How do I insert a MATLAB figure into an Excel Workbook through ActiveX?

I would like to paste a figure into a workbook directly from an MATLAB file.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This change has been incorporated into the documentation in Release 14 Service Pack 3 (R14SP3). For previous releases, read below for any additional information:

You can put a MATLAB figure into Excel using ActiveX. Here is an example that demonstrates two alternatives:

% Create sample image from figure

img = 'figure1.png';

plot(1:10);

print('-dpng', img);

% Get handle to Excel COM Server

Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');

% Set it to visible 

set(Excel,'Visible',1);

% Add a Workbook

Workbooks = Excel.Workbooks;

Workbook = invoke(Workbooks, 'Add');

% Get a handle to Sheets and select Sheet 1

Sheets = Excel.ActiveWorkBook.Sheets;

Sheet1 = get(Sheets, 'Item', 1);

Sheet1.Activate;

% Alternative 1 BEGIN.

% Get a handle to Shapes for Sheet 1

Shapes = Sheet1.Shapes;

% Add image

Shapes.AddPicture([pwd '\' img] ,0,1,400,18,300,235);

% Alternative 1 END.

% Alternative 2 BEGIN.

% Add image

Sheet1.invoke('Pictures').Insert([pwd '\' img]);

% Alternative 2 END.

% Save the workbook and Close Excel

invoke(Workbook, 'SaveAs', [pwd '\myfile.xls']);

invoke(Excel, 'Quit');

In the above code (Alternative 1), Excel's Shapes.AddPicture Method is used to insert a figure in the Excel Sheet. The syntax for AddPicture is:

expression.AddPicture(Filename, LinkToFile, SaveWithDocument, Left, Top, Width, Height), where expression is a variable that represents a Shapes object.

[Kevin Gleason]

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/96794-how-can-i-open-an-existing-excel-file-and-communicate-with-it-using-activex

You can get "Workbook" to be the existing book using the code in the link above, then insert the figure the same way as this answer tells.