Datacursor: How to avoid returning to the workspace

Hello,

I am writing a GUI in which the user need to select 3 points on an axes. The user will need to left click on the plot then press a key on the keyboard to store the position of the cursor.

Here is my code:

dcm_obj = datacursormode(gcf);
    for i = 1 : 3
        k = 0;
        while k == 0
            set(dcm_obj,'DisplayStyle','window',...
            'SnapToDataVertex','off','Enable','on')
            k = waitforbuttonpress;
        end
        c_info = getCursorInfo(dcm_obj);
        point(i,:) = c_info.Position;
    end
    datacursormode off

It works but as soon as the user press enter, matlab goes back to the workspace. Thus the GUI is not displayed after this operation and the user need to click on the GUI window to restore it. Not friendly at all.

Any idea to avoid that ?

Thank you,

ML

[Matthew]

Two things to consider:

One is that matlab has a builtin function to do what it sounds like you're doing: ginput.

Secondly, if ginput doesn't meet your needs, then a pretty easy way to do what you're trying to do is simply add a figure handle call to the end of your callback - something like figure(myGuiHandle)

I suppose you could also access the java object and set the GUI so that its always on top while this operation is being performed.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

That is really a misuse of datacursormode. You should use ginput() for that, or perhaps impoly() or rbbox() or similar.

In my opinion, you should not use datacursormode() for anything other than displaying the cursor position (in whatever coordinate system makes sense.)

[Michael Lherbette]

I need 3D position of the cursor ... not only X and Y.

[Walter Roberson]

axes CurrentPoint property is 3D http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/axes-properties.html#property_currentpoint

Note: if you use that, watch out for the HitTest and (R2014b or newer) PickableParts properties of children objects.