Closes #1727

Author: dcwhite

src/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -340,6 +340,12 @@ IF(RENDERER_TRACE_ON)
   ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DRENDERER_TRACE_ON)
 ENDIF()
 
+########################################################################
+# Matlab i/o option--see issue #1727 and #1692
+
+OPTION(MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_SIGNED_TYPE_FIX_FOR_SCIPY "Toggle quasi-fix for Issue #1692." OFF)
+MARK_AS_ADVANCED(MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_SIGNED_TYPE_FIX_FOR_SCIPY)
+
 ########################################################################
 # Copy Spire-SCIRun specific assets and shaders
 

src/Core/Matlab/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(Core_Matlab
   ${SCI_TEEM_LIBRARY}
 )
 
+IF(MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_SIGNED_TYPE_FIX_FOR_SCIPY)
+  ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DMATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_SIGNED_TYPE_FIX_FOR_SCIPY)
+ENDIF()
+
 IF(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
   ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DBUILD_Core_Matlab)
 ENDIF(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)

src/Core/Matlab/matfiledata.cc

@@ -59,6 +59,12 @@
 
 using namespace SCIRun::MatlabIO;
 
+#ifdef MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_SIGNED_TYPE_FIX_FOR_SCIPY
+#define MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_DATATYPE miINT8
+#else
+#define MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_DATATYPE miUINT8
+#endif
+
 matfiledata::matfiledata()
   : m_(nullptr), ptr_(nullptr)
 {
@@ -273,13 +279,13 @@ void matfiledata::putstring(const std::string& str)
   clear();
 	if (dsize > 0)
 	{
-		newdatabuffer(dsize,miUINT8);
+		newdatabuffer(dsize, MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_DATATYPE);
 		ptr = static_cast<char *>(databuffer());
 		for (int p=0;p<dsize;p++) { ptr[p] = str[p];}
 	}
 	else
 	{
-		m_->type_ = miUINT8;
+		m_->type_ = MATLAB_STRING_OUTPUT_DATATYPE;
 	}
 }