compiler.build.standaloneApplication - Create standalone application for deployment outside MATLAB - MATLAB (original) (raw)

Create standalone application for deployment outside MATLAB

Since R2020b

Syntax

Description

compiler.build.standaloneApplication([AppFile](#mw%5F81acb3eb-ac07-4a83-a79f-78b93f5eab13)) creates a deployable standalone application using a MATLAB® function, class, or app specified by AppFile. The executable type is determined by your operating system. The generated executable does not include MATLAB Runtime or an installer.

example

compiler.build.standaloneApplication([AppFile](#mw%5F81acb3eb-ac07-4a83-a79f-78b93f5eab13),[Name,Value](#namevaluepairarguments)) creates a standalone application with additional options specified using one or more name-value arguments. Options include the executable name, help text, and icon image.

example

compiler.build.standaloneApplication([opts](#mw%5Fa47875f5-3a84-410b-9b4c-553a4c1d621e)) creates a standalone application with additional options specified using acompiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions objectopts. You cannot specify any other options using name-value arguments.

example

[results](#mw%5F1180a77b-f248-43ef-b8b2-8e83e76184e9) = compiler.build.standaloneApplication(___) returns build information as a compiler.build.Results object using any of the argument combinations in previous syntaxes. The build information consists of the build type, paths to the compiled files, and build options.

example

Examples

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Create a standalone application using a function file that generates a magic square.

In MATLAB, locate the MATLAB code that you want to deploy as a standalone application. For this example, compile using the file magicsquare.m.

appFile = fullfile(which('magicsquare.m'));

Build a standalone application using thecompiler.build.standaloneApplication command.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(appFile);

This syntax generates the following files within a folder namedmagicsquarestandaloneApplication in your current working directory:

includedSupportPackages.txt — Text file that lists all support files included in the application.
magicsquare.exe or magicsquare — Executable file that has the .exe extension if compiled on a Windows® system, or no extension if compiled on Linux® or macOS systems.
run_magicsquare.sh — Shell script file that sets the library path and executes the application. This file is only generated on Linux and macOS systems.
mccExcludedFiles.log — Log file that contains a list of any toolbox functions that were not included in the application. For information on non-supported functions, see MATLAB Compiler Limitations.
readme.txt — Text file that contains information on deployment prerequisites and the list of files to package for deployment.
requiredMCRProducts.txt — Text file that contains product IDs of products required by MATLAB Runtime to run the application.
unresolvedSymbols.txt — Text file that contains information on unresolved symbols.

To run magicsquare from MATLAB with the input argument 4, navigate to themagicsquarestandaloneApplication folder and execute one of the following commands based on your operating system:

Operating System	Test in MATLAB Command Window
Windows	!magicsquare 4
macOS	system(['./run_magicsquare.sh ',matlabroot,' 4']);
Linux	!./magicsquare 4

The application outputs a 4-by-4 magic square.

16     2     3    13
 5    11    10     8
 9     7     6    12
 4    14    15     1

To run your standalone application outside of MATLAB, see Run Standalone Application.

Create a standalone application and customize it using name-value arguments.

Write a MATLAB function that uses a subfunction to compute the diagonal components of a magic square. Save the functions to files named mymagicdiag.m andmydiag.m.

function out = mymagicdiag(in) X = magic(in); out = mydiag(X);

function out = mydiag(in) out = [diag(in)]';

Build the standalone application using mymagicdiag.m. Use name-value pair arguments to specify the executable name, add themydiag.m function file, and interpret command line inputs as numeric doubles.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication('mymagicdiag.m', ... 'ExecutableName','MagicDiagApp', ... 'AdditionalFiles','mydiag.m', ... 'TreatInputsAsNumeric','On')

To run MagicDiagApp from MATLAB with the input argument 4, navigate to theMagicDiagAppstandaloneApplication folder and execute one of the following commands based on your operating system:

Operating System	Test in MATLAB Command Window
Windows	!MagicDiagApp 4
macOS	system(['./run_MagicDiagApp.sh ',matlabroot,' 4']);
Linux	!./MagicDiagApp 4

The application outputs the diagonal entries of a4-by-4 magic square.

Create multiple standalone applications on a Windows system using a compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions object.

Create a standalone application using the filemagicsquare.m.

appFile = fullfile(which('magicsquare'));

Create a StandaloneApplicationOptions object usingappFile. Use name-value arguments to specify a common output directory, interpret command line inputs as numeric doubles, and display progress information during the build process.

opts = compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions(appFile,... 'OutputDir','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\MagicBatch',... 'TreatInputsAsNumeric','On',... 'Verbose','On')

opts =

StandaloneApplicationOptions with properties:

        CustomHelpTextFile: ''
          EmbedArchive: on
        ExecutableIcon: 'C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2025a\toolbox\compiler\packagingResources\default_icon_48.png'
        ExecutableName: 'magicsquare'
ExecutableSplashScreen: 'C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2025a\toolbox\compiler\packagingResources\default_splash.png'
     ExecutableVersion: '1.0.0.0'
               AppFile: 'C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2025a\extern\examples\compiler\magicsquare.m'
  TreatInputsAsNumeric: on
       AdditionalFiles: {}
   AutoDetectDataFiles: on
 ExternalEncryptionKey: [0×0 struct]
      ObfuscateArchive: off
       SecretsManifest: ''
       SupportPackages: {'autodetect'}
               Verbose: on
             OutputDir: 'D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\MagicBatch'

Build a standalone application by passing theStandaloneApplicationOptions object as an input to the build function.

compiler.build.standaloneApplication(opts);

To create a new standalone application using the function fileexample2.m with the same options, use dot notation to modify theAppFile of the existingStandaloneApplicationOptions object before running the build function again.

opts.AppFile = 'example2.m'; compiler.build.standaloneApplication(opts);

By modifying the AppFile argument and recompiling, you can create multiple applications using the same options object.

Create a standalone application and save information about the build type, generated files, included support packages, and build options to acompiler.build.Results object.

Compile using the file magicsquare.m.

results = compiler.build.standaloneApplication('magicsquare.m')

results =

          BuildType: 'standaloneApplication'
              Files: {2×1 cell}

IncludedSupportPackages: {} Options: [1×1 compiler.build.StandaloneApplicationOptions]
RuntimeDependencies: [1×1 compiler.runtime.Dependencies]

The Files property contains the paths to themagicsquare standalone executable andreadme.txt files.

Input Arguments

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Path to the main file used to build the application, specified as a row character vector or string scalar. The file must be a MATLAB function, class, or app of one of the following types:.m, .p, .mlx,.mlapp, or a valid MEX file.

Example: 'mymagic.m'

Data Types: char | string

Name-Value Arguments

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Specify optional pairs of arguments asName1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: OutputDir='D:\work\myproject'

Additional files and folders to include in the standalone application, specified as a character vector, a string scalar, a string array, or a cell array of character vectors. Paths can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

Example: 'AdditionalFiles',["myvars.mat","myfunc.m"]

Data Types: char | string | cell

Flag to automatically include data files, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent totrue, and 'off' is equivalent tofalse. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

If you set this property to 'on', then data files that you provide as inputs to certain functions (such asload and fopen) are automatically included in the standalone application. This is the default behavior.
If you set this property to 'off', then you must add data files to the application using theAdditionalFiles property.

Example: 'AutoDetectDataFiles','Off'

Data Types: logical

Path to a help file containing help text for the end user of the application, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

Example: 'CustomHelpTextFile','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\help.txt'

Data Types: char | string

Flag to embed the deployable archive, specified as 'on' or'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent totrue, and 'off' is equivalent tofalse. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

If you set this property to 'on', then the function embeds the archive in the deployable executable.
If you set this property to 'off', then the function generates the deployable archive as a separate file.

Example: 'EmbedArchive','Off'

Data Types: logical

Path to the icon image, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The image is used as the icon for the standalone executable. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute. Accepted image types are.jpg, .jpeg, .png,.bmp, and .gif.

The default path is:

'__matlabroot_\toolbox\compiler\packagingResources\default_icon_48.png'

Example: 'ExecutableIcon','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\images\myIcon.png'

Data Types: char | string

Name of the generated application, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The default value is the file name of AppFile. Target output names must begin with a letter or underscore character and contain only alpha-numeric characters or underscores.

Example: 'ExecutableName','MagicSquare'

Data Types: char | string

Path to the splash screen image, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute. Accepted image types are .jpg, .jpeg,.png, .bmp, and.gif. The image is resized to 400 pixels by 400 pixels.

The default path is:

'__matlabroot_\toolbox\compiler\packagingResources\default_splash.png'

Note

This is only used in Windows applications built usingcompiler.build.standaloneWindowsApplication.

Example: 'ExecutableSplashScreen','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\images\mySplash.png'

Data Types: char | string

Executable version, specified as a character vector or a string scalar.

Note

This is only used on Windows operating systems.

Example: 'ExecutableVersion','4.0'

Data Types: char | string

Since R2024b

Paths to the external AES encryption key and MEX key loader files, specified as a scalar struct with exactly two row char vector or string scalar fields named EncryptionKeyFile andRuntimeKeyLoaderFile, respectively. Both struct fields are required. File paths can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

For example, specify the encryption key as encrypt.key and loader file as loader.mexw64 using structkeyValueStruct.

keyValueStruct.EncryptionKeyFile='encrypt.key'; keyValueStruct.RuntimeKeyLoaderFile='loader.mexw64'

The encryption key file must be in one of the following supported formats:

Binary 256-bit AES key, with a 32 byte file size
Hex encoded AES key, with a 64 byte file size

The MEX file loader retrieves the decryption key at runtime and must be an interface with the following arguments:

prhs[0] — Input, char array specified as the static value 'get'
prhs[1] — Input, char array specified as the CTF component UUID
plhs[0] — Output, 32 byte UINT8 numeric array or 64 byte hex encoded char array, depending on the key format

Avoid sharing the same key across multiple CTFs.

Example: 'ExternalEncryptionKey',keyValueStruct

Data Types: struct

Flag to obfuscate the deployable archive, specified as'on'/1/true or 'off'/0/false. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.onoffSwitchState.

If you set this property to 'on', then folder structures and file names in the deployable archive are obfuscated from the end user, and user code and data contained in .m,.mlapp, .p, .mat, MLX, SFX, and MEX files are placed into a user package within the archive. Additionally, all .m files are converted to P-files before packaging.

During runtime, MATLAB code and data is decrypted and loaded directly from the user package rather than extracted to the file system. MEX files are temporarily extracted from the user package before being loaded.

To manually include additional file types in the user package, add each file type in a separate extension tag to the file_`matlabroot`_/toolbox/compiler/advanced_package_supported_files.xml.

The following are not supported:

ver function
Calling external libraries such as DLLs
Out-of-process MATLAB Runtime (C++ shared library for MATLAB Data Array)
Out-of-process MEX file execution (mexhost,feval,matlab.mex.MexHost)
Before R2023b: .mat files other than v7.3

Enabling this option is equivalent to using mcc with-j and -s specified.

If you set this property to 'off', then the deployable archive is not obfuscated. This is the default behavior.

Example: 'ObfuscateArchive','on'

Data Types: logical

Path to the output directory where the build files are saved, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

The default name of the build folder is the executable name appended withstandaloneApplication.

Example: 'OutputDir','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\MagicSquarestandaloneApplication'

Data Types: char | string

Since R2024b

Path to a secret manifest JSON file that specifies the secret keys to be embedded in the deployable archive, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The path can be relative to the current working directory or absolute.

If your MATLAB code calls the getSecret, getSecretMetadata, or isSecret function, you must specify the secret keys to embed in the deployable archive in a JSON secret manifest file. If your code callsgetSecret and you do not specify theSecretsManifest option, MATLAB Compiler™ issues a warning and generates a template JSON file in the output folder named_`<componentname>`__secrets_manifest.json. Modify this file by specifying the secret key names in the Embedded field.

The setSecret function is not deployable. To embed secret keys in a deployable archive, you must call setSecret in MATLAB before you build the archive.

For more information on deployment using secrets, see Handle Sensitive Information in Deployed Applications.

Example: 'SecretsManifest','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\mycomponent\mycomponent_secrets_manifest.json'

Data Types: char | string

Support packages to include, specified as one of the following options:

'autodetect' (default) — The dependency analysis process detects and includes the required support packages automatically.
'none' — No support packages are included. Using this option can cause runtime errors.
A string scalar, character vector, or cell array of character vectors — Only the specified support packages are included. To list installed support packages or those used by a specific file, seecompiler.codetools.deployableSupportPackages.

Example: 'SupportPackages',{'Deep Learning Toolbox Converter for TensorFlow Models','Deep Learning Toolbox Model for Places365-GoogLeNet Network'}

Data Types: char | string | cell

Flag to interpret command line inputs as numeric values, specified as'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent tofalse. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

If you set this property to 'on', then command line inputs are treated as numeric MATLAB doubles.
If you set this property to 'off', then command line inputs are treated as MATLAB character vectors. This is the default behavior.

Example: 'TreatInputsAsNumeric','on'

Data Types: logical

Flag to control build verbosity, specified as 'on' or'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent totrue, and 'off' is equivalent tofalse. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

If you set this property to 'on', then the MATLAB command window displays progress information indicating compiler output during the build process.
If you set this property to 'off', then the command window does not display progress information. This is the default behavior.

Example: 'Verbose','on'

Data Types: logical

Output Arguments

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Build results, returned as a compiler.build.Results object. The Results object contains:

The build type, which is 'standaloneApplication'
Paths to the compiled files
A list of included support packages
Build options, specified as a StandaloneApplicationOptions object
A list of required and optional dependencies, specified as aDependencies object

Tips

To create a standalone application from the system command prompt using this function, use the matlab function with the -batch option. For example:
matlab -batch compiler.build.standaloneApplication('mymagic.m')

Version History

Introduced in R2020b

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Use the ExternalEncryptionKey option to specify a 256-bit AES encryption key and a MEX-file loader interface to retrieve the decryption key at runtime. This option is equivalent to the mcc -k option.

Use the SecretsManifest option to include a JSON file that specifies secrets to embed within your deployable code archive. This option is equivalent to themcc -J option.

Use the ObfuscateArchive option to obfuscate folder structures and file names, and place MATLAB file data and user code into a user package within the archive. Additionally, all .m files are converted to P-files before packaging. This option is equivalent to using mcc with -j and-s specified.

Use the SupportPackages option to specify support packages to include in the deployable code archive.