--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/m-toolbox/classes/@plist/applyDefaults.m	Wed Nov 23 19:22:13 2011 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+% APPLYDEFAULTS apply the default plist to the input plists
+% 
+% CALL:
+%       plout = applyDefaults(defaultPlist, pl1, pl2, ..., pl3)
+%       [plout, pl_unused] = applyDefaults(defaultPlist, pl1, pl2, ..., pl3)
+% 
+% The default plist is assumed to be the first one.
+% 
+% The plists are combined and the resulting keys are compared to the keys
+% in the default plist. If any key is missing from the default plist a
+% warning is issued.
+% 
+% M Hewitson 04-04-11
+% 
+% VERSION $Id: applyDefaults.m,v 1.14 2011/08/16 06:05:37 hewitson Exp $
+% 
+
+function varargout = applyDefaults(varargin)
+  
+  inputs = utils.helper.collect_objects(varargin(:), 'plist');
+  
+  % trivial case
+  if numel(inputs) == 1
+    varargout{1} = copy(inputs, true);
+    return;
+  end  
+  
+  % Get the default plist and copy it because we modify it by setting the
+  % user's values
+  default = copy(inputs(1), true);
+  
+  % Get the rest
+  pls = inputs(2:end);
+  
+  % run the user plists through parse to combine and resolve expressions
+  userplist = parse(pls, default);
+  
+  % check keys against default keys
+  dkeys = default.getKeys;
+  ukeys = userplist.getKeys;
+  res = ismember(ukeys, dkeys);
+  if ~all(res)
+    warning('The following keys were not found in the default plist and will be ignored: %s', sprintf('[%s] ', ukeys{res==0}));
+  end
+    
+  % combine defaults
+  [default, unused] = overrideDefaults(userplist, default);
+    
+  % output the used and unused plists
+  varargout{1} = default;
+  if nargout >= 2
+    varargout{2} = unused;
+  end
+  
+end
+
+
+function [default, unused] = overrideDefaults(userplist, default)
+  
+  unused = plist();
+  
+  for kk = 1:numel(userplist.params)
+    
+    % which key are we acting on
+    key = userplist.params(kk).key;
+    
+    % get override value from user
+    val = userplist.params(kk).val;
+    
+    % decide what to do based on the presence or not of the parameter in the default plist
+    if isparam(default, key)
+      % set the parameter value, taking into account it could be itself a plist object
+      default.setDefaultForParam(plist('key', key, 'option', val));
+    else
+      % append the parameter value, to the unused parameters plist
+      unused.append(copy(userplist.params(kk), true));
+    end
+  end
+  
+end