How can I enlarge a subplot in a 'new' figure window by just clicking any of the subplot?

Lets say, I have 2 X 2 subplot grid in a single figure window. When the 4 subplots are shown in a single figure, I want to be able to click on any of the individual subplot, that should open that particular graph in a new figure window (eesentially, enlarging the subplot into a new figure). Is there a way to do this?

Thank You.

Answer 1

[Samayochita]

Hi Ajeya,

The required functionality can be achieved in MATLAB by using the “ButtonDownFcn” property of each subplot which allows you to define a callback function that is executed when you click on the subplot. In the callback function, you can create a new figure and plot the data from the selected subplot.

Here is how one could implement this:

1) Create a 2x2 grid of subplots.

figure;
for i = 1:4
    subplot(2, 2, i);
    plot(rand(10, 1)); 
    title(['Subplot ' num2str(i)]);
    
    % Set the ButtonDownFcn property for each subplot
    ax = gca; % Get the current axes
    ax.ButtonDownFcn = @(src, event)enlargePlot(src);
end

2) Define a callback function “enlargePlot” that will be called when a subplot is clicked. This function will open a new figure and copy the contents of the clicked subplot to the new figure.

function enlargePlot(src)
% Create a new figure
newFig = figure;

% Copy the contents of the clicked subplot to the new figure
newAx = copyobj(src, newFig);

% Adjust the position to fill the new figure
set(newAx, 'Position', get(0, 'DefaultAxesPosition'));
end

For more information on the “ButtonDownFcn” property, please refer to the following documentation:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/creating_plots/button-down-callback-function.html[SS1]

I hope this helps.