MATLAB: Custom colormaps and color bars

colorbarcolormapcustom colormaplegend

Running MATLAB R2013a
I am using a custom colormap created with the colormap command on a plot. When I add a legend, the legend is in the correct color order. However, when I add a colorbar, it uses the 'jet' colormap. How do I get it to use my custom colormap? I included the relevant code below:
%setting the line color order where varycolor is from matlab central
numpowers = 50; %(usually ~20-100)
clrmap = colormap(varycolor(numpowers)); %sets line color order
figure('OuterPosition',[100 100 1000 640],'name',strcat('RLplot',devname),'numbertitle','off');
axes('FontSize',20,'FontName','Times New Roman','ColorOrder',clrmap);
grid on; 
hold all;
box on; 
for i = 1:length(structkey) 
    %each structure element in the structure contains a dataset
    %a new color is assigned for each structure element
    %each structure element corresponds to a number, say 1:1:50
    eval(['RL = RLdata.' char(structkey(i)) ';']);
    L=RL(:,1);  %#ok<NODEF>
    R=RL(:,2); 
    % Least squared linear fit to data
    x=0:3:24;
    fitcoeff = polyfit(L,R,1);
    fiteqn = polyval(fitcoeff,x);
    %Plot data
    plot(L,R,'x',x,fiteqn,'-','Color',clrmap(i,:),'LineWidth',1.5);
    %Write the string that will become the legend --> how I did the legend
    %    tmplgd = char(structkey(i));
    %    tmplgd = str2double(tmplgd(2:end-2))/1000;
    %    legendstr(2*i-1,1) = cellstr(sprintf('%0.3f %s', tmplgd, '\muW/\mum^3')); %#ok<AGROW>
    %    legendstr(2*i,1) = cellstr(sprintf('%s %0.1f %s %0.1f', 'y =', ...
    %         fitcoeff(1,1), 'x +', fitcoeff(1,2))); %#ok<AGROW>
end

Best Answer

When trying to match colors of lines for objects plotted one at a time in a loop, I usually find it easier to manually set line colors, rather than trying to rely on the color order of the axis. For the record, your example does this; even though you set a color order you never actually use it, since you override the defaults with your specific colors. Keep in mind that the colormap (of a figure) and color order (of an axis) are two different things, and need to be set separately.
cmap = jet(5);
figure;
hold on;
for ii = 1:5
  y = rand(10,1);
  h(ii,1) = plot(1:10, y, 'color', cmap(ii,:));
  h(ii,2) = plot(1:10, y+0.1, 'color', cmap(ii,:), 'linestyle', '--');
end
legend(h(:,1), {'one', 'two', 'three','four','five'});
colormap(cmap);
colorbar;
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