program a callback for a keypress

this is the code i wrote:

figure(...,'windowkeypressfcn',@keypress)
function keypress(~,event)
        KeyPressed=event.Key;
        if strcmp(KeyPressed,'escape')==1
            pan off
            rotate3d off
            zoom out
            view(3)
        end
end

what i want to do is to set back the graph plotted to it's originam state when i press on escape. but when i run the code after i have plotted the graph and i have navigated through it when i press the escape key the call back don't execute. I this this is because the figure don't have focus, so i will like to know how to give focus to figure.

[Rik]

You want to have this keypress function executed without the target figure having the focus?

Also, you should really use explicit handles in your callbacks. In this case it doesn't matter, because the keypress callback can only run when your figure is the current figure, but in other cases this might interfere with other user figures.

Answer 1

[Jan]

Click on the figure to set the focus on it.

According the the documentation this command should set the focus also:

figure(figHandle)

But this did not works since Matlab R4.0. I've tested this some years ago without success, so maybe you still need a workaround:

function FocusToFig(ObjH, EventData)
FigH = ancestor(ObjH, 'figure');
   
% Work-around
if strcmpi(get(ObjH, 'Type'), 'uicontrol')
  set(ObjH, 'Enable', 'off');
  drawnow;
  set(ObjH, 'Enable', 'on');
  pause(0.02);  % Give the re-enabled control a chance to be rendered
end

% Methods according to the documentation (does not move the focus for
% keyboard events under Matlab 5.3, 6.5, 2008b, 2009a):
figure(FigH);
set(groot, 'CurrentFigure', FigH);

end

I add this in callbacks of e.g. buttons, such that they give back the focus to the figure. Example:

function ButtonCallback(ButtonH, EventData)
...
FocusToFig(ButtonH);
end

[Brenda FOCHIVÉ]

hello,

thaks for your reply,

I tried your code but it didn't work.

My program plots an array on lines, i used the plot3 function to that.

what i want is that, after the end user has rotated or zoomed on the plot/axes, when he presses escape the axes should go baxk to its original state

[Jan]

What about using your own tool for the spatial navigation, e.g. https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/39558-figure-rotator ? Then you have full control over the figure and can use the suggested code to return the focus to the figure.

By the way: Which Matlab version are you using? In my tests with R2018b the figure does not loose the focus and the WindowsKeyPressFcn is executed after zooming and rotating in an axes.

[Brenda FOCHIVÉ]

Hello, I am using MATLAB R2015a

[Jan]

So upgrading is a reliable idea, but it might be expensive. I've written an own tool for the spatial navigation, which uses the same behavior for the mouse keys as in another software, such that the users do not have to learn different styles. It is equivalent to the FEX submission I've posted the link to.