switch_class.m

% To convert between classes
function objNew = switch_class(objOld,DesiredClass,OverrideError)
    if nargin<3 || isempty(OverrideError)
        OverrideError = false;
    end
    NewClassProp = metaclass(DesiredClass).PropertyList;   
    if ~OverrideError
        %If will lose data as a result of switching class, raise error.
        OldClassProp = metaclass(objOld).PropertyList;
        NewPropNames = cell(size(NewClassProp));
        for i=1:size(NewClassProp,1)
            NewPropNames{i} = NewClassProp(i).Name;
        end
        OldPropNames = cell(size(OldClassProp));
        for i=1:size(OldClassProp,1)
            OldPropNames{i} = OldClassProp(i).Name;
        end      
        DiffProp = setdiff(OldPropNames,NewPropNames);
        if size(DiffProp,1)~=0
            fprintf('Lost Data:\n');
            for i=1:size(DiffProp,1)
                fprintf([DiffProp{i},'\n']);
            end
            error(['Changing class will lose the above data. To overide this error, '...
                'run o=switch_class(o,NEW_CLASS,true);']);
        end                
    end
    
    objNew = DesiredClass;
    for k = 1:length(NewClassProp)
        try
            objNew.(NewClassProp(k).Name) = objOld.(NewClassProp(k).Name);
        catch
            ...
        end
    end
end