Change axes limits interactively

Hi everybody,

I would like to change the axes limits of my 2D plots in my GUI interactively. This means that it want to click on one of the axes limits (min/max at x or y), then enter a new limit and finally automatically refresh the plot. In other software (e.g. LabVIEW), this functionality is available by default. However, in MATLAB it seems to require a work-around. I already got the hint to try the 'ButtonDownFcn' callback and the 'CurrentPoint' function. However, right now I am struggling to enter the text. If this would work, it should be straight forward as I could simply execute a set('xLimÄ',...) command with the exact same limit I entered as a text before. Therefore, I'd like to ask if anybody knows how to enter text at the location of the 'CurrentPoint'.

Thank you very much for you help!

Best regards, Johannes

[AstroGuy1984]

I'm confused as to how you wish to query the user for the new limit? Is the idea that the user clicks the axis and gets a prompt to enter the new limit they want? How do you wish that prompt to appear? A popup? In the shell? Once you get that, you can certainly use the set() command you're desiring to use.

As another option, I have a similar need for interactive limits in a GUI I am writing. What I did is to make several fields (four of them) where the user can enter the limits as they desrie and the plot automatically updates. I also have buttons for log/lin scale which are useful for my purposes.

[Johannes]

Basically, I want to replicate the behavior of other software such as LABVIEW. I attached a series of screenshots showing the axes manipulation for illustration. I already thought about using a popup (many thanks to Joseph for pointing it out as well) but the procedure in Labview is much more convinient to my opinion.

Answer 1

[Joseph Cheng]

you can try something like this, which really depends on how you want the user to input the different limits

function uiexample
  % Create a figure and axes
  f = figure('Visible','on');
  ax = axes('Units','pixels');
  plot(peaks)
  xlab = xlabel('x');
  ylab = ylabel('y');

    set(xlab,'ButtonDownFcn',{@updateplot,ax,1})
    set(ylab,'ButtonDownFcn',{@updateplot,ax,2})

    infotext = 'click on axis labels to enter new limits';
    htext = uicontrol('style','text','string',infotext,...
        'position',[0 0 5*numel(infotext) 20])
 end

 function updateplot(hObject,event,axhandle,XorY)
    XLim = axhandle.XLim;
    YLim = axhandle.YLim;
    name='Input for plot limits';
    numlines=1;
  switch XorY
      case 1
        prompt={'Enter Xmin:','Enter Xmax:'};
        defaultanswer={num2str(XLim(1)),num2str(XLim(2))};
        XLim=cell2mat(inputdlg(prompt,name,numlines,defaultanswer));
        axhandle.XLim = str2num(XLim)';
      case 2
        prompt={'Enter Ymin:','Enter Ymax:'};
        defaultanswer={num2str(YLim(1)),num2str(YLim(2))};
        YLim=cell2mat(inputdlg(prompt,name,numlines,defaultanswer));
        axhandle.YLim = str2num(YLim)';
  end

 end

[Joseph Cheng]

so.... why not do this instead. I don't have the time to fine tune it to properly format/catch incorrect entries and make the edit boxes look more like the axes ticks.

function uiexample
  % Create a figure and axes
  f = figure('Visible','on');
  ax = axes('Units','pixels');
  plot(peaks)
  axpos = get(ax,'Position');
  xylim = [ax.XLim; ax.YLim]';
     XYlimitpos = [axpos(1)-3 axpos(2)-25 20 20;...
      axpos(1)+ax.Position(3)-10 axpos(2)-25 20 20;...
      axpos(1)-25 axpos(2)-8 20 20;...
      axpos(1)-25 axpos(2)+axpos(4)-8 20 20];
  for ind = 1:4
    xyedit(ind) = uicontrol('style','edit','Position',XYlimitpos(ind,:),...
        'string',xylim(ind),'callback',{@updateplot,ax,ind});
  end
 end

   function updateplot(hObject,event,axhandle,index)
      XYLim = [axhandle.XLim;axhandle.YLim]';
      XYLim(index)=str2num(hObject.String);

      axhandle.XLim = XYLim(:,1)';
      axhandle.YLim= XYLim(:,2)';

   end

[Joseph Cheng]

http://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/customizing-uicontrol-border

explains how to do that

[Johannes]

Thank you very much Joseph. This solvent my problem!