FunctionContour Properties

Function contour chart appearance and behavior

FunctionContour properties control the appearance and behavior of FunctionContour objects. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the chart.

Levels

LevelList — Contour levels

vector of z values

Contour levels, specified as a vector of z values. By default, the fcontour function chooses values that span the range of values in the ZData property.

Setting this property sets the associated mode property to manual.

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

LevelListMode — Selection mode for LevelList

'auto' (default) | 'manual'

Selection mode for the LevelList, specified as one of these values:

• 'auto' — Determine the values based on the ZData values.

• 'manual' — Use manually specified values. To specify the values, set the LevelList property. When the mode is 'manual', the LevelList values do not change if you change the Function property or the limits.

LevelStep — Spacing between contour lines

0 (default) | scalar numeric value

Spacing between contour lines, specified as a scalar numeric value. For example, specify a value of 2 to draw contour lines at increments of 2. By default, LevelStep is determined by using the ZData values.

Setting this property sets the associated mode property to 'manual'.

Example: 3.4

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

LevelStepMode — Selection mode for LevelStep

'auto' (default) | 'manual'

Selection mode for the LevelStep, specified as one of these values:

• 'auto' — Determine the value based on the ZData values.

• 'manual' — Use a manually specified value. To specify the value, set the LevelStep property. When the mode is 'manual', the value of LevelStepMode does not change when the Function property or the limits change.

Color and Styling

Fill — Fill between contour lines

'off' (default) | on/off logical value

Fill between contour lines, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• A value of 'on' fill the spaces between contour lines with color.

• A value of 'off' leaves the spaces between the contour lines unfilled.

LineColor — Color of contour lines

'flat' (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Color of contour lines, specified as 'flat', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. To use a different color for each contour line, specify 'flat'. The color is determined by the contour value of the line, the colormap, and the scaling of data values into the colormap. For more information on color scaling, see Control Colormap Limits.

To use the same color for all the contour lines, specify an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• 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 string scalar or character vector 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. Therefore, 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"
"none"	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

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"

LineStyle — Line style

"-" (default) | "--" | ":" | "-." | "none"

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line
"none"	No line	No line

LineWidth — Line width

0.5 (default) | positive value

Line width, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch. If the line has markers, then the line width also affects the marker edges.

The line width cannot be thinner than the width of a pixel. If you set the line width to a value that is less than the width of a pixel on your system, the line displays as one pixel wide.

Function

Function — Function to plot

function handle | anonymous function | symbolic expression | symbolic function

Function to plot, specified as a function handle, anonymous function, or a symbolic expression or function.

XRange — Plotting interval for x values

[–5 5] (default) | two-element vector of form [xmin xmax]

Plotting interval for x values, specified as a two-element vector of the form [xmin xmax].

XRangeMode — Selection mode for XRange

'auto' (default) | 'manual'

Selection mode for XRange, specified as one of these values:

• 'auto' — Use the default value [-5 5]. If axes limits are specified, follow the specified limits instead.

• 'manual' — Use manually specified values. To specify the values, set the XRange property.

YRange — Plotting interval for y values

[–5 5] (default) | two-element vector of form [ymin ymax]

Plotting interval for y values, specified as a two-element vector of the form [ymin ymax].

YRangeMode — Selection mode for YRange

'auto' (default) | 'manual'

Selection mode for YRange, specified as one of these values:

• 'auto' — Use the default value [-5 5]. If the axes limits are specified, follow the specified limits instead.

• 'manual' — Use manually specified values. To specify the values, set the YRange property.

MeshDensity — Number of evaluation points per direction

71 (default) | number

Number of evaluation points per direction, specified as a number. The default is 71. Because fcontour uses adaptive evaluation, the actual number of evaluation points is greater.

Example: 30

Data

ContourMatrix — Contour line definitions

[] (default) | two-row matrix

This property is read-only.

Contour matrix, returned as a two-row matrix of following form.

Z1, x1,1, x1,2, ..., x1,N1, Z2, x2,1, x2,2, ..., x2,N2, Z3, ...
N1, y1,1, y1,2, ..., y1,N1, N2, y2,1, y2,2, ..., y2,N2, N3, ...

The columns of the matrix define the contour lines. Each contour line starts with a column containing Z and N values:

• Zi — The height of the i^th contour line

• Ni — The number of vertices in the i^th contour line

• (x_ij, y_ij) — The coordinates of the vertices for the i^th contour line, where j ranges from 1 to Ni

Example

Create a contour plot of x^2 + y^2. For demonstration purposes, use the lowest MeshDensity that results in a plot, which is 3.

h = fcontour(@(x,y) x.^2+y.^2, 'MeshDensity', 3);
grid on

Get the contour matrix using the ContourMatrix property of the contour object (h.ContourMatrix). The contour matrix contains definitions for each of the contour lines. Here are the first 12 columns of the matrix.

h.ContourMatrix

ans =

Columns 1 through 23
5     1     0    -1     0     1    10     2     0    -2     0     2 ...
5     0    -1     0     1     0     5     0    -2     0     2     0 ... 

The first definition in the matrix indicates that there is a contour line drawn at level 5, consisting of the five vertices (1, 0), (0, -1), (-1, 0), (0, 1), and (1, 0). The second definition indicates that there is a contour line at level 10, consisting of the five vertices (2, 0), (0, -2), (-2, 0), (0, 2), and (2, 0).

XData — x values

matrix

This property is read-only.

x values specified as a matrix. XData is at least a 2-by-2 matrix. size(XData), size(YData), and size(ZData) are equal.

YData — y values

matrix

This property is read-only.

y values, specified as a matrix. YData is at least a 2-by-2 matrix. size(XData), size(YData), and size(ZData) are equal.

ZData — Data that defines surface to contour

matrix

This property is read-only.

Data that defines the surface to contour, specified as a matrix. ZData is at least a 2-by-2 matrix. size(XData), size(YData), and size(ZData) are equal.

Legend

DisplayName — Text for legend label

autogenerated label (default) | character vector | string

Text for legend label, specified as a custom character vector or string. The default label is autogenerated from the Function property and the texlabel function. The legend does not appear until you call the legend function.

Data Types: char | string

Annotation — Include object in legend

Annotation object

Include the object in the legend, specified as an Annotation object. Set the underlying IconDisplayStyle property of the Annotation object to one of these values:

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

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

For example, to exclude the FunctionContour object named obj from the legend, set the IconDisplayStyle property to "off".

obj.Annotation.LegendInformation.IconDisplayStyle = "off";

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. If you do not specify an existing graphics object in the first input argument, then it does not appear in the legend. However, graphics objects added to the axes after the legend is created do appear in the legend. Consider creating the legend after creating all the plots to avoid extra items.

Interactivity

Visible — State of visibility

"on" (default) | on/off logical value

State of visibility, specified as "on" or "off", or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of "on" is equivalent to true, and "off" is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• "on" — Display the object.

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

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.

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/off logical value

Selection state, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• '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

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Display of selection handles when selected, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• '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'.

Callbacks

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 — Access properties of the clicked object from within the callback function.

• Event data — Empty argument. 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.

CreateFcn — Creation function

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

Object creation function, specified as one of these values:

• Function handle.

• Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

• Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB creates the object. MATLAB initializes all property values before executing the CreateFcn callback. If you do not specify the CreateFcn property, then MATLAB executes a default creation function.

Setting the CreateFcn property on an existing component has no effect.

If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the object that is being created using the first argument of the callback function. Otherwise, use the gcbo function to access the object.

DeleteFcn — Deletion function

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

Object deletion function, specified as one of these values:

• Function handle.

• Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

• Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Create Callbacks for Graphics Objects.

This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB deletes the object. MATLAB executes the DeleteFcn callback before destroying the properties of the object. If you do not specify the DeleteFcn property, then MATLAB executes a default deletion function.

If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the object that is being deleted using the first argument of the callback function. Otherwise, use the gcbo function to access the object.

Callback Execution Control

Interruptible — Callback interruption

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Callback interruption, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

This property determines if a running callback can be interrupted. 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.

MATLAB determines callback interruption behavior whenever it executes a command that processes the callback queue. These commands include drawnow, figure, uifigure, getframe, waitfor, and pause.

If the running callback does not contain one of these commands, then no interruption occurs. MATLAB first finishes executing the running callback, and later executes the interrupting callback.

If the running callback does contain one of these commands, then the Interruptible property of the object that owns the running callback determines if the interruption occurs:

• If the value of Interruptible is 'off', then no interruption occurs. Instead, the BusyAction property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines if the interrupting callback is discarded or added to the callback queue.

• If the value of Interruptible is 'on', then the interruption occurs. The next time MATLAB processes the callback queue, it stops the execution of the running callback and executes the interrupting callback. After the interrupting callback completes, MATLAB then resumes executing the running callback.

Note

Callback interruption and execution behave differently in these situations:

• If the interrupting callback is a DeleteFcn, CloseRequestFcn, or SizeChangedFcn callback, then the interruption occurs regardless of the Interruptible property value.

• If the running callback is currently executing the waitfor function, then the interruption occurs regardless of the Interruptible property value.

• If the interrupting callback is owned by a Timer object, then the callback executes according to schedule regardless of the Interruptible property value.

Note

When an interruption occurs, MATLAB does not save the state of properties or the display. For example, the object returned by the gca or gcf command might change when another callback executes.

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. 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.

The BusyAction property determines callback queuing behavior only when both of these conditions are met:

• The running callback contains a command that processes the callback queue, such as drawnow, figure, uifigure, getframe, waitfor, or pause.

• The value of the Interruptible property of the object that owns the running callback is 'off'.

Under these conditions, the BusyAction property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines how MATLAB handles the interrupting callback. These are possible values of the BusyAction property:

• 'queue' — Puts the interrupting callback in a queue to be processed after the running callback finishes execution.

• 'cancel' — Does not execute the interrupting callback.

PickableParts — Ability to capture mouse clicks

'visible' (default) | 'none'

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

• 'visible' — Capture mouse clicks only when visible. The Visible property must be set to 'on'. The HitTest property determines if the FunctionContour object responds to the click or if an ancestor does.

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

HitTest — Response to captured mouse clicks

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Response to captured mouse clicks, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

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

• 'off' — Trigger the callbacks for the nearest ancestor of the FunctionContour object that meets one of these conditions:

  • HitTest property is set to 'on'.

  • PickableParts property is set to a value that enables the ancestor to capture mouse clicks.

Note

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

BeingDeleted — Deletion status

on/off logical value

This property is read-only.

Deletion status, returned as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted property to 'on' when the DeleteFcn callback begins execution. The BeingDeleted property remains set to 'on' until the component 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.

Parent/Child

Parent — Parent

Axes object | Group object | Transform object

Parent, specified as an Axes, 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. This option is useful for preventing unintended changes by another function. Set HandleVisibility to "off" to temporarily hide the handle during the execution of that 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 permits 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. Examples of such functions include the get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close functions.

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

Identifiers

Type — Type of graphics object

'functioncontour'

This property is read-only.

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

Tag — Object identifier

'' (default) | character vector | string scalar

Object identifier, specified as a character vector or string scalar. You can specify a unique Tag value to serve as an identifier for an object. When you need access to the object elsewhere in your code, you can use the findobj function to search for the object based on the Tag value.

UserData — User data

[] (default) | array

User data, specified as any MATLAB array. For example, you can specify a scalar, vector, matrix, cell array, character array, table, or structure. Use this property to store arbitrary data on an object.

If you are working in App Designer, create public or private properties in the app to share data instead of using the UserData property. For more information, see Share Data Within App Designer Apps.

Version History

Introduced in R2016a

R2020a: UIContextMenu property is not recommended

Setting or getting UIContextMenu property is not recommended. Instead, use the ContextMenu property, which accepts the same type of input and behaves the same way as the UIContextMenu property.

There are no plans to remove the UIContextMenu property, but it is no longer listed when you call the set, get, or properties functions on the FunctionContour object.