How do I get the brush tool to ignore points?

Let's say I have a single figure with multiple line or scatter objects sharing the same axis.

I would like to use the brush tool to select points only from some subset of those objects. e.g. I want to use the brush tool to select the blue points and not the green points.

Can I do this?

If not, is there an alternative way to allow a user to select groups of points on a plots and use that data programatically that would disallow the selecting of certain points?

Answer 1

[Kevin Holly]

figure
scatter(rand(20,1),rand(20,1),'g')
hold on
scatter(rand(20,1),rand(20,1),'b')

Right Click and select "Export Brushed..."

Select data you are interested in and select "OK"

Choose variable name for the data.

[millercommamatt]

Is there an option where the brush tool will never capture those points in the first place? I'm trying to do this without user interaction?

In thinking about this more, I realized that I could have the brush.ActionPostCallback function set the BrushData property back to all zeros for the scatter handles I don't want selected.

fh = figure();
ah1 = scatter(rand(20,1),rand(20,1),'g');
hold on
ah2 = scatter(rand(20,1),rand(20,1),'b');

bh = brush(fh);
bh.ActionPostCallback = @ignoreGreen;

% Callback for after the brush action has been completed
function ignoreGreen(~,eventdata)

% Extract plotted graphics objects
% Invert order because "Children" property is in reversed plotting order
hLines = flipud(eventdata.Axes.Children);
hLines(1).BrushData = hLines(1).BrushData .* 0;

end

Still, this is confusing for the user, becase as they're dragging the selection box, the green points will appear selected until the user lets go of the mouse button.