How can I remove left y-axis tick marks from the right y-axis, AND retain the top x-axis with MatLab 2015a?

Hello. I am needing to plot a three line graph with two y-axis. One line will be tied to the left y-axis, and two lines will be tied to the right y-axis. The two lines plotted against the right y-axis need to be black (one solid the other dashed). The tick range and the limits on the left y-axis will be (MatLab) auto generated based on the values being plotted. The tick range on the right y-axis will be 0.0 to 1.0 with a tick at every 0.1 unit, and it's limits -0.1 to 1.1. The problem stems from plotyy adding left y-axis tick marks to the right y-axis, which I not what I want. So how can I remove left y-axis tick marks from the right y-axis, AND retain the top x-axis? Below is a segment from my script attempting to plot what I just described.

I have been unsuccessful finding a solution in MatLab Central that will work on 2015a.

Regards, Ed

[ax,~,H2] = plotyy(x,y1,x,[y2, y3],'plot'); % plot the graph (y1 = left y-axis, y2 & y3 = right y-axis)

set(H2(1),'LineStyle','-','Color','black'); % set y2 plot to be a solid black line

set(H2(2),'LineStyle','--','Color','black'); % set y3 plot to be a dash black line

set(ax(2),'YLim',[(-0.1) 1.1]); % set plotting limits for right y-axis

set(ax(2),'YTick',0.0:0.1:1.0); % set the tick properties for right y-axis

set(ax,'YColor','black); % make both y-axis black

set(ax(1),'Box','Off'); % remove left y-axis tick marks from the right y-axis ... BUT THIS ALSO REMOVES THE TOP X-AXIS, WHICH IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO DO

% the following are commands I tried without success. Note: I tried these commands separately per execution.

set(ax,'XAxisLocation','top','XTicklabel',[]); % one attempt

set(ax(1),'XAxisLocation','top','XTicklabel',[]); % another attempt

set(ax(2),'XTicklabel','','XAxisLocation','top'); % another attempt

Answer 1

[dpb]

x=[1:100].';y=randn(100,1);  % some dummy data to plot to make axes w/ differing ranges
hAx=plotyy(x,y,x,sqrt(abs(y))/pi);
ylim(hAx(2),[0 1])              % set RH axes so are disparate from left
box(hAx(1),'off')               % turn off LH axes ticks on RH frame
set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklab',[]) % RH x-axis to top, leave ticks but no labels

Isn't that the effect you're looking for?

[Booker]

hello dpb.

Unfortunately for me, the "set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklab',[])" command had no effect on my graphs. The top X-Axis did not reappear. Are you using r2015a?

Thank you for taking the time to answer this.

Book

[dpb]

No, I'm still at R2012b; not enough 'puter for later releases...

"set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklab',[])" command had no effect..."

If that's so, I'd say that qualifies as a bug and is worthy of reporting to TMW @ www.mathworks.com

But, show a complete example code like the above that has the symptom to be sure we're talking apples and apples...it's possible you've done something in a more complex sequence that has caused one axes object to have occluded the other but we can't reproduce your actual case here so need to prove it's an issue in the simple case first--if it's not there, the problem is elsewhere in your actual sequence of commands. Also, it never hurts to attach the image; sometimes it'll provide other klews...

Answer 2

[Thorsten]

So what's wrong with

x=[1:100].';y=randn(100,1);  % some dummy data to plot to make axes w/ differing ranges
hAx=plotyy(x,y,x,sqrt(abs(y))/pi);
ylim(hAx(2),[0 1])

[dpb]

There are the LH axes ticks showing on the RH y-axis that aren't aligned...they're not controllable (unless there's something in HG2 that isn't in R2012b?) excepting by whether box property is 'on'|'off', not by a separately settable property controlling view of the ticks on both LH and RH sides of the plot independently as needs should be.

Default image

Desired image

Note the undesirable extra tick marks on former...presuming you don't see something markedly different???

[Thorsten]

Thank you. Now I understand the problem. The only advice I can give is to use

box off

and be happy with the cleaner plot and the optimized ink:data ratio (following Ed Tufte)

[dpb]

So you can confirm same behavior in R2015 as OP with the simple test case of the repositioning of the RH x-axes to 'top' doesn't show up?

[Thorsten]

Yes. I use R1025b and get an error:

 > set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklab',[]) % RH x-axis to top, leave ticks but no labels

 Error using matlab.graphics.axis.Axes/set
 There is no xticklab property on the Axes class.

The command

set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top')

works w/o error, but still no x-axis on top. I further tried

set(hAx(2), 'XTickMode', 'manual')
set(hAx(2), 'XTickLabelMode', 'manual')

but to no avail.

The full list of properties of hAx(2):

                      ALim: [0 1]
                   ALimMode: 'auto'
     ActivePositionProperty: 'position'
          AmbientLightColor: [1 1 1]
               BeingDeleted: 'off'
                        Box: 'off'
                   BoxStyle: 'back'
                 BusyAction: 'queue'
              ButtonDownFcn: ''
                       CLim: [0 1]
                   CLimMode: 'auto'
             CameraPosition: [50 0.5000 17.3205]
         CameraPositionMode: 'auto'
               CameraTarget: [50 0.5000 0]
           CameraTargetMode: 'auto'
             CameraUpVector: [0 1 0]
         CameraUpVectorMode: 'auto'
            CameraViewAngle: 6.6086
        CameraViewAngleMode: 'auto'
                   Children: [1x1 Line]
                   Clipping: 'on'
              ClippingStyle: '3dbox'
                      Color: 'none'
                 ColorOrder: [7x3 double]
            ColorOrderIndex: 2
                  CreateFcn: ''
               CurrentPoint: [2x3 double]
            DataAspectRatio: [100 1 2]
        DataAspectRatioMode: 'auto'
                  DeleteFcn: ''
                  FontAngle: 'normal'
                   FontName: 'Helvetica'
                   FontSize: 10
              FontSmoothing: 'on'
                  FontUnits: 'points'
                 FontWeight: 'normal'
                  GridAlpha: 0.1500
              GridAlphaMode: 'auto'
                  GridColor: [0.1500 0.1500 0.1500]
              GridColorMode: 'auto'
              GridLineStyle: '-'
           HandleVisibility: 'on'
                    HitTest: 'off'
              Interruptible: 'on'
    LabelFontSizeMultiplier: 1.1000
                      Layer: 'bottom'
             LineStyleOrder: '-'
        LineStyleOrderIndex: 1
                  LineWidth: 0.5000
             MinorGridAlpha: 0.2500
         MinorGridAlphaMode: 'auto'
             MinorGridColor: [0.1000 0.1000 0.1000]
         MinorGridColorMode: 'auto'
         MinorGridLineStyle: ':'
                   NextPlot: 'replace'
              OuterPosition: [0 0 1 1]
                     Parent: [1x1 Figure]
              PickableParts: 'visible'
         PlotBoxAspectRatio: [1 0.9195 0.9195]
     PlotBoxAspectRatioMode: 'auto'
                   Position: [0.1300 0.1100 0.7750 0.8150]
                 Projection: 'orthographic'
                   Selected: 'off'
         SelectionHighlight: 'on'
                 SortMethod: 'childorder'
                        Tag: ''
                    TickDir: 'in'
                TickDirMode: 'auto'
       TickLabelInterpreter: 'tex'
                 TickLength: [0.0100 0.0250]
                 TightInset: [0.0049 0.0103 0.0296 0.0281]
                      Title: [1x1 Text]
    TitleFontSizeMultiplier: 1.1000
            TitleFontWeight: 'bold'
                       Type: 'axes'
              UIContextMenu: [0x0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
                      Units: 'normalized'
                   UserData: []
                       View: [0 90]
                    Visible: 'on'
                      XAxis: [1x1 NumericRuler]
              XAxisLocation: 'top'
                     XColor: [0.1500 0.1500 0.1500]
                 XColorMode: 'auto'
                       XDir: 'normal'
                      XGrid: 'off'
                     XLabel: [1x1 Text]
                       XLim: [0 100]
                   XLimMode: 'manual'
                 XMinorGrid: 'off'
                 XMinorTick: 'off'
                     XScale: 'linear'
                      XTick: [0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100]
                 XTickLabel: {11x1 cell}
             XTickLabelMode: 'auto'
         XTickLabelRotation: 0
                  XTickMode: 'auto'
                      YAxis: [1x1 NumericRuler]
              YAxisLocation: 'right'
                     YColor: [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]
                 YColorMode: 'manual'
                       YDir: 'normal'
                      YGrid: 'off'
                     YLabel: [1x1 Text]
                       YLim: [0 1]
                   YLimMode: 'manual'
                 YMinorGrid: 'off'
                 YMinorTick: 'off'
                     YScale: 'linear'
                      YTick: [0 0.1000 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000 0.5000 0.6000 0.7000]
                 YTickLabel: {8x1 cell}
             YTickLabelMode: 'auto'
         YTickLabelRotation: 0
                  YTickMode: 'manual'
                      ZAxis: [1x1 NumericRuler]
                     ZColor: [0.1500 0.1500 0.1500]
                 ZColorMode: 'auto'
                       ZDir: 'normal'
                      ZGrid: 'off'
                     ZLabel: [1x1 Text]
                       ZLim: [-1 1]
                   ZLimMode: 'auto'
                 ZMinorGrid: 'off'
                 ZMinorTick: 'off'
                     ZScale: 'linear'
                      ZTick: [-1 0 1]
                 ZTickLabel: ''
             ZTickLabelMode: 'auto'
         ZTickLabelRotation: 0
                  ZTickMode: 'auto'

[dpb]

 Error using matlab.graphics.axis.Axes/set
 There is no xticklab property on the Axes class.

I didn't realize TMW had changed the syntax to require exact match with set; I thought that was only when using the object.property form. Use

   set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklabel',[])

Heaven only knows how much existing code TMW has broken with this change...

But, that raises the question of why 'xaxisloc','top' didn't also trigger an error? Have you tried

 set(hAx(2),'xaxislocation','top','xticklabel',[])  % ?

If that doesn't work then definitely they've broken something and that's a sizable bug.

ADDENDUM

Oh, a thought...

The full list of properties of hAx(2):
            ...
            XAxis: [1x1 NumericRuler]
            XAxisLocation: 'top
            ...

HG2 has modified things so now the axes are this NumericRuler thingie; I suspect there's wherein the problem lies. What are the properties inside it? I'm guessing that somehow there's now a problem with visibility when there are two overall sets of axes and these new objects are now competing with the older properties...

[Thorsten]

Well,

set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklabel',[])

works, but still no sticks...

But you're right, the NumericRuler thingie has the solution:

hAx(2).XAxis.Visible = 'on';

Voilà, the X-axis is there!

[Thorsten]

So the final solution (thanks to dpb) is:

x=[1:100].';y=randn(100,1);  % some dummy data to plot to make axes w/ differing ranges
hAx=plotyy(x,y,x,sqrt(abs(y))/pi);
ylim(hAx(2),[0 1])
set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklabel',[])
 box off
 hAx(2).XAxis.Visible = 'on'

[dpb]

Ah, so....wonder why it wouldn't be 'visible','on' by default? Does this only happen owing to plotyy; that is, if you just use plot, I presume then

 set(gca,'xaxisloc','top','xticklabel',[])

the axis would show up at the top w/ visible ticks but no labels???

[Thorsten]

For a simple plot, your code remove the labels at the bottom x-axis, the upper x-axis remains unchanged (i.e, visible, with ticks, but w/o labels).

[dpb]

Thanks for the checking, Thorsten...I'll try to remember for future the behavior so can be more accurate in responding...but I dislike this proliferation of additional objects that have the propensity to spread such secondary effects beyond the expected. Takes a lot of effort to uncover what the issues like OP's really are that is a waste of time and effort. Should be additional notes added to the documentation noting what happens but quite probably TMW isn't even aware of what they've caused to happen and how it changed previous behavior...

[Thorsten]

I agree.

[Booker]

Thanks for investing the time sharing your solutions.

Perhaps it's my R2105a running on Windows 7 Pro but I did not receive any luck using the following suggested command:

x = [1:100];
y = randn [100:1];
hAx = plotyy(x,y,x,sqrt(abs(y))/pi);
ylim(hAx(2),[0 1]);
set(hAx(2),'xaxisloc','top','xticklabel',[]);
box off;
hAx(2).XAxis.Visible = 'on';

Received a syntax error for the last two lines. So changed:

box off; to box(hAx(1),’Off’);
hAx(2).XAxis.Visible = 'on'; to hAx(2).Visible = 'on';

Still losing the top xAxis after executing box(hAx(1),’Off’);

Are you people having success with this using R2015a?

v/r, Book

[dpb]

Thorsten is on R2015b, not ...a. As noted, I'm still at R2012b.

It's possible there's a difference in HG2 between the two letter releases, but I'd be somewhat surprised.

The key to success is

hAx(2).XAxis.Visible = 'on';

What was the syntax error you received. If it's that there's no such property as 'XAxis' or somesuch, it would seem your only recourse would be to upgrade. If the NumericRuler object exists, then you should be able to set its 'visible' property; the overall axes 'visible' property is already set to 'on' so setting it again won't make it any "onner"; iow, that's a do-nothing operation and the lack of visibility of the axis ruler/ticks isn't owing to it. That's what Thorsten's experiments for us showed (since I can't test HG2 here)

ADDENDUM What about the single plot sample; can you see the tick marks there? If you can get that to work, it should, it seems, be possible to get it to work with plotyy as well.