Variable horizontal alignment of cell array's strings in annotation

In the following example, I'm trying to center align the second string of arrcell while keeping the first and third strings aligned to the left

cases = 18;
percent = 0.3;
dim = [0.1 0.5 0.1 0.1];
arrcell = {['there are ',num2str(cases),' cases'],['- - - -'],['the percent is ',num2str(percent)]};
an = annotation('textbox',dim,'String',arrcell,'FitBoxToText','on');
set(an, {'HorizontalAlignment'}, {'left';'center';'left'});

but I get the error

Error using matlab.graphics.shape.TextBox/set
Value cell array handle dimension must match handle vector length.

What is wrong?

This is what I would like to obtain

Answer 1

[Ameer Hamza]

cases = 18;
percent = 0.3;
dim = [0.1 0.5 0.1 0.1];
arrcell = {['there are ',num2str(cases),' cases'],['- - - -'],['the percent is ',num2str(percent)]};
an1 = annotation('textbox',dim,'String',arrcell(3), 'FitBoxToText','on', ...
    'Margin',0, 'EdgeColor', [0 0 0], 'HorizontalAlignment', 'left', ...
    'EdgeColor', 'none');
an1.Position(1:2) = dim(1:2);
drawnow;
pos1 = an1.Position;
an2 = annotation('textbox',[pos1(1) pos1(2)+pos1(4) pos1(3) pos1(4)],'String',arrcell(2), ...
    'Margin',0, 'EdgeColor', [0 0 0], 'HorizontalAlignment', 'center', ...
    'EdgeColor', 'none');
drawnow;
pos2 = an2.Position;
an3 = annotation('textbox',[pos2(1) pos2(2)+pos2(4) pos2(3) pos2(4)],'String',arrcell(1), ...
    'Margin',0, 'EdgeColor', [0 0 0], 'HorizontalAlignment', 'left', ...
    'EdgeColor', 'none');
pos3 = an3.Position;
annotation('rectangle', [pos1([1 2 3]) pos1(4)*3]+[-0.01 -0.01 0.02 0.02]);

[giannit]

Thank you, I think pos is not defined though.

Anyway, the following code is less cumbersome

cases = 18;
percent = 0.3;
arrcell1 = {['there are ',num2str(cases),' cases']};
arrcell2 = {[''],['- - - -']};
arrcell3 = {[''],[''],['the percent is ',num2str(percent)]};
annotation('textbox',[.1 .5 .24 .15],'String',arrcell1,'HorizontalAlignment','left');
annotation('textbox',[.1 .5 .24 .15],'String',arrcell2,'HorizontalAlignment','center');
annotation('textbox',[.1 .5 .24 .15],'String',arrcell3,'HorizontalAlignment','left');

but as drawback we cannot use 'FitBoxToText','on' with this method.

[Ameer Hamza]

I made a mistake in pasting the code. Please check the updated code. I think your code does not produce the formatting you mentioned in the question.

[giannit]

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help, the only bad thing is that the margin is too small (text it touching the border).

I updated my comment, the code now produce exactly the formatting mentioned in the question.

question:

code in comment:

your code:

[Ameer Hamza]

Can you tell, which version of MATLAB are you using? When I run this code

cases = 18;
percent = 0.3;
arrcell1 = {['there are ',num2str(cases),' cases']};
arrcell2 = {[''],['- - - -']};
arrcell3 = {[''],[''],['the percent is ',num2str(percent)]};
annotation('textbox',[.1 .5 .24 .15],'String',arrcell1,'HorizontalAlignment','left');
annotation('textbox',[.1 .5 .24 .15],'String',arrcell2,'HorizontalAlignment','center');
annotation('textbox',[.1 .5 .24 .15],'String',arrcell3,'HorizontalAlignment','left');

I get this output

[giannit]

Sorry for late, here is my version, is it bad?

[Ameer Hamza]

If it works for on your platform, then you should continue using this code. I tried on macOS using R2018b and R2020a, and in both cases, this code created extra space inside the box.

Answer 2

[KALYAN ACHARJYA]

cases = 18;
percent = 0.3;
dim = [0.1 0.5 0.1 0.1];
arrcell = {['there are ',num2str(cases),' cases'],['- - - -'],['the percent is ',num2str(percent)]};
an = annotation('textbox',dim,'String',arrcell,'FitBoxToText','on');
set(an, {'HorizontalAlignment'}, {'center'});

[giannit]

Thank you! Anyway, this is not exactly what I would like to obtain. Instead I would like

• first string left aligned
• second string center aligned
• third string left aligned

This is why I tried with {'left';'center';'left'}` but, it doesn't work.

Any ideas?

[Ameer Hamza]

Unfortunately, such a thing is not supported in MATLAB. The only workaround is to draw each component separately. Check the code in my answer. It is cumbersome, to say the least.