Get figure handles in matlab GUI

Hi,

I have a question regarding getting a figure handle from an existing Matlab graph. I believe this problem is straight forward; however, cause I'm very new to Matlab Gui so I've been struggling with this for a while. The problem is as follows:

Firstly, in one matlab GUI called 'page1', given A=[2.1 3.1 4.1], I created a bar chart of A with the handle name as 'handles.water'. The label for each column in the chart is: 'Shower', 'Faucet', 'Clotheswasher' repectively. I want the first column to be in red, the second one in blue, and the third one in yellow. The code for this part is shown below:

A=[2.1 3.1 4.1];

Labels = {'Shower','Faucet','Clotheswasher'};

color_map={'r' 'b' 'y'};

for i=1:3

     p(i)=bar(i,A(i),'facecolor',color_map{i});
     hold on

end

hold off

   set(p,'Parent',handles.water);
   set(handles.water, 'XTick', 1:4, 'XTickLabel', Labels);

After running this part, I get the bar chart as desired.

Secondly, I create another GUI called 'page2'. In 'page2', I have a vector new_A=[1 2 3]. What I want is to update the existing bar chart with the new data new_A when I click a push button in 'page2'. The problem is at calling the handle of the existing bar chart in 'page1'. What I did is:

handles.water=findobj('Style','Axes','Tag','water')

And then put the same code above to create the new bar chart in place of the old one. However,anytime I do this, I always get:

handles.water=[ ]

Could anyone help me point out the problem.

Thanks,

William

[Geoff]

I would pass the desired handle as a parameter when you create your second GUI, or create the first GUI from within the second GUI. Either way, store the handle inside that second GUI as UserData or whatever. I've never used findobj and can't really get the point of it from 10 seconds of skimming the help, so I can't answer your specific question.

Another option is using the 'global' keyword... But that's sort of like dropping dynamite in a paint tin to redecorate your living room.

[Khoi Nguyen]

Thanks for your quick reply Geoff. As your suggestion,I stored the desired handle created from the GUI, and then recalled it using a pushbutton in the second GUI. I also got the value for that handle in the second GUI, however, when I did the bar plot, the figure was displayed in the second GUI, not the first one

[Walter Roberson]

Khoi, search on tag:always-parent

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

In the code you show, you have not set the Tag field to 'water' on any uicontrol. In fact in the code you show, you have not created handles.water at all.

[Khoi Nguyen]

Walter,

I used the matlab built-in 'guide' to create an 'axes' object, and set the tag of that object as 'water'. Could you please show me how to create a handles.water using matlab code and assign the bar chart to that handle.

Thanks,

William

[Walter Roberson]

'Axes' is not a 'Style', it is a 'Type'. 'Style' is used to distinguish different uicontrol.

[Khoi Nguyen]

Walter,

Thanks for the advice. It finally works!!!