Get ticks to lay across colorbar

I'm desiring to place ticks across my colorbar to more clearly separate the color palette. I've set the ticklength to be identical to my colorbar height, but something about my axes or figure handle (gca or gcf) is throwing the ticklength off so that the ticks don't lay across the entire colorbar. Any suggestions on how I can fix this?

set(gca,'xtick',[],'xticklabel',[],'ytick',[],'yticklabel',[],'color','w');
set(gcf,'units','pixel','position',[70,70,500,500],'papersize',[500,500],'color','w');
ax=gca;
colormap(jet(50));
caxis([0, 50]);
hcb=colorbar('SouthOutside');
hcb.Label.String='Test Color Bar';
axPos = ax.Position;
colorbarpos=hcb.Position;
% Position and scale for SouthOutside colorbar
colorbarpos(2)=0.032+colorbarpos(2);
colorbarpos(4)=0.5*colorbarpos(4);
hcb.Position = colorbarpos;
ax.Position = axPos;
set(hcb,'YTick',[0:1:50],'TickLength',colorbarpos(4));
set(hcb,'YTickLabel',{'';'1';'';'';'';'5';'';'';'';'';'10';'';'';'';'';'15';'';'';'';'';'20';'';'';'';'';'25';'';'';'';'';'30';'';'';'';'';'35';'';'';'';'';'40';'';'';'';'';'45';'';'';'';'';'50';});

Answer 1

[Dave B]

The unit for TickLength is peculiar. If you check out how it's documented on the colorbar page it says:

Tick mark length, specified as a scalar. Specify the tick length as a fraction of the colorbar axis length.

That 'length' is sort of like the length function in MATLAB, the longer direction.

In your case I think you want TickLength to be: colorbarpos(4)/colorbarpos(3)

set(gca,'xtick',[],'xticklabel',[],'ytick',[],'yticklabel',[],'color','w');
set(gcf,'units','pixel','position',[70,70,500,500],'papersize',[500,500],'color','w');
ax=gca;
colormap(jet(50));
caxis([0, 50]);
hcb=colorbar('SouthOutside');
hcb.Label.String='Test Color Bar';
axPos = ax.Position;
colorbarpos=hcb.Position;
% Position and scale for SouthOutside colorbar
colorbarpos(2)=0.032+colorbarpos(2);
colorbarpos(4)=0.5*colorbarpos(4);
hcb.Position = colorbarpos;
ax.Position = axPos;
set(hcb,'YTick',[0:1:50],'TickLength',colorbarpos(4)/colorbarpos(3));
set(hcb,'YTickLabel',{'';'1';'';'';'';'5';'';'';'';'';'10';'';'';'';'';'15';'';'';'';'';'20';'';'';'';'';'25';'';'';'';'';'30';'';'';'';'';'35';'';'';'';'';'40';'';'';'';'';'45';'';'';'';'';'50';});