MAT-File IO Library for LabVIEW

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What's this all about?

This is a library of LabVIEW VIs that allow you to read and write level 5 MATLAB MAT-files without requiring MATLAB to be installed on the computer. The code is written in pure G (LabVIEW source code) with no external libraries, so it can be used on any computer that LabVIEW runs on (Windows Vista/XP/2000, Mac OS X, and Linux). Anybody is free to download and use the library. It is licensed under a BSD-style license.

Why use level 5 mat-files?

Here is a snippet from the public mat-file documentation published by the makers of Matlab.

" The Level 5 MAT-file format supports all the array types supported in MATLAB Versions 5 and up, including multidimensional numeric arrays, character arrays, sparse arrays, cell arrays, structures, and objects.

The Level 4 MAT-file format is a simpler format, but it only supports two-dimensional matrices and character strings. "

Additionally, the level 5 format allows transparent compression using fast and effective gzip compression utility. This can reduce the size of your data files significantly.

What's the current state of the library?

The current version is matio-0.1-4.

What works?

All of the features appear to be working after some experimentation. These features include reading and writing 1D and 2D double arrays, char arrays, logical arrays, cell arrays, and struct arrays. Reading and writing objects and sparse arrays are also supported.
Unit tests have been made for 1D and 2D double arrays, 1D and 2D char arrays, and 1D and 2D logical arrays. These features all passed the tests. Unit tests help to prove that a particular unit of code is doing what it is supposed to be doing.

What else needs to be done?

Unit tests need to be created for structs and cell arrays.
All of the public VIs need to be documented
Some form of major documentation or a FAQ needs to be developed to help users quickly learn how to use the library.

If you would like to help test the software, you can download it using the link below.

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Usage Notes:

Compiled using LabVIEW 8.2.1.
Requires some OpenG libraries, which you can download using VIPM

Other Notes:

Logo was derived from the folder icon in the Tango Icon Library, and also from the image of the L-shaped membrane (resembling MATLAB's logo) hosted on Wikipedia.
MATLAB is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.
LabVIEW is a registered trademark of National Instruments.