When in Matlab I use openfig(filename); to open a saved figure, it always opens a new window. All the 'reuse' argument does is not load the file when it appears to already be open. However, I wish to open the file into a given figure, and just overwrite its contents. Is there a way to pass a figure handle to openfig, or is there another function that would accomplish this?
So in code, what I would like to do is something along the following lines:
f = figure;
openfig(filename, 'Figure',f);
and then the figure would be displayed in figure f rather than having opened a second figure window.
I think you can arrange something close to what you want with the copyobj function. Here is a try with a docked figure:
% --- Create sample figure
h = figure;
ezplot('sin(x)');
set(gcf, 'Windowstyle', 'docked');
pause
% --- Replace the axes
clf
g = openfig('test.fig', 'invisible');
copyobj(get(g, 'CurrentAxes'), h);
delete(g);
Which gives me a smooth replacement of the axes, without flickering of the figure.
However, I don't know how this would behave with a fullscreen figure, it surely depends on the method you choose. Check also the doc of copyobj in detail, it's not copying everything so you may want to use the legacy option.
Related
I have used drawnow to draw the characters of the mnist dataset.. which outputs the following output
when i created GUI with matlab and calling drawnow to display images after loading it draws the figure on the open window giving the following output
my question is how to force it to draw in new window ?
drawnow only asks Matlab to flush the event queue and update figure windows; it doesn't determine how and where things are plotted. It's hard to tell since you don't include any code, but in your case it looks like you just plot the character images and the GUI elements into the same figure.
You can control which figure window a graphics operation refers to by setting the "current figure", whose handle is always contained in the variable gcf (graphics: current figure).
You generate a new figure and make it current by calling
figure
If you want to later make this figure current again, you need to save its handle:
fa = figure;
You then make a figure with a given handle current again by
figure(fa)
Some rough sketch of a possible program:
% generate figure windows
fa = figure;
fb = figure;
% plot something in figure a and make the screen update
figure(fa)
plot(...)
drawnow
% put a UI element into figure b and make the screen update
figure(fb)
uicontrol(...)
drawnow
I used the plot command to plot a figure and then changed lots of its properties using set command. I also store the handle of the plot (say h1).
What I need is to use the handle to plot the same figure again later in my code. I checked the plot command and did not find any version that accepts handle. I also thought of getting the Xdata and Ydata and use them to re-plot the same figure.
What is the simplest solution?
Edit 1: A working sample code based on copyobj that PeterM suggested.
hf(1) = figure(1);
plot(peaks);
hf(2) = figure(2);
plot(membrane);
hf(3) = figure(3);
ha(1) = subplot(1,2,1);
ha(2) = subplot(1,2,2);
for i = 1:2
hc = get(hf(i),'children');
hgc = get(hc, 'children');
copyobj(hgc,ha(i));
end
Edit 2: I also found this function that can copy figures (including legend) into a subplot.
I have run into this situation before. Depending on what you are trying to do the function copyobj may be appropriate. This function lets you take the contents of one axes and copy it to a new figure.
Improving #PeterM nice answer, one easier way would be:
fig2H=copy(gcf) % or change gcf to your figure handle
But it depends on what you want, if you want only the axes, or the whole figure… (btw, it doesn't seem to copy the legend handle).
You can use saveas to save the figure in a file, and the open to load the exact same figure from this file.
This would be the laziest way to accomplish what you want.
% Sample plot
f1 = figure(1);
plot(0:0.1:2*pi, sin(0:0.1:2*pi));
f2 = figure(2);
% The code you need
saveas(f1, 'temp.fig')
f2 = hgload('temp.fig')
delete('temp.fig')
I have used the function figs2subplots (given in Edit2 in the original question) - it does the work and is very easy to use.
I have a MATLAB code that plots multiple figures at the same time. The general trick to achieve the same is to call figure(figHandle) and then make a call to plot, for e.g.
figure(h1);
plot(...args...);
figure(h2);
plot(...args...);
However, I want to do this plotting without bringing figures into foreground everytime I make a call to figure(figHandle). All I want to do is to plot multiple figures simultaneously without bringing them into visibility and export them to an excel sheet (I have figured out exporting to excel sheet part) in the end.
The problem is there are too many figures (around 100) and I have to manually close them down. All I want in the end is an excel sheet with figures exported.
Thanks.
If the problem is to close all the figures you can just use the command close all.
I agree with the solution of mola (+1). However, if you did for some reason wish to keep the figures available after exporting to excel, but don't want them visible on screen, just set the visible property of the figure to off when creating it:
fig1 = figure('visible', 'off')
And if you suddenly decide you need to see it:
set(fig1, 'visible', 'on')
EDIT: It just occurred to me, that if you don't care about ever seeing the figures in matlab, then you should definitely be setting the visible property of the figure to off when you create it. This should significantly speed up the runtime of your code. For example:
x = (1:100)';
tic
for i = 1:1:10
fig1 = figure('visible', 'off');
plot(x);
end
close all
toc
takes 0.27 seconds to run on my machine, but if I switch 'off' to 'on', the runtime increases to 0.65 seconds.
Assign figure handles like
fig1 = figure
run
close figure1
to close figure1 when you’re through with it. Also, if you want to plot multiple things in one figure by tiling, use the subplot function.
When I run Matlab from terminal, and I want to generate a bunch of plots to be saved in an html file, I run this function I wrote, passing the script of interest as an argument, and simply set it and forget it:
function directoryOutput = cliPub(scriptName)
clc;
close all;
fprintf('Publishing...\n\n');
directoryOutput = publish(fullfile(pwd, scriptName), 'figureSnapMethod', 'getframe', 'useNewFigure', false);
close all;
How do you plot two figures at the same time in Matlab? Every time I use surf() it plots over the old one. Also, how do you save the images so you can export them to MS word or powerpoint or something?
You can plot two figures in separate windows:
figure(1)
% do plotting
figure(2)
% do plotting
or in subplots:
figure(1)
subplot(1, 2, 1)
% do plotting
subplot(1, 2, 2)
% do plotting
For more info, you can see the MATLAB docs for the figure and subplot functions (in the help menu).
For printing the images to a file, see the documentation for the print function. Or just go to File -> Save As, and pick the image type you want.
Use the command figure before each plot/surf/mesh.
example
X = [1:5];
figure('Name', 'My plot');
plot(X, X+X);
figure('Name', 'My plot number 2');
plot(X, X + X + X);
Call figure before calling surf. figure opens a new figure window. When you call surf, it will plot into the currently selected figure.
You can copy-paste figures into Word or Powerpoint by using, in the figure window, the menu Edit->Copy Figure. If in, say Word, you click on the pasted figure and select 'ungroup', you can even go and edit the figure.
To save, you select 'Save as...' in the File-menu in the figure window. For Adobe Illustrator, save as .eps (works better than .ai).
As another small addition to previous responses, you can print a figure directly to clipboard using print -dmeta command. Then just paste to Word or PowerPoint document. I found it very neat.
#kwatford If you use hold all rather than hold on then Matlab will use the next defined colour and linestyle for that plot. check out the difference between
figure(1);
plot(rand(100,1));
hold on ;
plot(rand(100,1)+2);
and
figure(2);
plot(rand(100,1));
hold all;
plot(rand(100,1)+2);
To create a new figure in a separate window, just say figure. To export as an image file, use the print command with the appropriate -d option to select the file format. Like so:
figure;
plot(rand(100,1), rand(100, 1), 'r*');
print -dpng 'MyImage.png'
Execute hold on to hold the current figure. New plots will be added to the existing plots. Use hold off to change it back to the previous behavior.
In addition to the print command (see Drew Hall's response), you can export to other formats via the File menu, or use the Copy Figure function of the edit menu. If you want to paste it into Word or Powerpoint, you might get a better result if you use "Paste Special" instead of normal Paste.
Usually when I plot in MATLAB, it always draws on the same figure. How do I make it draw in a new figure?
I know it is pretty elementary, but I'm not finding it using Google Search.
figure;
plot(something);
or
figure(2);
plot(something);
...
figure(3);
plot(something else);
...
etc.
While doing "figure(1), figure(2),..." will solve the problem in most cases, it will not solve them in all cases. Suppose you have a bunch of MATLAB figures on your desktop and how many you have open varies from time to time before you run your code. Using the answers provided, you will overwrite these figures, which you may not want. The easy workaround is to just use the command "figure" before you plot.
Example: you have five figures on your desktop from a previous script you ran and you use
figure(1);
plot(...)
figure(2);
plot(...)
You just plotted over the figures on your desktop. However the code
figure;
plot(...)
figure;
plot(...)
just created figures 6 and 7 with your desired plots and left your previous plots 1-5 alone.
The other thing to be careful about, is to use the clf (clear figure) command when you are starting a fresh plot. Otherwise you may be plotting on a pre-existing figure (not possible with the figure command by itself, but if you do figure(2) there may already be a figure #2), with more than one axis, or an axis that is placed kinda funny. Use clf to ensure that you're starting from scratch:
figure(N);
clf;
plot(something);
...
As has already been said: figure will create a new figure for your next plots. While calling figure you can also configure it. Example:
figHandle = figure('Name', 'Name of Figure', 'OuterPosition',[1, 1, scrsz(3), scrsz(4)]);
The example sets the name for the window and the outer size of it in relation to the used screen.
Here figHandle is the handle to the resulting figure and can be used later to change appearance and content. Examples:
Dot notation:
figHandle.PaperOrientation = 'portrait';
figHandle.PaperUnits = 'centimeters';
Old Style:
set(figHandle, 'PaperOrientation', 'portrait', 'PaperUnits', 'centimeters');
Using the handle with dot notation or set, options for printing are configured here.
By keeping the handles for the figures with distinc names you can interact with multiple active figures. To set a existing figure as your active, call figure(figHandle). New plots will go there now.
Another common option is when you do want multiple plots in a single window
f = figure;
hold on
plot(x1,y1)
plot(x2,y2)
...
plots multiple data sets on the same (new) figure.
As simple as this-
figure, plot(yourfigure);