function this = subsasgn(this,index,c)

    if isempty(this)

        this = eegobj;

    end

    % multiple dataset

    if strcmpi(index(1).type, '()') && length(index) == 1 % dataset assignment

        if isempty(c) % suppression

            this(index.subs{1}) = [];

        else

            % create empty structures if necessary

            % not optimized for speed but compatible Octave 3.4 and Matlab

            allfieldsori = fieldnames( this );

            allSetIndices = [ [(length(this)+1):(min(index.subs{1})-1)] index.subs{1} ];

            this(max(index.subs{1})) = this(1);

            for j = 1:length(allfieldsori)

                for i = allSetIndices

                    this(i).EEG.(allfieldsori{j}) = [];

                end

            end

            % create empty structure, replaces the code above but

            % only compatible under Matlab

            %allfieldsori = fieldnames( this );

            %tmpfields = allfieldsori;

            %tmpfields(:,2) = cell(size(tmpfields));

            %tmpfields = tmpfields';

            %tmp = struct(tmpfields{:})

            %this(index.subs{1}) = tmp;

            % dealing with input object and making it a compatible

            % structure 

            if isa(c, 'eegobj')

                c2 = struct(c);

                c  = c2(1).EEG;

                fieldorder = fieldnames(c);

                for cIndexe = 2:length(c2)

                    c(cIndexe) = orderfields(c2(cIndexe).EEG, fieldorder);

                end

            end

            allfields = fieldnames( c );

            for i=1:length( allfields )

                for j = 1:length(index.subs{1})

                    this(index.subs{1}(j)).EEG.(allfields{i}) = c(min(j, length(c))).(allfields{i});

                end

                %this(index.subs(1)).EEG = setfield(this(index.subs(1)).EEG, getfield(c, allfields{i}), allfields{i});

                %eval( ['this(' int2str(index.subs{1}) ').' allfields{i} ' = c.' allfields{i} ';' ]);

            end;    

            %if ~isfield(c, 'datfile') & isfield(this, 'datfile')

            %    this(index.subs{1}).datfile = '';

            %end

        end

    elseif strcmpi(index(1).type, '()')

        if length(index(1).subs{1}) > 1

            error('Unsuported object feature - a.field or a([x y]).field is not supported for object arrays');

        elseif length(this) < index(1).subs{1}

            this(index(1).subs{1}) = eegobj;

        end

        this(index(1).subs{1}).EEG = builtin('subsasgn', this(index(1).subs{1}).EEG, index(2:end), c);

    elseif strcmpi(index(1).type, '.')

        if length(this) > 1

            error('Unsuported object feature - a.field or a([x y]).field is not supported for object arrays');

        else

            this.EEG = builtin('subsasgn', this.EEG, index, c);

        end

    end