MATLAB Function Reference

Uipushtool Properties - Describe push tool properties

Modifying Properties

You can set and query graphics object properties in two ways:

• The Property Inspector is an interactive tool that enables you to see and change object property values. The Property inspector is available from GUIDE, or use the inspect function at the command line.

• The set and get functions enable you to set and query the values of properties.

You can set default Uipushtool properties by typing:

set(h,'DefaultUipushtoolPropertyName',PropertyValue...)

Where h can be the root handle (0), a figure handle, a uitoolbar handle, or a uipushtool handle. PropertyName is the name of the Uipushtool property and PropertyValue is the value you specify as the default for that property.

For more information about changing the default value of a property see Setting Default Property Values.

Uipushtool Properties

This section lists all properties useful to uipushtool objects along with valid values and a descriptions of their use. Curly braces { } enclose default values.

BeingDeleted

on | {off} (read only)

This object is being deleted. The BeingDeleted property provides a mechanism that you can use to determine if objects are in the process of being deleted. MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted property to on when the object's delete function callback is called (see the DeleteFcn property). It remains set to on while the delete function executes, after which the object no longer exists.

For example, some functions may not need to perform actions on objects that are being deleted, and therefore, can check the object's BeingDeleted property before acting.

BusyAction

cancel | {queue}

Callback routine interruption. If a callback is executing and the user triggers an event (such as a mouse click) on an object for which a callback is defined, the callback associated with the new event uses the value of BusyAction to decide whether or not to attempt to interrupt the executing callback.

• If the value is cancel, the event is discarded and the second callback does not execute.

• If the value is queue, and the Interruptible property of the first callback is on, the second callback is added to the event queue and executes in its turn after the first callback finishes execution.

  Note   If the interrupting callback is a DeleteFcn or CreateFcn callback or a figure's CloseRequest or ResizeFcn callback, it interrupts an executing callback regardless of the value of that object's Interruptible property. See the Interruptible property for information about controlling a callback's interruptibility.

CData

3-dimensional array

Truecolor image displayed on control. An n-by-m-by-3 array of RGB values that defines a truecolor image displayed on either a push button or toggle button. Each value must be between 0.0 and 1.0. If your CData array is larger than 16 in the first or second dimension, it may be clipped or cause other undesirable effects. If the array is clipped, only the center 16-by-16 part of the array is used.

ClickedCallback

string or function handle

Control action. A routine that executes when the uipushtool's Enable property is set to on, and you press a mouse button while the pointer is on the push tool itself or in a 5-pixel wide border around it.

CreateFcn

string or function handle

Callback routine executed during object creation. The specified function executes when MATLAB creates a uipushtool object. MATLAB sets all property values for the uipushtool before executing the CreateFcn callback so these values are available to the callback. Within the function, use gcbo to get the handle of the push tool being created.

Setting this property on an existing uipushtool object has no effect.

You can define a default CreateFcn callback for all new uipushtools. This default applies unless you override it by specifying a different CreateFcn callback when you call uipushtool. For example, the code

imga(:,:,1) = rand(20);
imga(:,:,2) = rand(20);
imga(:,:,3) = rand(20);
set(0,'DefaultUipushtoolCreateFcn','set(gcbo,''Cdata'',imga)')

creates a default CreateFcn callback that runs whenever you create a new push tool. It sets the default image imga on the push tool.

To override this default and create a push tool whose Cdata property is set to a different image, call uipushtool with code similar to

a = [.05:.05:0.95];
imgb(:,:,1) = repmat(a,19,1)';
imgb(:,:,2) = repmat(a,19,1);
imgb(:,:,3) = repmat(flipdim(a,2),19,1);
hpt = uipushtool(...,'CreateFcn','set(gcbo,''CData'',imgb)',...)

Note   To override a default CreateFcn callback you must provide a new callback and not just provide different values for the specified properties. This is because the CreateFcn callback runs after the property values are set, and can override property values you have set explicitly in the uipushtool call. In the example above, if instead of redefining the CreateFcn property for this push tool, you had explicitly set CData to imgb, the default CreateFcn callback would have set CData back to imga.

See Function Handle Callbacks for information on how to use function handles to define a callback function.

DeleteFcn

string or function handle

Callback routine executed during object deletion. A callback routine that executes when you delete the uipushtool object (e.g., when you call the delete function or cause the figure containing the uipushtool to reset). MATLAB executes the routine before destroying the object's properties so these values are available to the callback routine.

The handle of the object whose DeleteFcn is being executed is accessible only through the root CallbackObject property, which you can query using gcbo.

See Function Handle Callbacks for information on how to use function handles to define a callback function.

Enable

{on} | off

Enable or disable the uipushtool. This property controls how uipushtools respond to mouse button clicks, including which callback routines execute.

• on – The uipushtool is operational (the default).

• off – The uipushtool is not operational and its image (set by the Cdata property) is grayed out.

When you left-click on a uipushtool whose Enable property is on, MATLAB performs these actions in this order:

1. Sets the figure's SelectionType property.

2. Executes the push tool's ClickedCallback routine.

3. Does not set the figure's CurrentPoint property and does not execute the figure's WindowButtonDownFcn callback.

When you left-click on a uipushtool whose Enable property is off, or when you right-click a uipushtool whose Enable property has any value, MATLAB performs these actions in this order:

1. Sets the figure's SelectionType property.

2. Sets the figure's CurrentPoint property.

3. Executes the figure's WindowButtonDownFcn callback.

4. Does not execute the push tool's ClickedCallback routine.

HandleVisibility

{on} | callback | off

Control access to object's handle. This property determines when an object's handle is visible in its parent's list of children. When a handle is not visible in its parent's list of children, it is not returned by functions that obtain handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties. This includes get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close. Neither is the handle visible in the parent figure's CurrentObject property. Handles that are hidden are still valid. If you know an object's handle, you can set and get its properties, and pass it to any function that operates on handles.

• Handles are always visible when HandleVisibility is on.

• Setting HandleVisibility to callback causes handles to be visible from within callback routines or functions invoked by callback routines, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This provides a means to protect GUIs from command-line users, while allowing callback routines to have complete access to object handles.

• Setting HandleVisibility to off makes handles invisible at all times. This may be necessary when a callback routine invokes a function that might potentially damage the GUI (such as evaluating a user-typed string), and so temporarily hides its own handles during the execution of that function.

You can set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to on to make all handles visible, regardless of their HandleVisibility settings. This does not affect the values of the HandleVisibility properties.

HitTest

{on} | off

Selectable by mouse click. This property has no effect on uipushtool objects.

Interruptible

{on} | off

Callback routine interruption mode. If a callback is executing and the user triggers an event (such as a mouse click) on an object for which a callback is defined, that callback attempts to interrupt the first callback. MATLAB processes the callbacks according to these factors:

• The Interruptible property of the object whose callback is executing

• Whether the executing callback contains drawnow, figure, getframe, pause, or waitfor statements

• The BusyAction property of the object whose callback is waiting to execute

If the Interruptible property of the object whose callback is executing is on (the default), the callback can be interrupted. Whenever the callback calls one of the drawnow, figure, getframe, pause, or waitfor functions, the function processes any events in the event queue, including the waiting callback, before performing its defined task.

If the Interruptible property of the object whose callback is executing is off, the callback cannot be interrupted (except by certain callbacks; see the note below). The BusyAction property of the object whose callback is waiting to execute determines what happens to the callback.

Note    If the interrupting callback is a DeleteFcn or CreateFcn callback or a figure's CloseRequest or ResizeFcn callback, it interrupts an executing callback regardless of the value of that object's Interruptible property. The interrupting callback starts execution at the next drawnow, figure, getframe, pause, or waitfor statement. A figure's WindowButtonDownFcn callback routine, or an object's ButtonDownFcn or Callback routine are processed according to the rules described above.

Parent

handle

Uipushtool parent. The handle of the uipushtool's parent toolbar. You can move a uipushtool object to another toolbar by setting this property to the handle of the new parent.

Separator

on | {off}

Separator line mode. Setting this property to on draws a dividing line to the left of the uipushtool.

Tag

string

User-specified object identifier. The Tag property provides a means to identify graphics objects with a user-specified label. You can define Tag as any string.

With the findobj function, you can locate an object with a given Tag property value. This saves you from defining object handles as global variables. For example, this function call returns the handles of all children (of the specified toolbars) that have the Tag value 'Copy'.

h = findobj(uitoolbarhandles,'Tag','Copy')

TooltipString

string

Content of tooltip for object. The TooltipString property specifies the text of the tooltip associated with the uipushtool. When the user moves the mouse pointer over the control and leaves it there, the tooltip is displayed.

Type

string (read-only)

Object class. This property identifies the kind of graphics object. For uipushtool objects, Type is always the string 'uipushtool'.

UIContextMenu

handle

Associate a context menu with uicontrol. This property has no effect on uipushtool objects.

UserData

array

User specified data. You can specify UserData as any array you want to associate with the uipushtool object. The object does not use this data, but you can access it using the set and get functions.

Visible

{on} | off

Uipushtool visibility. By default, all uipushtools are visible. When set to off, the uipushtool is not visible, but still exists and you can query and set its properties.

uipushtool

uiputfile