uislider

Create slider component

Syntax

sld = uislider

sld = uislider(parent)

sld = uislider(___,Name,Value)

Description

sld = uislider creates a slider in a new figure window and returns the Slider object. MATLAB^® calls the uifigure function to create the figure.

sld = uislider(parent) creates the slider in the specified parent container. The parent can be a Figure object created using the uifigure function or one of its child containers.

sld = uislider(___,Name,Value) specifies Slider properties using one or more name-value arguments. For example, uislider("Value",50) creates a slider with a value of 50. Use this option with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

Examples

Create Slider

Create a slider component in a UI figure.

fig = uifigure;
sld = uislider(fig);

Create Vertical Slider

Create a vertical slider in a UI figure.

fig = uifigure;
sld = uislider(fig,"Orientation","vertical");

Set and Access Slider Properties

Create a slider in a UI figure. Set the slider value to 50.

fig = uifigure;
sld = uislider(fig,"Value",50);

Determine the current slider limits.

limits = sld.Limits

limits = 1×2

     0   100

Change the slider limits and set the value to 35.

sld.Limits = [-50 50];
sld.Value = 35;

Configure Slider Tick Marks

Create a slider in a UI figure.

fig = uifigure;
sld = uislider(fig);

Customize the slider appearance. Update the limits and major ticks to correspond to temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit and remove the minor ticks.

sld.Limits = [32 212];
sld.MajorTicks = [32 100 150 212];
sld.MajorTickLabels = sld.MajorTicks + "°F";
sld.MinorTicks = [];

Code Response to Moved Slider Thumb

Create an app with a slider and a gauge. When an app user moves the slider thumb and releases the mouse button, the needle of the gauge updates to reflect the slider value.

In a file named sliderApp.m, write a function that implements the app:

• Create a UI figure and a grid layout manager to lay out the app.

• Create a gauge and a slider in the grid layout manager.

• Write a callback function named updateGauge that changes the gauge value to match the slider value, and assign the function to the ValueChangedFcn callback property of the slider. For more information about callbacks, see Create Callbacks for Apps Created Programmatically.

function sliderApp
fig = uifigure("Position",[100 100 300 250]);
g = uigridlayout(fig);
g.RowHeight = {'1x','fit'};
g.ColumnWidth = {'1x','fit','1x'};

cg = uigauge(g);
cg.Layout.Row = 1;
cg.Layout.Column = [1 3];

sld = uislider(g, ...
    "ValueChangedFcn",@(src,event)updateGauge(src,event,cg));
sld.Layout.Row = 2;
sld.Layout.Column = 2;
end

function updateGauge(src,event,cg)
cg.Value = event.Value;
end

Run the sliderApp function and move the slider thumb. When you release the thumb, the value of the gauge updates.

sliderApp

Code Response to Moving Slider Thumb

Create and app with a slider and a gauge. When an app user moves the slider thumb, the needle of the gauge immediately updates to reflect the slider value.

In a file named sliderApp2.m, write a function that implements the app:

• Create a UI figure and a grid layout manager to lay out the app.

• Create a gauge and a slider in the grid layout manager.

• Write a callback function named updateGauge that changes the gauge value to match the slider value, and assign the function to the ValueChangingFcn callback property of the slider. For more information about callbacks, see Create Callbacks for Apps Created Programmatically.

function sliderApp2
fig = uifigure("Position",[100 100 300 250]);
g = uigridlayout(fig);
g.RowHeight = {'1x','fit'};
g.ColumnWidth = {'1x','fit','1x'};

cg = uigauge(g);
cg.Layout.Row = 1;
cg.Layout.Column = [1 3];

sld = uislider(g, ...
    "ValueChangingFcn",@(src,event)updateGauge(src,event,cg));
sld.Layout.Row = 2;
sld.Layout.Column = 2;
end

function updateGauge(src,event,cg)
cg.Value = event.Value;
end

Run the sliderApp2 function and move the slider thumb. The gauge needle moves as you drag the slider thumb.

sliderApp2

Input Arguments

parent — Parent container

Figure object (default) | Tab object | Panel object | ButtonGroup object | GridLayout object

Parent container, specified as a Figure object created using the uifigure function or one of its child containers: Tab, Panel, ButtonGroup, or GridLayout. If you do not specify a parent container, MATLAB calls the uifigure function to create a new Figure object that serves as the parent container.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Example: uislider(Limits=[0 50]) specifies the minimum slider value as 0 and the maximum slider value as 50.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: uislider("Limits",[0 50]) specifies the minimum slider value as 0 and the maximum slider value as 50.

The properties listed here are a subset of the available properties. For the full list, see Slider Properties.

Value — Slider value

0 (default) | numeric value

Slider value, specified as a numeric value. The numeric value must be within the range specified by the Limits property value.

Data Types: double

Limits — Minimum and maximum slider values

[0 100] (default) | two-element numeric array

Minimum and maximum slider values, specified as a two-element numeric array. The first value must be less than the second value.

If you change Limits such that Value property is less than the new lower limit, MATLAB sets the Value property to the new lower limit. For example, suppose the Limits property is [0 100] and Value is 20. If the Limits changes to [50 100], then MATLAB sets the Value property to 50.

Similarly, if you change Limits such that the Value property is greater than the new upper limit, MATLAB sets the Value property to the new upper limit.

Data Types: double

MajorTicks — Major tick mark locations

[0 20 40 60 80 100] (default) | vector of numeric values | []

Major tick mark locations, specified as a vector of numeric values or an empty vector. If you do not want to show major tick marks, specify this property as an empty vector.

Tick locations that are outside the range of the Limits property do not display.

MATLAB removes duplicate tick values. However, if a major tick falls on the same value as a minor tick, only the major tick displays.

Setting the MajorTicks property sets the MajorTicksMode property to 'manual'.

MajorTickLabels — Major tick labels

{'0','20','40','60','80','100'} (default) | cell array of character vectors | string array | {} | ...

Major tick labels, specified as a cell array of character vectors, string array, or 1-D categorical array. If you do not want to show tick labels, specify this property as an empty cell array. If you want to remove a label from a specific tick mark, specify an empty character vector or empty string scalar for the corresponding element in the MajorTickLabels array. If you specify this property as a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the full set of categories.

If the length of the MajorTickLabels array is different from the length of the MajorTicks vector, MATLAB ignores the extra entries of the longer array. If there are extra labels, they are ignored. If there are extra tick marks, they display without labels.

Setting MajorTickLabels changes the MajorTickLabelsMode value to 'manual'.

Note

Setting MajorTickLabels when MajorTicksMode is 'auto' might lead to unexpected results. To avoid this behavior, set MajorTicksMode to 'manual' and manually specify the value of MajorTicks before setting MajorTickLabels.

ValueChangedFcn — Value changed callback

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Value changed callback, specified as one of these values:

• A function handle.

• A cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

• A character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

This callback executes when the user moves the thumb to a different position on the slider. The callback does not execute if the slider value changes programmatically.

This callback function can access specific information about the user’s interaction with the slider. MATLAB passes this information in a ValueChangedData object as the second argument to your callback function. In App Designer, the argument is called event. You can query the object properties using dot notation. For example, event.PreviousValue returns the previous value of the slider. The ValueChangedData object is not available to callback functions specified as character vectors.

The following table lists the properties of the ValueChangedData object.

Property	Value
Value	Value of slider after app user’s most recent interaction with it
PreviousValue	Value of slider before app user’s most recent interaction with it
Source	Component that executes the callback
EventName	'ValueChanged'

For more information about writing callbacks, see Callbacks in App Designer.

ValueChangingFcn — Value changing callback

'' (default) | function handle | cell array | character vector

Value changing callback, specified as one of these values:

• A function handle.

• A cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.

• A character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.

This callback executes as the user moves the thumb along the slider in the app. It does not execute if the Value property changes programmatically.

This callback can access specific information about the user’s interaction with the slider. MATLAB passes this information in a ValueChangingData object as the second argument to your callback function. In App Designer, the argument is called event. You can query the object properties using dot notation. For example, event.Value returns the current value of the slider. The ValueChangingData object is not available to callback functions specified as character vectors.

This table lists the properties of the ValueChangingData object.

Property	Value
Value	Current value of the slider as the app user is interacting with it
Source	Component that executes the callback
EventName	'ValueChanging'

The Value property of the Slider object is not updated until the user releases the slider thumb. Therefore, to get the value as the thumb is being moved, your code must get the Value property of the ValueChangingData object.

Note

Avoid updating the Value property of the Slider object from within its own ValueChangingFcn callback, as this might result in unexpected behavior. To update the slider value in response to user input, use a ValueChangedFcn callback instead.

The ValueChangingFcn callback executes as follows:

• If the app user clicks the slider value once, then the callback executes a single time. For example, if the slider is on 1.0, and the app user single-clicks at 1.1, then the callback executes once.

• If the app user clicks and drags the slider to a new position, the callback executes repeatedly. For example, if the slider value is 1.0, and the app user clicks, holds, and drags the thumb to value 10.0, then the callback executes multiple times until the app user releases the thumb.

For more information about writing callbacks, see Callbacks in App Designer.

Position — Location and size of slider

[100 100 150 3] (default) | [left bottom width height]

Location and size of the slider excluding tick marks and labels, specified as the vector [left bottom width height]. This table describes each element in the vector.

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

All measurements are in pixel units.

You cannot change the height of a slider when the Orientation property value is 'horizontal'. Similarly, you cannot change the width of a slider when the Orientation property value is 'vertical'.

The Position values are relative to the drawable area of the parent container. The drawable area is the area inside the borders of the container and does not include the area occupied by decorations such as a menu bar or title.

Example: [100 200 60 60]

Version History

Introduced in R2016a