function parseFields(strct,fields)
% function parseFields(strct,fields)
%
% assigns all the fields in structure to variables in the calling
% workspace.

if nargin < 2 % parse all fields by default
    fields = fieldnames(strct);
end

for n = 1:length(fields)
    f = fields{n};
    assignin('caller',f,strct.(f))
end