%% check_inputs
        %    ensure that the inputs are proper variable names, and that the
        %    input string parses properly
        % inputs:
        %   object:GUI - current GUI object
        % outputs:
        %   error:string - error string if variable is not inputed properly
        function error = check_inputs(object)
            parsed_input = EMLGenerator.parse_inputs(get(object.function_inputs_control,'string'));
            error = [];
            for i=1:size(parsed_input,2)
                if(size(parsed_input{i},2) == 2)
                    if (strcmp(parsed_input{i}(2),'error'))
                        error = [error sprintf('%s is not a valid variable name\n',char(parsed_input{i}(1))) ];
                    end
                end  
            end
        end