setpixelposition

Set component position in pixels

Use this function only with GUIDE, or with apps created using the figure function.

Syntax

pos = setpixelposition(c,position)

pos = setpixelposition(c,position,isrecursive)

Description

pos = setpixelposition(c,position) sets the position in pixels of the component specified by c. Specify the position as a four-element vector that gives the location and size of the component relative to its parent container in the form [left bottom width height].

pos = setpixelposition(c,position,isrecursive), where isrecursive is true, sets the component position relative to the parent figure. The default for isrecursive is false, which sets the position relative to its immediate parent container.

Examples

Set Position Relative to Panel

Create a push button within a panel container.

f = figure('Position',[300 300 300 200]);
p = uipanel('Position',[.2 .2 .6 .6]);
btn = uicontrol(p,'Style','PushButton', ...
     'Units','Normalized', ...
     'String','Push Button', ...
     'Position',[.1 .1 .5 .2]);

Get the position in pixels of the push button with respect to the panel. Update the position vector by moving it 10 pixels right and up, and by increasing the width and height by 25 pixels. Use the updated position vector to set the position of the push button within the panel.

pos = getpixelposition(btn);
newpos = pos + [10 10 25 25];
setpixelposition(btn,newpos);

Maintain Button Position When Moving Container

Update the position of a push button relative to the figure window to maintain the position of the button after moving its parent container.

Create a push button within a panel container.

f = figure('Position',[300 300 300 200]);
p = uipanel('Position',[.2 .2 .6 .6]);
btn = uicontrol(p,'Style','PushButton', ...
     'Units','Normalized', ...
     'String','Push Button', ...
     'Position',[.1 .1 .5 .2]);

Get the position of the push button, in pixels, with respect to the figure window and store it in pos.

pos = getpixelposition(btn,true)

pos =

   80.6000   54.6000   88.0000   23.2000

Update the position of the panel. Since the position of the push button is relative to its parent, the panel, this changes the position of the push button as well.

p.Position = [.1 .1 .8 .8];

Set the position of the push button relative to the figure window to reset the button to its original location while maintaining the updated panel position.

setpixelposition(btn,pos,true);

Input Arguments

c — UI component

UI component object

UI component.

position — New position (in pixels)

[left bottom width height]

New position of the component in pixels, specified as a vector of the form [left bottom width height]. The left and bottom elements of the vector are relative to the immediate parent container or to the parent figure, depending on the value of isrecursive. This table describes each element in the vector.

Element	Description
left	Distance from the inner left edge of the parent to the outer left edge of the UI component
bottom	Distance from the inner bottom edge of the parent to the outer bottom edge of the UI component
width	Distance between the right and left outer edges of the UI component
height	Distance between the top and bottom outer edges of the UI component

isrecursive — Set position relative to figure

false or 0 (default) | true or 1

Whether to set the position relative to the parent figure, specified as a numeric or logical 0 (false) or 1 (true).

• 0 (false) — The function sets the component position relative to its immediate parent.

• 1 (true) — The function sets the component position relative to the parent figure window.

More About

Pixels

Distances in pixels are independent of your system resolution on Windows^® and Macintosh systems:

• On Windows systems, MATLAB^® defines a pixel as 1/96th of an inch.

• On Macintosh systems, MATLAB defines a pixel as 1/72nd of an inch.

On Linux^® systems, your system resolution determines the size of a MATLAB pixel. For more information, see DPI-Aware Behavior in MATLAB.