Main Content

uiaxes

Create UI axes for plots in apps

collapse all in page

Syntax

ax = uiaxes
ax = uiaxes(Name,Value)
ax = uiaxes(parent)
ax = uiaxes(parent,Name,Value)

Description

ax = uiaxes creates a UI axes in a new figure window and returns the UIAxes object. MATLAB® calls the uifigure function to create the figure.

UIAxes objects are useful for creating Cartesian plots in apps. They are very similar to the Cartesian Axes objects returned by the axes function. Thus, you can pass a UIAxes object to most functions that accept an Axes object. For more information, see Differences Between UIAxes and Axes Objects.

example

ax = uiaxes(Name,Value) specifies UIAxes property values using one or more Name,Value pair arguments.

example

ax = uiaxes(parent) creates the UI axes in the specified parent container. The parent can be a Figure created using the uifigure function, or one of its child containers.

example

ax = uiaxes(parent,Name,Value) specifies UIAxes property values using one or more Name,Value arguments.

Examples

collapse all

Create a line plot and a scatter plot in UI axes.

Create a figure window with UI axes and assign the UIAxes object to the variable ax. Add a line plot to the axes by specifying the UIAxes object as the first input argument for the plot function.

fig = uifigure;
ax = uiaxes(fig);
x = linspace(-pi,pi,50);
y = 5*sin(x);
plot(ax,x,y)

App window containing a line plot of a sine wave in a UIAxes object

Set the hold state on and add a scatter plot. Specify the UIAxes object as the first input argument for the hold and scatter functions.

hold(ax,'on')
y2 = 5*sin(x) + randn(1,50);
scatter(ax,x,y2)

App window containing a line plot of a sine wave and scatter plot in the same UIAxes object

Modify the appearance of the UI axes by setting properties using name-value pair arguments. For example, reverse the x-axis direction using the XDir name-value pair.

fig = uifigure;
ax = uiaxes(fig,'XDir','reverse');
x = linspace(-pi,pi);
y = sin(x);
plot(ax,x,y)

App window containing a line plot of a sine wave in a UIAxes object. The x-axis tick labels increase from right to left.

Alternatively, specify properties after the axes is created using dot notation. For example, reverse the y-axis direction using dot notation to access the YDir property.

ax.YDir = 'reverse';

Specify the UI axes position by setting the Position property. Specify the position in pixels.

fig = uifigure;
ax = uiaxes(fig,'Position',[10 10 550 400]);

App window containing a UIAxes object that fills the entire window

Add UI axes to a panel within a figure window. Specify the panel and axes positions in pixels.

fig = uifigure;
p = uipanel(fig,'Position',[10 10 400 400]);
ax = uiaxes(p,'Position',[10 10 370 370]);

App window containing a panel. The panel contains a UIAxes object.

Input Arguments

collapse all

Parent container, specified as a Figure, Panel, Tab, GridLayout, or TiledChartLayout object. If no container is specified, MATLAB calls the uifigure function to create a new Figure object that serves as the parent container.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: 'Xscale','linear','YScale','log'

The properties list here are only a subset. For a full list, see UIAxes Properties.

Minimum and maximum limits, specified as a two-element vector of the form [min max], where max is greater than min. You can specify the limits as numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. However, the type of values that you specify must match the type of values along the axis.

You can specify both limits, or specify one limit and let MATLAB automatically calculate the other. For an automatically calculated minimum or maximum limit, use -inf or inf, respectively. MATLAB uses the 'tight' limit method to calculate the corresponding limit.

Example: ax.XLim = [0 10]

Example: ax.YLim = [-inf 10]

Example: ax.ZLim = [0 inf]

Alternatively, use the xlim, ylim, and zlim functions to set the limits. For an example, see Specify Axis Limits.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | datetime | duration

Axis scale, specified as one of these values.

ValueDescriptionResult
'linear'

Linear scale

Example: ax.XScale = 'linear'

Axis with the scale set to 'linear'. The tick values that start at 0 and increment by adding 100 to the previous value.
'log'

Log scale

Example: ax.XScale = 'log'

Note

The axes might exclude coordinates in some cases:

  • If the coordinates include positive and negative values, only the positive values are displayed.

  • If the coordinates are all negative, all of the values are displayed on a log scale with the appropriate sign.

  • Zero values are not displayed.

Axis with the scale set to 'log'. The tick values start at 0.10 (10 raised to -1). Each major tick value increases by a factor of 10.

Line style for grid lines, specified as one of the line styles in this table.

Line StyleDescriptionResulting Line
"-"Solid line

Sample of solid line

"--"Dashed line

Sample of dashed line

":"Dotted line

Sample of dotted line

"-."Dash-dotted line

Sample of dash-dotted line, with alternating dashes and dots

"none"No lineNo line

To display the grid lines, use the grid on command or set the XGrid, YGrid, or ZGrid property to 'on'.

Example: ax.GridLineStyle = '--'

Size and location of axes, including the labels and margins, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. This property is equivalent to the OuterPosition property. The vector defines a rectangle that encloses the outer bounds of the axes. The values are measured in the units specified by the Units property, which defaults to pixels.

  • The left and bottom elements define the position of the rectangle, measured from the lower left corner of the parent container.

  • The width and height define the size of the rectangle.

If you want to specify the position and account for the text around the axes, then set the either the Position or the OuterPosition property. These figures show the areas defined by the Position (or OuterPosition) in blue, and the InnerPosition in red.

2-D View of Axes3-D View of Axes

2-D axes with a title and axis labels. The inner position is outlined in red. It encloses the plot box only. The title, axis labels, and tick labels lie outside this rectangle. The outer position is outlined in blue. It encloses the plot box, the title, and the axis labels.

3-D axes with a title and axis labels. The inner position is outlined in red. It encloses the plot box. The title and axis labels lie outside this rectangle. Depending on the orientation of the plot box, some of the tick labels might lie inside or outside of this rectangle. The outer position is outlined in blue. It encloses the plot box, the title, and all of the axis labels.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

Output Arguments

collapse all

UIAxes object. Use ax to set properties of the UIAxes after they are created.

More About

collapse all

Differences Between UIAxes and Axes Objects

This table describes the properties that are different for UIAxes and Axes objects. For more information on creating charts in apps, see Display Graphics in App Designer.

PropertyUIAxes ObjectsAxes Objects
NextPlot

The default value is 'replacechildren'.

Note that passing a UIAxes object to the cla function with the 'reset' option sets the NextPlot property to 'replace' unless you define a different default for the NextPlot property.

The default value is 'replace'.

Position

The default Position is [10 10 400 300] in pixels.

The Position property is equivalent to the OuterPosition property.

The default Position is [0.1300 0.1100 0.7750 0.8150] in normalized units.

The Position property is equivalent to the InnerPosition property.

Units

The default value is 'pixels'.

The default value is 'normalized'.

FontUnits

The default value is 'pixels'.

The default value is 'points'.

Version History

Introduced in R2016a

See Also

Functions

Properties

Tools

Topics