An automated process for generating archival data files from MATLAB figures

A new directive from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy requires that all publications supported by federal funding agencies (\emph{e.g.} Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation) include machine-readable datasets for figures and tables\footnote{J.P. Holdren. MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES. ``Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.'' https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ ostp\_public\_access\_memo\_2013.pdf}. An automated script was developed at the PSFC to make this process easier for authors using the MATLAB plotting environment to create figures. All relevant data (x, y, z, errorbars) and metadata (line style, color, symbol shape, labels) are contained within the MATLAB .fig file created when saving a figure. The \emph{export\_fig} script extracts data and metadata from a .fig file and exports it into an HDF5 data file with no additional user input required. Support is included for a number of plot types including 2-D and 3-D line, contour, and surface plots, quiver plots, bar graphs, and histograms.