MATLAB: Can I specify the stacking order of graphics objects in MATLAB

axesgraphicslayerlayerslineMATLABobjectsorderpatchstacking

I would like to specify the stacking order of graphics objects in MATLAB.

Best Answer

It is possible to modify the stacking order of an object's children by setting the Children property to a permutation of itself. However, the new value must contain the same handles as the old value. For example:
%Create a patch and a line plot with the line plot overlaying the patch
h=patch([0 1 0 1], [0 1 1 0], 'r');
x=.5*ones(10,1);
y=linspace(0,1, 10);
hold on
hp=plot(x,y);
%Returns handles to the patch and line objects
chi=get(gca, 'Children')
%Reverse the stacking order so that the patch overlays the line
set(gca, 'Children',flipud(chi))
A similar concept applies to the tabbing order of the UICONTROLS. For more information and an example of changing the tabbing order, see the Related Solution:
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