MATLAB: How to copy the axes from an existing GUI into a new figure so that the new figure does not have any uicontrols

MATLABnouicontrols

I have a GUI containing a plot and some uicontrols. I would like to create a new figure containing only the plot without any of the uicontrols.

Best Answer

There are two ways of accomplishing this. The basic idea is to copy the axes containing the desired plot into a new figure.

Graphically:

1. With the GUI window open and current, enter the following command at the MATLAB Prompt.

set(gcf,'menubar','figure')

This will bring up the menubar at the top of the GUI Window.

2. Select ‘View -> Plot Browser’ in the menubar. This will bring up the plot browser on the right of the figure window.

3. Select the desired axes within the Plot Browser by clicking on it.

4. Select Edit -> Copy in the menubar.

5. Open up a new figure window by typing

figure

at the MATLAB command prompt.

6. In the new figure window menubar, select ‘View -> Plot Browser’

7. Select ‘Edit -> Paste’ in the new figure window menubar. This will cause the axes to get copied to the new figure.

The command line equivalent of the above operation is listed below. Run the following code with the GUI figure window open and current.

set(0,'showhiddenhandles','on') % Make the GUI figure handle visible
h = findobj(gcf,'type','axes') % Find the axes object in the GUI
f1 = figure % Open a new figure with handle f1
s = copyobj(h,f1) % Copy axes object h into figure f1

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to copy XTickLabels

xticlabel is not a child of the axes, it is a property of the axes.

f1=figure; 
ax1=axes; 
plot(data); 
set(gca,'XTickLabel',[11:20])
% Now make a new figure and copy the old axes.
f2=figure; 
ax2 = copyobj(ax1,f2)

Now everything about the ax1 is copied to f2. If need be, you can always do something like:

set(ax2,'xticklab',get(ax1,'xticklab'))

MATLAB: How to make the figure axes pop out in a new figure when I click on them in MATLAB 7.6 (R2008a)

You can set the ButtonDownFcn property of each axes object to point to a function that will be called when a mouse-click occurs on the axes. This callback function will receive the handle to the calling axes as input and can use the COPYOBJ function to copy the axes and its children to a new figure. The ButtonDownFcn property of the axes can be set during plotting or, as in this example, after a figure with many axes has been created:

axh = findobj(gcf,'Type','axes');
for i = 1:length(axh)
      set(axh(i),'ButtonDownFcn',@popout);
end

The callback function "popout" will need to create a new figure, copy the axes object to the new figure and then modify the Position property of the copied axis to fill the figure. The ButtonDownFcn of the new axis will also need to be changed to empty to prevent clicks from spawning new figures. For example, one implementation of "popout" is as follows:

function popout(src,eventdata)
figure;
copyobj(src,gcf);
set(gca,'Position',[.13 .11 .77 .815],'ButtonDownFcn',[]);

Also, note that the callback function will be called only when a mouse-click occurs on the axes and not on any lines or patches that may be on top of the axes. If you desire this behavior you can set the ButtonDownFcn property of all these objects.

For more information on the ButtonDownFcn property of the axes and the COPYOBJ function, please consult the documentation by executing the following at the MATLAB prompt:

web([docroot '/techdoc/ref/axes_props.html#ButtonDownFcn'])
doc copyobj

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to copy XTickLabels

MATLAB: How to make the figure axes pop out in a new figure when I click on them in MATLAB 7.6 (R2008a)

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