Plotting on .fig file (in new window if possible)

Hello,

I am trying to open a figure and plot additional data on it. The figure was given to me as a .fig file so I do not have the data to recreate it.

To open the file, I am using the following code:

fig = openfig('filename');

However that opens it in the script tab and not as a new figure window. How can I open it in a new figure window like all my other plots?

Once I have that opened (regardless of in new window or not), how do I plot on it?

I am trying

openfig('filename')
hold on
plot(x,y)

But that doesn't seem to be working.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Turlough Hughes]

Can you upload the .fig file?

[JD]

Image attached

[Stephan]

Upload the file means to attach the .fig file i guess- not a picture of it.

[JD]

My bad. Attached is the .fig file

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Figures are container objects that cannot be directly drawn to. You can only plot() into axes. Axes are contained inside figures or inside uipanels (or a small number of other container types.)

In order to draw, you will need to either select an existing axes or else create a new axes inside the figure.

%get the figure
fig = openfig('filename');

%pull out the right axes
fig_axes = findobj(fig, 'type', 'axes');
selected_axes_idx = 2;   %set as appropriate for your purpose
ax = fig_axes(selected_axes_idx);

%do the additional drawing
hold(ax, 'on');
x = linspace(-2*pi,2*pi);
y1 = cos(x);
plot(ax, x, y1, 'color', 'b');
hold(ax, 'off');

[JD]

Hi Walter,

What does selected_axes_idx mean? Any number larger than 1 gives me the error "Index exceeds the number of array elements (1)"

Attached is my .fig file and the point I am trying to plot. On a normal figure, this would be fairly simple, but I'm having trouble plotting on a .fig file.

fig = openfig('enginemap.fig');

fig_axes = findobj(fig, 'type', 'axes');
selected_axes_idx = 1;   
ax = fig_axes(selected_axes_idx);

hold(ax, 'on');
plot(1719.6,270.2, 'x r')
hold(ax, 'off');

[Walter Roberson]

Your marker just was not very visible.

%get the figure
filename = 'enginemap.fig';
fig = openfig(filename);
%pull out the right axes
ax = gca(fig);

%do the additional drawing
hold(ax, 'on')
plot(1719.6,270.2, 'x r', 'MarkerSize', 40);
hold(ax, 'off');

[JD]

Hi Walter,

That still didn't work. I am attaching the .fig file if you would like to test it

[Walter Roberson]

I tested with the .fig you posted earlier, and it worked fine for me.

Which MATLAB release are you using?

[JD]

Hi Walter,

Ignore my previous comment about it not working. I had many other figures in my code and it was plotting it on those instead of the one I wanted to plot it on. So I created an empty script just for this section of the code.

Thanks so much for your help!

Answer 2

[Ankit]

Here is an example:

close all;
MySavedPlot = open('MySavedPlot.fig');
figure(MySavedPlot)
hold on
x = linspace(-2*pi,2*pi);
y1 = cos(x);
plot(x,y1,'color','b')