title: Matlab GUI: referencing an existing object handle using a variable
body: <p>I am currently working on my matlab final project for school. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable and proficient when it comes to programming.. but Matlab simply has TOO many oddities.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p><strong><em>The fundamental question</em></strong> <em>(realized this after finding the answer)!</em> How can I use a variable in a call to a gui handle object
    without the name of the variable being used instead of the value? </p>
    
    <p><em>In other words:</em> <strong>Use a variable in a field name</strong> (If I had known it was this simple I wouldn't of asked)</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><em>My project</em> is building a simple rendition of the age old 'Battleship' game.</p>
  
  <p><strong>My issue</strong>: I currently 5 objects (axes) for the ship pieces. They are selected one at a time to be moved into another location(the grid). <em>I am able to</em> use the <strong>setpixelposition</strong> to move each object after a <strong>button</strong> click.  </p>
  
  <p>Right now under the button click, I have something like this</p>
  
  <pre><code>function btnPlaceShip_Callback(hObject, eventdata, handles) 
  
      %Store the current selected ship(passed from an onclick to a label) 
      ship = get(handles.lblSelectedShip,'string');
  
      %I have tried everything I could think of, but basically I want to achieve the
      %following
  
      setpixelposition(handles.ship, [0 250 50 250]) 
      %where the variable 'ship' contains the name of the object.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In other words, the <em>var</em> <strong>ship</strong> = 'shipAircraftCarrier', and..</p>
  
  <pre><code>    setpixelposition(handles.shipAircraftCarrier, [0 250 50 250]) 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>works!</strong>(sets the position of the specific ship indicated). Using the variable <strong>ship</strong>, however, matlab takes the string literally and not for its value. It would be extremely convenient to use the variable instead!</p>
  
  <p>If anyone have any solutions, I would be grateful. I have scoured the web but perhaps I am missing some fundamental understanding of the Matlab GUI stuff - The matlab help documents are very non-descriptive and are not of much help.</p>