Optional graphics handle as first argument in function

Hi,

similar to this question, I am creating some plotting functions and would like to stay consistent with Matlab built-in behavior. I.e. have a graphics handle (axes, figure, TiledChartLayout etc.) as an optional first argument for my functions (e.g. plot, nexttile).

I can see how to achieve it using varargin and an InputParser but am wondering if this can be done using the function argument validation scheme (which I appreciate a lot).

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

From my reading of the "Function Argument Validation" documentation here:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/function-argument-validation-1.html

there is currently no way to have optional leading arguments like that.

Here is a possible untested workaround, by defining a very simple wrapper function:

function myfun(one,varargin)
if ishghandle(one)
    locfun(one,varargin{:})
else
    locfun(gcf,one,varargin{:})
end
end
function locfun(obj,A,B,C,...)
    arguments
    ..
    end
end

[chris]

Thanks for the suggestion. It anyway is a bit uncommon, I would say, to have a leading optional argument. So no wonder this is hard to reproduce.