function creds = loadplotlycredentials()

userhome = getuserdir();

plotly_credentials_file = fullfile(userhome, '.plotly', '.credentials');

% check if credentials exist

if ~exist(plotly_credentials_file, 'file')

error('Plotly:CredentialsNotFound', ['It looks like you ' ...

'haven''t set up your plotly account credentials ' ...

'yet.\nTo get started, save your plotly username and ' ...

'API key by calling:\n>>> saveplotlycredentials(' ...

'username, api_key)\n\nFor more help, see ' ...

'https://plot.ly/MATLAB or contact chris@plot.ly.']);

end

fileIDCred = fopen(plotly_credentials_file, 'r');

if (fileIDCred == -1)

error('plotly:loadcredentials', ['There was an error reading ' ...

'your credentials file at ' plotly_credentials_file ...

'. Contact chris@plot.ly for support.']);

end

creds_string_array = fread(fileIDCred, '*char');

creds_string = sprintf('%s',creds_string_array);

creds = jsondecode(creds_string);