Opening file with external application fails

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Hi,
I'm attempting to open a file with an external application by calling system as follows:
[status, results] = system('open -a myExtApp path/to/filename.extension')
This results in the applicaiton (myExtApp) to bounce a couple time on my deck, then it disappears. The app fails to launch, although status is 0.
If I type
open -a myExtApp path/to/filename.extension
straight from terminal, then it does launch the file fine.
Any help would be appreciated... Thanks!
N

Accepted Answer

Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 21 Apr 2014
At the terminal, give the command
printenv
and in MATLAB give the command
system('printenv')
and compare the two. Look in particular at PATH and any variable starting with LD_ or DYLD_
On my OS-X system, in addition to changes to PATH, I see DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH and DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH set within MATLAB but not set at the terminal. You might need to do something like,
system('unset DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH; open -a myExtApp path/to/filename.extension')
  2 Comments
Nicolas
Nicolas on 21 Apr 2014
Yes! Thank you very much. Could you tell me what happens when I unset these variables? How does it prevent the app from launching? I wasn't able to gather much info on this. Thanks!
Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 22 Apr 2014
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/dyld.1.html
It will take me a bit of time to write up an explanation.

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