  We propose an experimentally relevant protocol for the controlled generation
of matter-wave dark solitons in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). In
particular, using direct numerical simulations, we show that by switching-on a
spatially inhomogeneous (step-like) change of the s-wave scattering length, it
is possible to generate a controllable number of dark solitons in a
quasi-one-dimensional BEC. A similar phenomenology is also found in the
two-dimensional setting of "disk-shaped" BECs but, as the solitons are subject
to the snaking instability, they decay into vortex structures. A detailed
investigation of how the parameters involved affect the emergence and evolution
of solitons and vortices is provided.
