How to label ('vertically') points in graph - matlab

Question

I would like to add labels to some points plotted using the command scatter. For the sake of simplicity, let's say I have only one point:
x = 10;
pointSize = 100;
fontSize = 20;
P = scatter(x, 0, pointSize, [0,0,0], 'filled');
text(x, 0, 'pointLabel',...
'HorizontalAlignment', 'center',...
'VerticalAlignment', 'bottom',...
'FontSize', fontSize);
The problem with the previous commands is that the text pointLabel overlaps with the point P depending on the values assigned to the properties pointsize and fontSize.
I have read the documentation of the text command, but the examples only show how to put a label horizontally aligned with a specific point in the diagram. If the alignment needs to be horizontal it is easy, but I could not find a general way to compute the y coordinate of the label pointLabel from the values of the other dimensions.
Clearly I can reach a good alignment by testing various combinations of values, but I am looking for a general solution.
Is there anyone who can help me?

Answer 1

This assumes you are using >=R2014b, though it can also be accomplished in older versions using set and get commands.
When a text object is created, its default units are data coordinates, but those can be changed. In your case, I'd go with points.
x = 10;
pointSize = 100;
fontSize = 20;
P = scatter(x, 0, pointSize, [0,0,0], 'filled');
t = text(x, 0, 'pointLabel',...
'HorizontalAlignment', 'center',...
'VerticalAlignment', 'bottom',...
'FontSize', fontSize);
% It's always a good idea to switch back to the default units, so remember them.
originalUnits = t.Units;
t.Units = 'points';
% Shift the text up by the sqrt(pi)/2 times the radius of the point
t.Position(2) = t.Position(2) + sqrt(pointSize)/2;
t.Units = originalUnits;
Check out Text Properties for more info. If you want to get really sophisticated, you can use the read-only property Extent and your known marker size and position to calculate when a label is overlapping one of your points. Since the default unit is in data space, no conversions are necessary.
If you're working with an older version of MATLAB, all of these options and properties are still available, you just have to work a little harder to use them. For instance, you can't direction set the position as above, but you would instead use get to assign it to a temporary variable, change it, and then use set to update. More lines of code, but ultimately the same effect.