How to save an axes within a GUI to a .fig

When I try this:

[FileName,PathName] = uiputfile;
saveDataName = fullfile(PathName,FileName);
saveas(handles2.axes9,saveDataName);

It saves a file, but when I open the file, it is just another GUI. It is saving an iteration of my GUI when I only want it to save "handles2.axes9" to a ".fig" Help?

[Jan]

What do you want to save exactly? What is saved instead? What does "interation" mean?

[Daniel Green]

I want to save a figure of the axes. Instead, this block of code is resaving my GUI's figure, with the variables/handles that were present when the user hit save. Plotted on "handles2.axes9" is an imagesc created from a .mat the user has already selected. I just want it so the user clicks the save button in the toolbar and it saves the imagesc within handles2.axes9 as well as the title/labeling that is present to a .fig.

[Jan]

For Matlab programmers, a "figure" is usually the window, which is created by the command figure. An "axes" is the axes box with the tick-lables and the contents drawn into a figure. Then what does "save a figure of the axes" mean? The saveas command saves the figure and then it contains the other data also. This is the meaning of a .fig file. Therefore I still do not know, what you want to solve. There is no way to save a .fig file without the data, which belong to .fig files.

Do you want a screen shot as .png file? Could you create an example image of what you want?

Answer 1

[Teja Muppirala]

This might work. You create a new (temporary and invisible) figure, and then use COPYOBJ to copy that axes to the new figure. You could then save the new figure to a FIG file (here "test.fig").

%%1. Make sample figure
handles.f = figure;
handles.axes1 = subplot(211);
handles.axes2 = subplot(223);
handles.axes3 = subplot(224);

plot(handles.axes1,rand(5));
imagesc(handles.axes2,rand(10,10));
title(handles.axes2, 'My IMAGESC');
xlabel(handles.axes2,'X values');
ylabel(handles.axes2,'Y values');
surf(handles.axes3,peaks);

%%2. Copy axes to new figure and save
outputFileName = 'test.fig';

fignew = figure('Visible','off'); % Invisible figure
newAxes = copyobj(handles.axes2,fignew); % Copy the appropriate axes
set(newAxes,'Position',get(groot,'DefaultAxesPosition')); % The original position is copied too, so adjust it.
set(fignew,'CreateFcn','set(gcbf,''Visible'',''on'')'); % Make it visible upon loading
savefig(fignew,'test.fig');
delete(fignew);

If there is a colorbar, you'll need to do some extra work (you have to copy that as well using COPYOBJ since it is not a child of the axes).

[Daniel Green]

Thank you! Only needed the second part, but the whole block of code helps.