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Annotation Textarrow Properties - Define annotation textarrow properties

Modifying Properties

You can set and query annotation object properties using the set and get functions and the Property Editor (displayed with the propertyeditor command).

Use the annotation function to create annotation objects and obtain their handles. For an example of its use, see Positioning Annotations in Data Space in the MATLAB Graphics documentation.

Annotation Textarrow Property Descriptions

Properties You Can Modify

This section lists the properties you can modify on an annotation textarrow object.

Color

ColorSpec Default: [0 0 0]

Color of the arrow, text and text border. A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying the color of the arrow, the color of the text (TextColor property), and the rectangle enclosing the text (TextEdgeColor property).

Setting the Color property also sets the TextColor and TextEdgeColor properties to the same color. However, if the value of the TextEdgeColor is none, it remains none and the text box is not displayed. You can set TextColor or TextEdgeColor independently without affecting other properties.

For example, if you want to create a textarrow with a red arrow and black text in a black box, you must

1. Set the Color property to red — set(h,'Color','r')

2. Set the TextColor to black — set(h,'TextColor','k')

3. Set the TextEdgeColor to black .— set(h,'TextEdgeColor','k')

If you do not want display the text box, set the TextEdgeColor to none.

See the ColorSpec reference page for more information on specifying color.

FontAngle

{normal} | italic | oblique

Character slant. MATLAB uses this property to select a font from those available on your particular system. Generally, setting this property to italic or oblique selects a slanted font.

FontName

A name, such as Helvetica

Font family. A string specifying the name of the font to use for the text. To display and print properly, this font must be supported on your system. The default font is Helvetica.

FontSize

size in points

Approximate size of text characters. A value specifying the font size to use in points. The default size is 10 (1 point = 1/72 inch).

FontUnits

{points} | normalized | inches | centimeters | pixels

Font size units. MATLAB uses this property to determine the units used by the FontSize property. Normalized units interpret FontSize as a fraction of the height of the parent axes. When you resize the axes, MATLAB modifies the screen FontSize accordingly. pixels, inches, centimeters, and points are absolute units (1 point = 1/72 inch).

FontWeight

light | {normal} | demi | bold

Weight of text characters. MATLAB uses this property to select a font from those available on your system. Generally, setting this property to bold or demi causes MATLAB to use a bold font.

HeadLength

scalar value in points

Length of the arrowhead. Specify this property in points (1 point = 1/72 inch). See also HeadWidth.

HeadStyle

select string from list

Style of the arrowhead. Specify this property as one of the strings from the following table.

Head Style String	Head	Head Style String	Head
none		star4
plain		rectangle
ellipse		diamond
vback1		rose
vback2 (Default)		hypocycloid
vback3		astroid
cback1		deltoid
cback2
cback3

HeadWidth

scalar value in points

Width of the arrowhead. Specify this property in points (1 point = 1/72 inch). See also HeadLength.

HorizontalAlignment

{left} | center | right

Horizontal alignment of text. This property specifies the horizontal justification of the text string. It determines where MATLAB places the string with regard to the point specified by the Position property. The following picture illustrates the alignment options.

See the text Extent property for related information.

Interpreter

latex | {tex} | none

Interpret T_EX instructions. This property controls whether MATLAB interprets certain characters in the String property as T_EX instructions (default) or displays all characters literally. The options are:

• latex — Supports a basic subset of the L_AT_EX markup language.

• tex — Supports a subset of plain T_EX markup language. See the String property for a list of supported T_EX instructions.

• none — Displays literal characters.

LineStyle

{-} | -- | : | -. | none

Line style. This property specifies the line style of the object. Available line styles are shown in the following table.

Specifier String	Line Style
-	Solid line (default)
--	Dashed line
:	Dotted line
-.	Dash-dot line
none	No line

LineWidth

scalar

The width of linear objects and edges of filled areas. Specify this value in points (1 point = ¹/₇₂ inch). The default LineWidth is 0.5 points.

Position

four-element vector [x, y, width, height]

Size and location of the object. Specify the lower left corner of the object with the first two elements of the vector defining the point x, y in units normalized to the figure (when Units property is normalized). The third and fourth elements specify the object's dx and dy, respectively, in units normalized to the figure.

String

string

The text string. Specify this property as a quoted string for single-line strings, or as a cell array of strings, or a padded string matrix for multiline strings. MATLAB displays this string at the specified location. Vertical slash characters are not interpreted as line breaks in text strings, and are drawn as part of the text string. See Mathematical Symbols, Greek Letters, and TeX Characters for an example.

When the text Interpreter property is set to Tex (the default), you can use a subset of TeX commands embedded in the string to produce special characters such as Greek letters and mathematical symbols. The following table lists these characters and the character sequences used to define them.

Character Sequence	Symbol	Character Sequence	Symbol	Character Sequence	Symbol
\alpha	α	\upsilon	υ	\sim	~
\beta	β	\phi	Φ	\leq	≤
\gamma	γ	\chi	χ	\infty	∞
\delta	δ	\psi	ψ	\clubsuit	♣
\epsilon	ɛ	\omega	ω	\diamondsuit	♦
\zeta	ζ	\Gamma	Γ	\heartsuit	♥
\eta	η	\Delta	Δ	\spadesuit	♠
\theta	Θ	\Theta	Θ	\leftrightarrow	↔
\vartheta	ϑ	\Lambda	Λ	\leftarrow	←
\iota	ι	\Xi	Ξ	\uparrow	↑
\kappa	κ	\Pi	Π	\rightarrow	→
\lambda	λ	\Sigma	Σ	\downarrow	↓
\mu	µ	\Upsilon	ϒ	\circ	º
\nu	ν	\Phi	Φ	\pm	±
\xi	ξ	\Psi	Ψ	\geq	≥
\pi	π	\Omega	Ω	\propto	∝
\rho	ρ	\forall	∀	\partial	∂
\sigma	σ	\exists	∃	\bullet	•
\varsigma	ς	\ni	∍	\div	÷
\tau	τ	\cong	≅	\neq	≠
\equiv	≡	\approx	≈	\aleph	ℵ
\Im	ℑ	\Re	ℜ	\wp	℘
\otimes	⊗	\oplus	⊕	\oslash	∅
\cap	∩	\cup	∪	\supseteq	⊇
\supset	⊃	\subseteq	⊆	\subset	⊂
\int	∫	\in	∈	\o	ο
\rfloor	ë	\lceil	é	\nabla	∇
\lfloor	û	\cdot	·	\ldots	...
\perp	⊥	\neg	¬	\prime	´
\wedge	∧	\times	x	\0	∅
\rceil	ù	\surd	√	\mid	|
\vee	∨	\varpi	ϖ	\copyright	©
\langle	∠	\rangle	∠

You can also specify stream modifiers that control font type and color. The first four modifiers are mutually exclusive. However, you can use \fontname in combination with one of the other modifiers:

TextBackgroundColor

ColorSpec Default: none

Color of text background rectangle. A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying the arrow color.

See the ColorSpec reference page for more information on specifying color.

TextColor

ColorSpec Default: [0 0 0]

Color of text. A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying the arrow color.

See the ColorSpec reference page for more information on specifying color. Setting the Color property also sets this property.

TextEdgeColor

ColorSpec or none Default: none

Color of edge of text rectangle. A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying the color of the rectangle that encloses the text.

See the ColorSpec reference page for more information on specifying color. Setting the Color property also sets this property.

TextLineWidth

width in points

The width of the text rectangle edge. Specify this value in points (1 point = ¹/₇₂ inch). The default TextLineWidth is 0.5 points.

TextMargin

dimension in pixels default: 5

Space around text. Specify a value in pixels that defines the space around the text string, but within the rectangle.

TextRotation

rotation angle in degrees (default = 0)

Text orientation. This property determines the orientation of the text string. Specify values of rotation in degrees (positive angles cause counterclockwise rotation). Angles are absolute and not relative to previous rotations; a rotation of 0 degrees is always horizontal.

Units

{normalized} | inches | centimeters | characters | points | pixels

position units. MATLAB uses this property to determine the units used by the Position property. All positions are measured from the lower left corner of the figure window. Normalized units interpret Position as a fraction of the width and height of the parent axes. When you resize the axes, MATLAB modifies the size of the object accordingly. pixels, inches, centimeters, and points are absolute units (1 point = 1/72 inch). Units of characters are based on the size of characters in the default system font. The width of one character unit is the width of the letter x, the height of one character unit is the distance between the baselines of two lines of text.

VerticalAlignment

top | cap | {middle} | baseline |
bottom

Vertical alignment of text. This property specifies the vertical justification of the text string. It determines where MATLAB places the string with regard to the value of the Position property. The possible values mean

• top — Place the top of the string' s Extent rectangle at the specified y-position.

• cap — Place the string so that the top of a capital letter is at the specified y-position.

• middle — Place the middle of the string at the specified y-position.

• baseline — Place font baseline at the specified y-position.

• bottom — Place the bottom of the string's Extent rectangle at the specified y-position.

The following picture illustrates the alignment options.

X

vector [X_begin X_end]

X-coordinates of the beginning and ending points for line. Specify this property as a vector of x-axis (horizontal) values that specify the beginning and ending points of the line, units normalized to the figure.

Y

vector [Y_begin Y_end]

Y-coordinates of the beginning and ending points for line. Specify this property as a vector of y-axis (vertical) values that specify the beginning and ending points of the line, units normalized to the figure.

Annotation Rectangle Properties

Annotation Textbox Properties

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