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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.

Annotation Textarrow Property Descriptions

Properties You Can Modify

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

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).

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 arrow head. Specify this property in points (1 point = 1/72 inch). See also HeadWidth.

HeadStyle                    select string from list

Style of the arrow head. 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 arrow head. 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 alignment of the text with respect to the arrow.

Interpreter                  {tex} | latex | none

Interpret TEX instructions. This property controls whether MATLAB interprets certain characters in the String property as TEX instructions (default) or displays all characters literally. See the text object String property for a list of supported TEX instructions.

To enable a complete TEX interpreter for text objects, set the Interpreter property to latex.

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

Line style. This property specifies the line style of the arrow stem. 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 the arrow stem. Specify this value in points (1 point = 1/72 inch). The default LineWidth is 0.5 points.

String                       string

The text string. Specify this property as a quoted string for single-line strings, or as a cell array of strings for multiline strings. MATLAB displays this string in the text box with the specified HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment. See the Interpreter property for information on using TEX characters.

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 LineWidth 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 TextEgdeColor 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 do not acculate; a rotation of 0 degrees is alway horizontal.

VerticalAlignment            top | cap | {middle} | baseline |
                             bottom

Vertical alignment of text. This property specifies the vertical alignment of the text with respect to the arrow. The possible values mean

X                            vector [Xbegin Xend]

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

Y                            vector [Ybegin Yend]

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


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