TextScatter Properties

Control text scatter chart appearance and behavior

TextScatter properties control the appearance and behavior of TextScatter object. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the text scatter chart.

Text

TextData — Text labels

string array | cell array of character vectors

Text labels, specified as a string array, or a cell array of character vectors.

Example: ["word1" "word2" "word3"]

Data Types: string | cell

TextDensityPercentage — Percentage of text data to show

60 (default) | scalar from 0 through 100

Percentage of text data to show, specified as a scalar from 0 through 100. To show all text, set TextDensityPercentage to 100. To show no text, set TextDensityPercentage to 0.

If you set TextDensityPercentage to 100, then the software does not plot markers.

Example: 70

MaxTextLength — Maximum length of text labels

40 (default) | positive integer

Maximum length of text labels, specified as a positive integer. The software truncates the text labels to this length and adds ellipses at the point of truncation.

Example: 10

Font Style

FontName — Font name

system supported font name | 'FixedWidth'

Font name, specified as the name of the font to use or 'FixedWidth'. To display and print properly, the font name must be a font that your system supports. The default font depends on the specific operating system and locale.

To use a fixed-width font that looks good in any locale, use 'FixedWidth'. The 'FixedWidth' value relies on the root FixedWidthFontName property. Setting the root FixedWidthFontName property causes an immediate update of the display to use the new font.

Example: 'Cambria'

FontSize — Font size

10 (default) | scalar value greater than zero

Font size, specified as a scalar value greater than zero in point units. One point equals 1/72 inch.

Example: 12

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

FontAngle — Character slant

'normal' (default) | 'italic'

Character slant, specified as 'normal' or 'italic'. Not all fonts have both font styles. Therefore, the italic font might look the same as the normal font.

FontWeight — Thickness of text characters

'normal' (default) | 'bold'

Thickness of the text characters, specified as one of these values:

• 'normal' — Default weight as defined by the particular font

• 'bold' — Thicker character outlines than normal

MATLAB^® uses the FontWeight property to select a font from those available on your system. Not all fonts have a bold font weight. Therefore, specifying a bold font weight still can result in the normal font weight.

FontSmoothing — Smooth font character appearance

'on' (default) | 'off'

Smooth font character appearance, specified as one of these values:

• 'on' — Apply font smoothing. Reduce the appearance of jaggedness in the text characters to make the text easier to read.

• 'off' — Do not apply font smoothing.

Note

The FontSmoothing property will have no effect in a future release. Font smoothing will be enabled regardless of the value of the property.

Text Box

EdgeColor — Color of box outline

'none' (default) | RGB triplet | character vector of color name

Color of box outline, specified as 'none', a three-element RGB triplet, or a character vector of a color name. The default edge color of 'none' makes the box outline invisible.

RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]	"#FF0000"
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]	"#00FF00"
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]	"#0000FF"
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]	"#00FFFF"
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]	"#FF00FF"
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]	"#FFFF00"
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]	"#000000"
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]	"#FFFFFF"

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	"#0072BD"
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	"#D95319"
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	"#EDB120"
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	"#7E2F8E"
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	"#77AC30"
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	"#4DBEEE"
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	"#A2142F"

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

BackgroundColor — Color of text box background

'none' (default) | 'data' | RGB triplet

Color of text box background, specified as one of these values:

• 'none'— Make the text box background transparent.

• 'data'— Use background color specified by ColorData. The software automatically chooses a foreground to complement the background color.

• RGB triplet — Use the same color for all the markers in the plot. An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.5 0.6 0.7].

Example: [1 0 0]

Margin — Space around text within text box

3 (default) | positive scalar

The space around the text within the text box, specified as a positive scalar in point units.

MATLAB uses the Extent property value plus the Margin property value to determine the size of the text box.

Example: 8

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

Markers

MarkerColor — Marker colors

'auto' (default) | 'none' | RGB triplet

Marker colors, specified as one of these values:

• 'auto' — For each marker, use the same color as the corresponding text labels.

• 'none' — Do not show markers.

• RGB triplet — Use the same color for all the markers in the plot. An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.5 0.6 0.7].

Example: [1 0 0]

MarkerSize — Marker size

6 (default) | positive scalar

Marker size, specified as a positive scalar.

Example: 10

Data

XData — x values

[] (default) | scalar | vector

x values, specified as a scalar or a vector. The text scatter plot displays an individual marker for each value in XData.

The input argument X to the textscatter and textscatter3 functions set the x values. XData and YData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1 2 4 2 6]

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

XDataSource — Variable linked to XData

'' (default) | character vector containing MATLAB workspace variable name

Variable linked to XData, specified as a character vector containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the XData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the XData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

Example: 'x'

YData — y values

[] (default) | scalar | vector

y values, specified as a scalar or a vector. The text scatter plot displays an individual marker for each value in YData.

The input argument Y to the textscatter and textscatter3 functions set the y values. XData and YData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1 3 3 4 6]

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

YDataSource — Variable linked to YData

'' (default) | character vector containing MATLAB workspace variable name

Variable linked to YData, specified as a character vector containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the YData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the YData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

Example: 'y'

ZData — z values

[] (default) | scalar | vector

z values, specified as a scalar or a vector.

• For 2-D scatter plots, ZData is empty by default.

• For 3-D scatter plots, the input argument Z to the scatter3 function sets the z values. XData, YData, and ZData must have equal lengths.

Example: [1 2 2 1 0]

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

ZDataSource — Variable linked to ZData

'' (default) | character vector containing MATLAB workspace variable name

Variable linked to ZData, specified as a character vector containing a MATLAB workspace variable name. MATLAB evaluates the variable in the base workspace to generate the ZData.

By default, there is no linked variable so the value is an empty character vector, ''. If you link a variable, then MATLAB does not update the ZData values immediately. To force an update of the data values, use the refreshdata function.

Note

If you change one data source property to a variable that contains data of a different dimension, you might cause the function to generate a warning and not render the graph until you have changed all data source properties to appropriate values.

Example: 'z'

ColorData — Text colors

[] (default) | RGB triplet | matrix of RGB triplets | categorical vector

Text colors, specified as one of these values:

• RGB triplet — Use the same color for all the text in the plot. An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.5 0.6 0.7].

• Three-column matrix of RGB triplets — Use a different color for each text label in the plot. Each row of the matrix defines one color. The number of rows must equal the number of text labels.

• Categorical vector — Use a different color for each category in the vector. Specify ColorData as a vector the same length as XData. Specify the colors for each category using the Colors property

Example: [1 0 0; 0 1 0; 0 0 1]

Colors — Category colors

matrix of RGB triplets

Category colors, specified as a matrix of RGB triplets. An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.5 0.6 0.7].

By default, Colors is equal to the ColorOrder property of the axes object.

Example: [1 0 0; 0 1 0; 0 0 1]

Visibility

Visible — State of visibility

"on" (default) | "off"

State of visibility, specified as one of these values:

• "on" — Display the object.

• "off" — Hide the object without deleting it. You still can access the properties of an invisible object.

Identifiers

Type — Type of graphics object

'textscatter'

This property is read-only.

Type of graphics object, returned as 'textscatter'. Use this property to find all objects of a given type within a plotting hierarchy; for example, searching for the type using findobj.

Tag — User-specified tag

'' (default) | character vector

This property is read-only.

User-specified tag to associate with the object, specified as a character vector. Tags provide a way to identify graphics objects. Use this property to find all objects with a specific tag within a plotting hierarchy; for example, searching for the tag using findobj.

Example: 'January Data'

UserData — Data to associate with object

[] (default) | any MATLAB data

This property is read-only.

Data to associate with the object, specified as any MATLAB data; for example, a scalar, vector, matrix, cell array, character array, table, or structure. MATLAB does not use this data.

To associate multiple sets of data or to attach a field name to the data, use the getappdata and setappdata functions.

Example: 1:100

DisplayName — Text used for legend label

'' (default) | character vector

This property is read-only.

Text used for the legend label, specified as a character vector. If you do not specify the text, then the legend uses a label of the form 'dataN'. The legend does not display until you call the legend command.

Example: 'Label Text'

Annotation — Control for including or excluding object from legend

Annotation object

Control for including or excluding the object from a legend, returned as an Annotation object. Set the underlying IconDisplayStyle property to one of these values:

• 'on' — Include the object in the legend (default).

• 'off' — Do not include the object in the legend.

For example, exclude a stem chart from the legend.

p = plot(1:10,'DisplayName','Line Chart');
hold on
s = stem(1:10,'DisplayName','Stem Chart');
hold off
s.Annotation.LegendInformation.IconDisplayStyle = 'off';
legend('show')

Alternatively, you can control the items in a legend using the legend function. Specify the first input argument as a vector of the graphics objects to include.

p = plot(1:10,'DisplayName','Line Chart');
hold on
s = stem(1:10,'DisplayName','Stem Chart');
hold off
legend(p)

Parent/Child

Parent — Parent

Axes object | PolarAxes object | Group object | Transform object

Parent, specified as an Axes, PolarAxes, Group, or Transform object.

Children — Children

empty GraphicsPlaceholder array | DataTip object array

Children, returned as an empty GraphicsPlaceholder array or a DataTip object array. Use this property to view a list of data tips that are plotted on the chart.

You cannot add or remove children using the Children property. To add a child to this list, set the Parent property of the DataTip object to the chart object.

HandleVisibility — Visibility of object handle

"on" (default) | "off" | "callback"

Visibility of the object handle in the Children property of the parent, specified as one of these values:

• "on" — Object handle is always visible.

• "off" — Object handle is invisible at all times. Use this option to prevent unintended changes to the UI by another function. Set HandleVisibility to "off" to temporarily hide the handle when you execute another function.

• "callback" — Object handle is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command-line, but allows callback functions to access it.

If the object is not listed in the Children property of the parent, then functions that obtain object handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties cannot return it. These functions include get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close.

Hidden object handles are still valid. Set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to "on" to list all object handles regardless of their HandleVisibility property setting.

Interactive Control

ButtonDownFcn — Mouse-click callback

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Mouse-click callback, specified as one of these values:

• Function handle

• Cell array containing a function handle and additional arguments

• Character vector that is a valid MATLAB command or function, which is evaluated in the base workspace (not recommended)

Use this property to execute code when you click the object. If you specify this property using a function handle, then MATLAB passes two arguments to the callback function when executing the callback:

• Clicked object — You can access properties of the clicked object from within the callback function.

• Event data — This argument is empty for this property. Replace it with the tilde character (~) in the function definition to indicate that this argument is not used.

For more information on how to use function handles to define callback functions, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

Note

If the PickableParts property is set to 'none' or if the HitTest property is set to 'off', then this callback does not execute.

Example: @myCallback

Example: {@myCallback,arg3}

ContextMenu — Context menu

empty GraphicsPlaceholder array (default) | ContextMenu object

Context menu, specified as a ContextMenu object. Use this property to display a context menu when you right-click the object. Create the context menu using the uicontextmenu function.

Note

If the PickableParts property is set to 'none' or if the HitTest property is set to 'off', then the context menu does not appear.

Selected — Selection state

'off' (default) | 'on'

Selection state, specified as one of these values:

• 'on' — Selected. If you click the object when in plot edit mode, then MATLAB sets its Selected property to 'on'. If the SelectionHighlight property also is set to 'on', then MATLAB displays selection handles around the object.

• 'off' — Not selected.

SelectionHighlight — Display of selection handles when selected

'on' (default) | 'off'

Display of selection handles when selected, specified as one of these values:

• 'on' — Display selection handles when the Selected property is set to 'on'.

• 'off' — Never display selection handles, even when the Selected property is set to 'on'.

DataTipTemplate — Data tip content

DataTipTemplate object

Data tip content, specified as a DataTipTemplate object. You can control the content that appears in a data tip by modifying the properties of the underlying DataTipTemplate object. For a list of properties, see DataTipTemplate Properties.

For an example of modifying data tips, see Create Custom Data Tips.

Note

The DataTipTemplate object is not returned by findobj or findall, and it is not copied by copyobj.

Callback Execution Control

PickableParts — Ability to capture mouse clicks

'visible' (default) | 'none'

Ability to capture mouse clicks, specified as one of these values:

• 'visible' — Can capture mouse clicks when visible. The Visible property must be set to 'on' and you must click a part of the TextScatter object that has a defined color. You cannot click a part that has an associated color property set to 'none'. If the plot contains markers, then the entire marker is clickable if either the edge or the fill has a defined color. The HitTest property determines if the TextScatter object responds to the click or if an ancestor does.

• 'none' — Cannot capture mouse clicks. Clicking the TextScatter object passes the click to the object below it in the current view of the figure window. The HitTest property of the TextScatter object has no effect.

HitTest — Response to captured mouse clicks

'on' (default) | 'off'

Response to captured mouse clicks, specified as one of these values:

• 'on' — Trigger the ButtonDownFcn callback of the TextScatter object. If you have defined the UIContextMenu property, then invoke the context menu.

• 'off' — Trigger the callbacks for the nearest ancestor of the TextScatter object that has a HitTest property set to 'on' and a PickableParts property value that enables the ancestor to capture mouse clicks.

Note

The PickableParts property determines if the TextScatter object can capture mouse clicks. If it cannot, then the HitTest property has no effect.

Interruptible — Callback interruption

'on' (default) | 'off'

Callback interruption, specified as 'on' or 'off'. The Interruptible property determines if a running callback can be interrupted.

Note

There are two callback states to consider:

• The running callback is the currently executing callback.

• The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.

Whenever MATLAB invokes a callback, that callback attempts to interrupt a running callback. The Interruptible property of the object owning the running callback determines if interruption is allowed. If interruption is not allowed, then the BusyAction property of the object owning the interrupting callback determines if it is discarded or put in the queue.

If the ButtonDownFcn callback of the TextScatter object is the running callback, then the Interruptible property determines if it another callback can interrupt it:

• 'on' — Interruptible. Interruption occurs at the next point where MATLAB processes the queue, such as when there is a drawnow, figure, getframe, waitfor, or pause command.

  • If the running callback contains one of these commands, then MATLAB stops the execution of the callback at this point and executes the interrupting callback. MATLAB resumes executing the running callback when the interrupting callback completes. For more information, see Interrupt Callback Execution.

  • If the running callback does not contain one of these commands, then MATLAB finishes executing the callback without interruption.

• 'off' — Not interruptible. MATLAB finishes executing the running callback without any interruptions.

BusyAction — Callback queuing

'queue' (default) | 'cancel'

Callback queuing specified as 'queue' or 'cancel'. The BusyAction property determines how MATLAB handles the execution of interrupting callbacks.

Note

There are two callback states to consider:

• The running callback is the currently executing callback.

• The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.

Whenever MATLAB invokes a callback, that callback attempts to interrupt a running callback. The Interruptible property of the object owning the running callback determines if interruption is allowed. If interruption is not allowed, then the BusyAction property of the object owning the interrupting callback determines if it is discarded or put in the queue.

If the ButtonDownFcn callback of the TextScatter object tries to interrupt a running callback that cannot be interrupted, then the BusyAction property determines if it is discarded or put in the queue. Specify the BusyAction property as one of these values:

• 'queue' — Put the interrupting callback in a queue to be processed after the running callback finishes execution. This is the default behavior.

• 'cancel' — Discard the interrupting callback.

Creation and Deletion Control

CreateFcn — Creation callback

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Creation callback, specified as one of these values:

• Function handle

• Cell array containing a function handle and additional arguments

• Character vector that is a valid MATLAB command or function, which is evaluated in the base workspace (not recommended)

Use this property to execute code when you create the object. Setting the CreateFcn property on an existing object has no effect. You must define a default value for this property, or define this property using a Name,Value pair during object creation. MATLAB executes the callback after creating the object and setting all of its properties.

If you specify this callback using a function handle, then MATLAB passes two arguments to the callback function when executing the callback:

• Created object — You can access properties of the object from within the callback function. You also can access the object through the CallbackObject property of the root, which can be queried using the gcbo function.

• Event data — This argument is empty for this property. Replace it with the tilde character (~) in the function definition to indicate that this argument is not used.

For more information on how to use function handles to define callback functions, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

Example: @myCallback

Example: {@myCallback,arg3}

DeleteFcn — Deletion callback

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Deletion callback, specified as one of these values:

• Function handle

• Cell array containing a function handle and additional arguments

• Character vector that is a valid MATLAB command or function, which is evaluated in the base workspace (not recommended)

Use this property to execute code when you delete the object MATLAB executes the callback before destroying the object so that the callback can access its property values.

If you specify this callback using a function handle, then MATLAB passes two arguments to the callback function when executing the callback:

• Deleted object — You can access properties of the object from within the callback function. You also can access the object through the CallbackObject property of the root, which can be queried using the gcbo function.

• Event data — This argument is empty for this property. Replace it with the tilde character (~) in the function definition to indicate that this argument is not used.

For more information on how to use function handles to define callback functions, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

Example: @myCallback

Example: {@myCallback,arg3}

BeingDeleted — Deletion status

'off' (default) | 'on'

Deletion status, returned as 'off' or 'on'. MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted property to 'on' when the delete function of the object begins execution (see the DeleteFcn property). The BeingDeleted property remains set to 'on' until the object no longer exists.

Check the value of the BeingDeleted property to verify that the object is not about to be deleted before querying or modifying it.

Version History

Introduced in R2017b

R2022a: FontSmoothing will have no effect in a future release

The FontSmoothing property will have no effect in a future release. Font smoothing will be enabled regardless of the value of the property.

R2020a: UIContextMenu property is not recommended

Starting in R2020a, using the UIContextMenu property to assign a context menu to a graphics object or UI component is not recommended. Use the ContextMenu property instead. The property values are the same.

There are no plans to remove support for the UIContextMenu property at this time. However, the UIContextMenu property no longer appears in the list returned by calling the get function on a graphics object or UI component.