I would like to create a figure, and once subplots have been created, I would like to apply properties to all of them simultaneously, without going through a for-loop. In fact, I would like to do all the following without having the need to go through a for-loop:
Create all subplots without a for-loop. (For example, create a figure with 4x5 subplots, not using a for-loop).
Apply the same background color to each subplot w/o a foor-loop.
Apply the same axis command to all of them w/o a for-loop. (Like axis equal, axis tight, etc).
Is there a way to do this?
The most convenient approach is to create an array of axes handles, and then to set properties:
for i=1:4,
axesHandles(i) = subplot(2,2,i);
plot(...)
end
%# set background to black for all handles in the array
%# note that this needs no loop
set(axesHandles,'color','k')
If you don't have the axes handles collected, you need to collect the array of handles first. For this, you can use the children properties of the figure window (gcf gets the handle of the currently active figure)
axesHandles = get(gcf,'children');
and if you have axes across several figures, you can use findall to collect everything:
axesHandles = findall(0,'type','axes');
From then on, it's again a single call to set, or to axis, for example
set(axesHandles,'color','k','lineWidth',2)
axis(axesHandles,'tight')
I can't understand why you think that for loop is evil, but anyhow ...
Here is an answer on part 2 and 3 of your question, assuming that the axes handles were saved in an array:
a(1) = axes();
a(2) = axes();
arrayfun( #(x)(set(x,'Color','r')),a);
arrayfun( #(x)(axis(x,'equal')),a);
arrayfun applies a function to each and one of the elements in a. Anonymous function in this case is only a shortcut for writing it in the following way:
a(1) = axes();
a(2) = axes();
arrayfun( #SetRedColor ,a);
arrayfun( #SetAxisEqual,a);
function SetRedColor(x)
set(x,'Color','r');
end
function SetAxisEqual(x)
axis(x,'equal');
end
Another possible way is to link the axes, and set only one property:
linkprop(a,'Color');
set(a(1),'Color','r'); %#Now a(2) color is also red
Related
I try to present 8 (name) labels on my x-axis. Instead, I get number 1 to 8.
Problem: In my previous asked question, I used gca function, that allows me to change axis labels. However, the same gca function doesn't work here.
This is my MatLab output:
Instead of 1,...8, I want to see Firm1...Firm8!
This is my code:
figure(2);
%four variables:
%pi --> 8x1 vector
%E_R_BL_Idzorek --> 8x1 vector
%pi_star1 --> 8x1 vector
%ER_100_TF1 --> 8x1 vector
ALL_DATA=[pi(1,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(1,1) pi_star1(1,1) ER_100_TF1(1,1);pi(2,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(2,1) pi_star1(2,1) ER_100_TF1(2,1);pi(3,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(3,1) pi_star1(3,1) ER_100_TF1(3,1);pi(4,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(4,1) pi_star1(4,1) ER_100_TF1(4,1);pi(5,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(5,1) pi_star1(5,1) ER_100_TF1(5,1);pi(6,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(6,1) pi_star1(6,1) ER_100_TF1(6,1);pi(7,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(7,1) pi_star1(7,1) ER_100_TF1(7,1);pi(8,1) E_R_BL_Idzorek(8,1) pi_star1(8,1),ER_100_TF1(8,1)];
%plotting it with a bar function
bar(ALL_DATA);
%This is where I have problem with gca function
set(gca,'xticklabel',{'Firm1','Firm2','Firm3','Firm4','Firm5','Firm6','Firm7','Firm8'});
%this is the grid part:
grid on
ll = cell(1,4);
ll{1}='pi'; ll{2}='ERidz'; ll{3}='piTF'; ll{4}='ERTF';
legend(bar(ALL_DATA),ll);
You are using a newer version of MATLAB so you should use the newer graphics system. The newer system is based on objects. This makes setting properties of things like axes easier. For example:
fh = figure; % creates the figure window save the figure handle to set it's properties
ax = axes(fh); % creates the axes in the figure, again save the object
x = rand(8,100);
h = bar(ax, x); % create the bar graph in your axes object
% now use the saved object to access the exact feature you want. This way you always have the thing you want. No searching.
ax.XTickLabel = {'Firm1','Firm2','Firm3','Firm4','Firm5','Firm6','Firm7','Firm8'};
Saving the objects is also handy for tracking legends and other things. For example: legend(ax,... You know exactly which legend you're dealing with.
What appears to be happening is that you are correctly changing the XTicks as you want but then you overwrite your graph with legend(bar(.... That creates a new bar graph. Try changing that line to just legend(ll). I would still suggest using the object system.
It seems the problem is that you redraw the bar when you run
legend(bar(ALL_DATA),ll);
You should simply do
legend(ll);
I want to plot a graph, mark a point and write legend in a loop.
labels = {}
for i = 1: size(error,1)
r = plot(handles.axes1,temp(i).time,temp(i).signal);
hold (handles.axes1, 'on')
a = %find minimum index
xmin = temp(i).time(a);
ymin = temp(i).signal(a);
plot(handles.axes1,xmin,ymin,'ro')
labels{end+1} = sprintf('Type : %s, %f,%f',error{i,1}.main(1,1).type,xmin,ymin)
end
grid on
legend(r, labels);
Labeling does not work, as it takes only 1st elements ignoring extra element. and the whole method is a mess with color code all messed up, is there elegant way of doing this where my legend colour matches the plot ones
Another way to do this is to use the DisplayName keyword.
for i = 1:N_lines
%...
r(i) = plot(handles.axes1, temp(i).time, temp(i).signal, 'DisplayName', labels{i});
%...
end
legend('show')
The advantage of doing it like this is that it attaches the name directly to the plotted point. If you are debugging, and open the plot as its being written in the plot browser, as each point get plotted the name will appear next to the point in the right-hand pane. You also don't need to keep track of a separate labels variable in case you end up later reordering your points for some reason. This way the labels always travel with their associated points.
I should add that when you call the legend command with a cell of labels, among other things it backfills 'DisplayName' so that you can still change and query it after the plot has been built even if you don't explicitly set it like I've done above. However, I find this method to be self-documenting and more convenient because it's one less thing to keep track of.
You need to make r an array. As it is, you're only storing the last plot handle so when you call legend it's only going to use the last plot and the first label.
% Create a unique color for each plot
colors = hsv(size(error, 1));
for i = 1:size(error, 1)
r(i) = plot(handles.axes1,temp(i).time,temp(i).signal, 'Color', colors(i,:));
%...
labels{i} = sprintf('Type : %s, %f,%f',error{i,1}.main(1,1).type,xmin,ymin);
end
legend(r, labels)
As a side-note it's best to not use i or j as your looping variable and also, don't name your variable error as that's the name of a MATLAB built-in.
If f is the figure handle, I wanted to use plot3(..) on it just like I would use plot(..), but this didn't work:
>> plot3(f, t, real(Y), imag(Y))
Error using plot3
Vectors must be the same lengths.
Then I figured out that the way to do this is to:
First make the relevant figure current.
Then use the plot3(..) function.
I can find what the current figure is using gcf, but how do I make a figure current (via its handle)?
This method has my personal preference:
set(0, 'currentfigure', f); %# for figures
set(f, 'currentaxes', axs); %# for axes with handle axs on figure f
because these commands are their own documentation. I find
figure(f)
and the like confusing on first read -- do you create a new figure? or merely make an existing one active? -> more reading of the context is required.
It is actually as simple as feeding the f back into the figure(..) command:
figure(f) %Makes the figure current.
Also, if I did something like this:
f = figure('IntegerHandle','off'); % With unique, non-reusable handle.
top = subplot(2, 1, 1);
bot = subplot(2, 1, 2);
Then I can make the axes top or bottom current by issuing a command like this:
subplot(top);
This also works:
axes(top);
But the two types of handles cannot be intermixed: axes(..) and subplot(..) work on axes handles, while figure(..) works on figure handles.
While others have provided you exactly what you've asked for (how to make an axes or figure the current one). My preferred way for dealing with this, is to explicitly specify the parent of your plot in the call to plot3.
If you look at the documentation, you will see that you can specify the parent axes as the first parameter to the function. If looks like you attempted to do this in your example, but you provided a handle to a figure rather than an axes.
f = figure()
ax = axes('Parent', f)
im = plot3(ax, X, Y, Z);
Alternately, I prefer the explicit solution
im = plot3(X, Y, Z, 'Parent', ax)
The nice thing about this explicit parameter/value specification of the parent is that it is accepted by all graphics objects. Functions like plot and plot3 are actually helper functions that wrap the functionality of line and allow for the convention of passing the parent first. The parameter/value approach is widely accepted regardless of whether you're working with a higher level function (plot, plot3, imshow) or the lower level objects (line, image, etc.)
The two benefits here are that you remove the overhead of MATLAB trying to figure out where to put your plot and also, it prevents MATLAB from having to change which figure is currently displayed, forcing a re-rendering which is one of MATLAB's slowest tasks.
give handle name to figure, give you a little example
f1 = figure;
imshow(image1);
f2 = figure;
imshow(image2);
% edit image 1
figure(f1);
text(2,3,'done');
I have a function, myFunkyFigure, that takes in data, does some funky things, and returns an axis object for the figure it produces.
I would like to be able to invoke this function twice, creating two different figures:
fig(1) = myFunkyFigure(dataSet1);
fig(2) = myFunkyFigure(dataSet2);
Then I would like to put them into a subplot together.
Note that, because of the funkiness of myFunkyFigure, the following does not work.
subplot(2,1,1);
myFunkyFigure(dataSet1);
subplot(2,1,2);
myFunkyFigure(dataSet2);
I believe that I need something along the lines of copyobj, but I haven't been able to get that to work (I tried following a solution in Stack Overflow question Producing subplots and then combine them into a figure later in MATLAB but to no avail).
Obviously, we don't know how "funky" your figures are, but it should be noted in such a case that the cleanest solution would be to modify the function myFunkyFigure such that it accepts additional optional arguments, specifically the handle of an axes in which to place the plot it creates. Then you would use it like so:
hSub1 = subplot(2,1,1); %# Create a subplot
myFunkyFigure(dataSet1,hSub1); %# Add a funky plot to the subplot axes
hSub2 = subplot(2,1,2); %# Create a second subplot
myFunkyFigure(dataSet2,hSub2); %# Add a funky plot to the second subplot axes
The default behavior of myFunkyFigure (i.e. no additional arguments specified) would be to create its own figure and place the plot there.
However, to answer the question you asked, here's a way to accomplish this given that you are outputting the axes handles (not the figure handles) in the vector fig (note: this is basically the same solution as the one given in the other question, but since you mention having trouble adapting it I thought I'd reformat it to better fit your specific situation):
hFigure = figure(); %# Create a new figure
hTemp = subplot(2,1,1,'Parent',hFigure); %# Create a temporary subplot
newPos = get(hTemp,'Position'); %# Get its position
delete(hTemp); %# Delete the subplot
set(fig(1),'Parent',hFigure,'Position',newPos); %# Move axes to the new figure
%# and modify its position
hTemp = subplot(2,1,2,'Parent',hFigure); %# Make a new temporary subplot
%# ...repeat the above for fig(2)
The above will actually move the axes from the old figure to the new figure. If you want the axes object to appear in both figures, you can instead use the function COPYOBJ like so:
hNew = copyobj(fig(1),hFigure); %# Copy fig(1) to hFigure, making a new handle
set(hNew,'Position',newPos); %# Modify its position
Also note that SUBPLOT is only used here to generate a position for the tiling of the axes. You could avoid the need to create and then delete subplots by specifying the positions yourself.
The code from gnovice didn't work for me.
It seemed that a figure couldn't be made the child of another figure. For example hNew = copyobj(fig(1),hFigure); gave the error
Error using copyobj
Object figure[1] can not be a child of parent
figure[1]
Instead, I had to make the axes children of the new figure. This is the function I came up with
function []= move_to_subplots(ax,a,b)
% %
% Inputs:
% inputname:
% Outputs:
% name: description type units
% saved data: (does this overwrite a statically named file?)
% plots:
%
% Standard call:
%
%
% Written by C. Hogg Date 2012_06_01
%
%
debugmode=0;
hFigure=figure();
if ~exist('a')
a=ceil(sqrt(length(ax)));
end
if ~exist('b')
b=1;
end
if a*b<length(ax)|~exist('a')|~exist('b')
disp('Auto subplot sizing')
b=ceil(length(ax)/a);
end
for i=1:length(ax)
hTemp = subplot(a,b,i,'Parent',hFigure); %# Make a new temporary subplot
newPos = get(hTemp,'Position'); %# Get its position
delete(hTemp);
hNew = copyobj(ax(i),hFigure);
set(hNew,'Position',newPos)
end
%% Debug. Break point here.
if debugmode==1; dbstop tic; tic; dbclear all;end
end
This seems to work for me.
How do I obtain all the axes handles in a figure handle?
Given the figure handle hf, I found that get(hf, 'children') may return the handles of all axes. However, the Matlab Help suggests that it may return more than just the axes handles:
Children of the figure. A vector containing the handles of all axes, user-interface objects displayed within the figure. You can change the order of the handles and thereby change the stacking of the objects on the display.
Is there any way to obtain only the axes handle in the figure handle? Or how do I know if the handle returned by get(hf, 'children') is an axe handle?
Thanks!
Use FINDALL:
allAxesInFigure = findall(figureHandle,'type','axes');
If you want to get all axes handles anywhere in Matlab, you could do the following:
allAxes = findall(0,'type','axes');
EDIT
To answer the second part of your question: You can test for whether a list of handles are axes by getting the handles type property:
isAxes = strcmp('axes',get(listOfHandles,'type'));
isAxes will be true for every handle that is of type axes.
EDIT2
To select only axes handles that are not legends, you need to cleanup the list of axes (ax handles by removing all handles whose tag is not 'legend' or 'Colorbar':
axNoLegendsOrColorbars= ax(~ismember(get(ax,'Tag'),{'legend','Colobar'}))
Jonas' solution didn't work for me, because there were some handles referring to legends. Surprisingly, legends seem to be implemented as axes, at least in Matlab 2010a.
Here is a solution if you only want the axes, not any legends or other stuff.
axesHandles = get(fig, 'Children');
classHandles = handle(axesHandles);
count = length(axesHandles);
isNotInstanceOfSubtype = false(1, count);
for i = 1:count
isNotInstanceOfSubtype(i) = strcmp(class(classHandles(i)), 'axes') == 1;
end
axesHandles = axesHandles(isNotInstanceOfSubtype);
The script works by sorting out handles which reveal to be of a sub-type of type axes, for example scribe.legend.
A warning for those trying to improve the above code snippet: using something like
classHandles = cellfun(#(x) handle(x), axesHandles)
might not work as intended:
??? Error using ==> cellfun
scribe.legend type is not currently implemented.
"Jonas" and "tm1" have answers that work for some. However, as tm1 pointed the issue, there are several items inside type 'axes'.
To exactly refer to the legend or axes itself (there may exist other items), you need to differentiate them, using their characteristic properties.
In my example, I opened "property editor" and looked for differing properties for axes and legend (since they both belong to "type, axes"). I was trying to copy my axes and its legend:
copied_axes = findobj(temp_fig,'type','axes','Tag','');
copied_legend = findobj(temp_fig,'type','axes','Tag','legend');
Instead of 'Tag' property, I also could use an other property from the "Property Inspector". The thing is, they must differ. Most of their properties are the same.
The solution by #tm1 is excellent. Mine is a little less complicated (if you're ok with functional programming):
% initialize `fig` somehow, i.e., "fig=gcf()" for the current figure or
% "fig=get(0,'children')" for all open figures; can be vector or scalar.
ax = findall(fig, 'type', 'axes');
ax = ax(arrayfun(#(i) strcmp(class(handle(i)), 'axes'), ax));
ax will contain only plot axes. This works because the class of a legend or colorbar object is different from axes.
Edit #Jonas points out a potential improvement to filter the results of findall, because at least legends and colorbars seem to have non-empty Tag properties: replace the last line in the above code snippet with
ax = ax(strcmp('', get(ax, 'Tag')))
Both these techniques are kludgy and may break in the future (a comparison against ggplot2 or Bokeh might be interesting).