Subplot disappeared after getting its handle

I have a figure consisting of five subplots and I want to save or open one of them in another figure. For some reason, whenever I tried to get the handle with the first line. That subplot specifically just turned empty and the new figure contains only an empty axis too. Any help on selecting a subplot would be appreciated.

h_subplot = subplot(5,1,2);
figure;
h_newaxis = copyobj(h_subplot, gcf);
set(h_newaxis, 'Position', get(0,'DefaultAxesPosition'));

Answer 1

[Constantino Carlos Reyes-Aldasoro]

Ok, I have now seen that the error is in the object that you are trying to copy, it should NOT be the subplot, but the actual object that you display in that subplot. Try the following:

figure
h1_subplot = subplot(5,1,2);h1_ax = imagesc(rand(16));

figure
h2_subplot = subplot(5,1,4);
h2_newaxis = copyobj(h1_ax,h2_subplot );

Hope that now the problem should be solved.

[Shao-Yu Wang]

Hi, thanks for the answer. I see what you mean, but now the problem becomes how to get the object I want to copy. You see, my starting point is already a figure filled with subplots. It's generated from a complex code that I don't want to touch. How would you get the h1_ax in this case?

[Constantino Carlos Reyes-Aldasoro]

In that case, you will need to find it through handles and children. For example, take this code:

figure
subplot(3,2,1); plot(1:10,1:10,'bo');
subplot(3,2,2); plot(1:20,1:20,'rx');
subplot(3,2,3); plot(1:30,1:30,'md');
subplot(3,2,4); plot(1:40,1:40,'ys');
subplot(3,2,5); plot(1:50,1:50,'gd');

Now, we use gcf to get the figure and store this in the handle h0

h0=gcf;
get(h0)

                 Alphamap: [0 0.0159 0.0317 0.0476 0.0635 0.0794 0.0952 0.1111 0.1270 0.1429 0.1587 0.1746 0.1905 0.2063 0.2222 0.2381 0.2540 0.2698 0.2857 0.3016 0.3175 0.3333 0.3492 0.3651 … ]
             BeingDeleted: off
               BusyAction: 'queue'
            ButtonDownFcn: ''
                 Children: [5×1 Axes]
                 Clipping: on
          CloseRequestFcn: 'closereq'
                    Color: [1 1 1]
                 Colormap: [256×3 double]
              ContextMenu: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
                CreateFcn: ''
              CurrentAxes: [1×1 Axes]
         CurrentCharacter: ''
            CurrentObject: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
             CurrentPoint: [0 0]
                DeleteFcn: ''
             DockControls: on
                 FileName: ''
        GraphicsSmoothing: on
         HandleVisibility: 'on'
                     Icon: ''
            InnerPosition: [671 558 577 433]
            IntegerHandle: on
            Interruptible: on
           InvertHardcopy: on
              KeyPressFcn: ''
            KeyReleaseFcn: ''
                  MenuBar: 'none'
                     Name: ''
                 NextPlot: 'add'
                   Number: 1
              NumberTitle: on
            OuterPosition: [671 554 577 458]
         PaperOrientation: 'portrait'
            PaperPosition: [1.3359 3.3131 5.8283 4.3737]
        PaperPositionMode: 'auto'
                PaperSize: [8.5000 11]
                PaperType: 'usletter'
               PaperUnits: 'inches'
                   Parent: [1×1 Root]
                  Pointer: 'arrow'
        PointerShapeCData: [16×16 double]
      PointerShapeHotSpot: [1 1]
                 Position: [671 558 577 433]
                 Renderer: 'opengl'
             RendererMode: 'auto'
                   Resize: on
               Scrollable: off
            SelectionType: 'normal'
           SizeChangedFcn: ''
                      Tag: ''
                  ToolBar: 'none'
                     Type: 'figure'
                    Units: 'pixels'
                 UserData: []
                  Visible: off
      WindowButtonDownFcn: ''
    WindowButtonMotionFcn: ''
        WindowButtonUpFcn: ''
        WindowKeyPressFcn: ''
      WindowKeyReleaseFcn: ''
     WindowScrollWheelFcn: ''
              WindowState: 'normal'
              WindowStyle: 'normal'
                 XDisplay: ':1.0'

As you can see there are 5 children in the handle, you can then access these

h1 = h0.Children(2);
get(h1)

                        ALim: [0 1]
                    ALimMode: 'auto'
                  AlphaScale: 'linear'
                    Alphamap: [0 0.0159 0.0317 0.0476 0.0635 0.0794 0.0952 0.1111 0.1270 0.1429 0.1587 0.1746 0.1905 0.2063 0.2222 0.2381 0.2540 0.2698 0.2857 0.3016 0.3175 0.3333 0.3492 0.3651 … ]
           AmbientLightColor: [1 1 1]
                BeingDeleted: off
                         Box: on
                    BoxStyle: 'back'
                  BusyAction: 'queue'
               ButtonDownFcn: ''
                        CLim: [0 1]
                    CLimMode: 'auto'
              CameraPosition: [20 20 17.3205]
          CameraPositionMode: 'auto'
                CameraTarget: [20 20 0]
            CameraTargetMode: 'auto'
              CameraUpVector: [0 1 0]
          CameraUpVectorMode: 'auto'
             CameraViewAngle: 6.6086
         CameraViewAngleMode: 'auto'
                    Children: [1×1 Line]
                    Clipping: on
               ClippingStyle: '3dbox'
                       Color: [1 1 1]
                  ColorOrder: [7×3 double]
             ColorOrderIndex: 2
                  ColorScale: 'linear'
                    Colormap: [256×3 double]
                 ContextMenu: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
                   CreateFcn: ''
                CurrentPoint: [2×3 double]
             DataAspectRatio: [20 20 1]
         DataAspectRatioMode: 'auto'
                   DeleteFcn: ''
                   FontAngle: 'normal'
                    FontName: 'Helvetica'
                    FontSize: 8
                FontSizeMode: 'auto'
               FontSmoothing: on
                   FontUnits: 'points'
                  FontWeight: 'normal'
                   GridAlpha: 0.1500
               GridAlphaMode: 'auto'
                   GridColor: [0.1500 0.1500 0.1500]
               GridColorMode: 'auto'
               GridLineStyle: '-'
               GridLineWidth: 0.5000
           GridLineWidthMode: 'auto'
            HandleVisibility: 'on'
                     HitTest: on
               InnerPosition: [0.5703 0.4096 0.3347 0.2157]
          InteractionOptions: [1×1 matlab.graphics.interaction.interactionoptions.InteractionOptions]
                Interactions: [1×1 matlab.graphics.interaction.interface.DefaultAxesInteractionSet]
               Interruptible: on
     LabelFontSizeMultiplier: 1.1000
                       Layer: 'bottom'
                      Layout: [0×0 matlab.ui.layout.LayoutOptions]
                      Legend: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
      LineStyleCyclingMethod: 'aftercolor'
              LineStyleOrder: '-'
         LineStyleOrderIndex: 1
                   LineWidth: 0.5000
              MinorGridAlpha: 0.2500
          MinorGridAlphaMode: 'auto'
              MinorGridColor: [0.1000 0.1000 0.1000]
          MinorGridColorMode: 'auto'
          MinorGridLineStyle: ':'
          MinorGridLineWidth: 0.5000
      MinorGridLineWidthMode: 'auto'
                    NextPlot: 'replace'
             NextSeriesIndex: 2
               OuterPosition: [0.5343 0.3722 0.4097 0.2693]
                      Parent: [1×1 Figure]
               PickableParts: 'visible'
          PlotBoxAspectRatio: [1 0.4870 0.4870]
      PlotBoxAspectRatioMode: 'auto'
                    Position: [0.5703 0.4096 0.3347 0.2157]
          PositionConstraint: 'innerposition'
                  Projection: 'orthographic'
                    Selected: off
          SelectionHighlight: on
                  SortMethod: 'childorder'
                    Subtitle: [1×1 Text]
          SubtitleFontWeight: 'normal'
                         Tag: ''
                     TickDir: 'in'
                 TickDirMode: 'auto'
        TickLabelInterpreter: 'tex'
                  TickLength: [0.0100 0.0250]
                  TightInset: [0.0281 0.0374 0.0121 0.0162]
                       Title: [1×1 Text]
     TitleFontSizeMultiplier: 1.1000
             TitleFontWeight: 'bold'
    TitleHorizontalAlignment: 'center'
                     Toolbar: [1×1 AxesToolbar]
                        Type: 'axes'
                       Units: 'normalized'
                    UserData: []
                        View: [0 90]
                     Visible: on
                       XAxis: [1×1 NumericRuler]
               XAxisLocation: 'bottom'
                      XColor: [0.1500 0.1500 0.1500]
                  XColorMode: 'auto'
                        XDir: 'normal'
                       XGrid: off
                      XLabel: [1×1 Text]
                        XLim: [0 40]
                    XLimMode: 'auto'
                XLimitMethod: 'tickaligned'
                  XMinorGrid: off
                  XMinorTick: off
                      XScale: 'linear'
                       XTick: [0 10 20 30 40]
                  XTickLabel: {5×1 cell}
              XTickLabelMode: 'auto'
          XTickLabelRotation: 0
      XTickLabelRotationMode: 'auto'
                   XTickMode: 'auto'
                       YAxis: [1×1 NumericRuler]
               YAxisLocation: 'left'
                      YColor: [0.1500 0.1500 0.1500]
                  YColorMode: 'auto'
                        YDir: 'normal'
                       YGrid: off
                      YLabel: [1×1 Text]
                        YLim: [0 40]
                    YLimMode: 'auto'
                YLimitMethod: 'tickaligned'
                  YMinorGrid: off
                  YMinorTick: off
                      YScale: 'linear'
                       YTick: [0 20 40]
                  YTickLabel: {3×1 cell}
              YTickLabelMode: 'auto'
          YTickLabelRotation: 0
      YTickLabelRotationMode: 'auto'
                   YTickMode: 'auto'
                       ZAxis: [1×1 NumericRuler]
                      ZColor: [0.1500 0.1500 0.1500]
                  ZColorMode: 'auto'
                        ZDir: 'normal'
                       ZGrid: off
                      ZLabel: [1×1 Text]
                        ZLim: [-1 1]
                    ZLimMode: 'auto'
                ZLimitMethod: 'tickaligned'
                  ZMinorGrid: off
                  ZMinorTick: off
                      ZScale: 'linear'
                       ZTick: [-1 0 1]
                  ZTickLabel: ''
              ZTickLabelMode: 'auto'
          ZTickLabelRotation: 0
      ZTickLabelRotationMode: 'auto'
                   ZTickMode: 'auto'

You will need to play a bit to find which is the axes that you want to copy, but this will work.

If you want to know more about handles and how to create publication quality images, I can recommend my book:

Biomedical Image Analysis Recipes in MATLAB: For Life Scientists and Engineers

https://www.wiley.com/en-sg/Biomedical+Image+Analysis+Recipes+in+MATLAB%3A+For+Life+Scientists+and+Engineers-p-9781118657553

Hope this solves your problem, or at least points you in the right direction.

[Shao-Yu Wang]

Thank you so much!

Answer 2

[Constantino Carlos Reyes-Aldasoro]

The problem is the order in which you are passing the commands, you create a subplot in a figure, then you call for a new figure and then you use gcf. Try like this

h_fig   = figure;
h_subplot = subplot(5,1,2);
h_newaxis = copyobj(h_subplot, h_fig);
set(h_newaxis, 'Position', get(0,'DefaultAxesPosition'));

[Shao-Yu Wang]

Unfortunately it didn't work. After the second line the original subplot ws still there and the new figure got a similar axis. However the fourth line simply overlapped another axis on top of it and there's still no plot data. The good news is the old subplot was intact.