MATLAB: GUI ButtonDownFcn for clicking on axes

axesdouble clickguiMATLAB

Hi all, I've got 2 axes in my GUI, and I want to be able to launch a different .m file when the user clicks either axes.

Currently I can launch a function, but I'm unable to differentiate between the different axes, and I'd rather directly run a .m script if possible.

I currently have:

setappdata(gcf,'bdfcnhandle',load_stuff);

        axes(handles.axes3)
        h(1)=imshow(thumb_1, [])
        axes(handles.axes4)
        h(2)=imshow(thumb_2, [])

set(h,'buttondownfcn','feval(getappdata(gcf,''bdfcnhandle''));');%

function load_stuff(hObject, eventdata, handles) X=100;

Also using the code above, I seem to be unable to access the handles structure in my "load_stuff" function!

Can anyone help my plight?

Thanks, Jim

Best Answer

I would use the 'ButtonDownFcn' property on each axes, and make the callback function be a call to the run function which will execute your script.

So let's say you have to scripts named s1.m and s2.m. Assuming they're both on the MATLAB path, you can do this:

a1 = axes('Position', [0.1 0.1 0.4 0.4], 'ButtonDownFcn', @(s,e) run('s1'));
a2 = axes('Position', [0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4], 'ButtonDownFcn', @(s,e) run('s2'));

(I'm setting the position property there just so you can see both of the axes in the same figure.)

If the scripts s1.m and s2.m are not on the path, then you can specify the full path to them in the call to run.

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Callback of axes in figure not being called

It's because the image is "covering up" the axes. So when you click, you're clicking on the image, not the axes object which is underneath. I know, I know. It's quirky, but that's the way they do it. One workaround is to get the axes to respond by setting the hittest for the image to off. That way the click trickles down the the axes. The other work around is to setup a button down callback for the image so that it's the image's callback that actually gets called rather than the axes's callback. The drawback is that (I believe) you have to either set hittest to off or reestablish the callback whenever you display a new image array in the axes. Study this snippet

% Display in axes, storing handle of image for later quirk workaround.
hold off;  % IMPORTANT NOTE: hold needs to be off in order for the "fit" feature to work correctly.
axesChildHandle = imshow(imgOriginal, 'InitialMagnification', 'fit');
% !!!! QUIRK workaround.!!!!
% Make it so that if they click in the image axes, it will execute the
% button down callback.  Now it won't  -- unless you do this quirk workaround.
% Double click on the dialog box's (main figure's) background to bring up the property inspector.
% Change both the WindowButtonDownFcn and ButtonDownFcn properties so that they are blank.
% Also set the main figure's HitTest to off.  Then, make sure you already have the handle to the
% image living in the axes by getting it from an imshow.  Then do this:
set(axesChildHandle, 'ButtonDownFcn', @axesImage_ButtonDownFcn);
% Put everything you want to do when they click the image
% into the function called axesImage_ButtonDownFcn()
% !!!! End QUIRK workaround.!!!!

MATLAB: Axis Button Down Function (Image / Axis)

When you do the imshow() into the axes, the ButtonDownFcn attached to the axes is probably being removed. If you were to "hold on" the axes it might stay. The safest thing to do is put it back into place once the image is there:

ax4b = get(handles.axes4, 'ButtonDownFcn');
board = imshow('resources/board.png', 'Parent', handles.axes4);
set(handles.axes4, 'ButtonDownFcn', ax4b);

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Callback of axes in figure not being called

MATLAB: Axis Button Down Function (Image / Axis)

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