenuSection",
                "items": [
                    {
                        "name": "myToolbox.myItem1",
                        "type": "SimpleMenuItem",
                        "when": "selection.isEmpty",
                        "action": {
                            "name": "myToolbox.myItem1Action",
                            "type": "Action",
                            "text": "Item 1",
                            "icon": "./icons/Display_16.png",
                            "callback": "displayFileAttributes"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    }
}

Enable Your Customizations

After creating the extensions.json file, to enable your customizations, add the folder containing the resources folder with the extensions.json file to the MATLAB path. To add the folder to the path, use the addpath function or right-click the folder in the Files panel and select Add to Path > Selected Folders and Subfolders.

Use References with Extension Points

To reduce nesting within the extensions.json file, you can move the definition of objects out of your main extension point definition and then reference those objects within the definition. Moving object definitions out of the extension point definition effectively flattens the code structure and avoids deep nesting levels, improving the readability and maintainability of the extensions.json file.

To define an object outside of the main extension point structure, add the JSON declaration for the object after the main extension point definition, using a unique identifier to identify the object. If the object includes a name property, omit this property from the object definition. Then, use the format #referenceObject to reference the object, where referenceObject is the unique identifier for the object.

For example, this code shows how to use reference objects with the mw.desktop.fileBrowsers.contextMenu extension point to add an item to the Files panel context menu.

{
    "mw.desktop.fileBrowsers.contextMenu": {
        "sections": [
            "#myToolbox.myCustomSection"
        ]
    },
    "myToolbox.myCustomSection": {
        "type": "SimpleMenuSection",
        "items": [
            "#myToolbox.myItem1"
        ]
    },
    "myToolbox.myItem1": {
        "type": "SimpleMenuItem",
        "when": "selection.isEmpty",
        "action": "#myToolbox.myItem1Action"
    },
    "myToolbox.myItem1Action": {
        "type": "Action",
        "text": "Item 1",
        "icon": "./icons/Display_16.png",
        "callback": "displayFileAttributes"
    }
}

See Also

|

Topics