How to set disableDef​aultIntera​ctivity for all axes?

In Matlab 2018b and later, the cursor is set to automatically interact with the plot. This messes up my plots (accidentally moving axes or adding unwanted data tips), so I would like to turn it off. You can do this for a specific axis ax with disableDefaultInteractivity(ax). However I would like to apply this to all axes I ever make. I know you can set preferences for some axis properties as follows,

set(0,'DefaultAxesColor', 'none');

But the following attemps did not work,

disableDefaultInteractivity(0) % Error: Input must be an axes handle
set(0, 'DefaultInteractivity', 'off') % Error: Too many output arguments

Is there another way to disable the axis interactivity for all axes?

Answer 1

[Dhanashree Mohite]

In order to disable default interactivity for all created axes, you can use the following command:

>> set(groot,'defaultAxesCreateFcn','disableDefaultInteractivity(gca)')

But this setting will be reset when MATLAB is restarted.

[KAE]

I put it in my startup file, so I can always have this set. Thanks so much - I would never have worked out this groot formatting. Since I also run older versions of Matlab, which don't have this setting, I had to implement it in my startup.m as follows,

a = version; % Get the version of Matlab that is running
if ~isempty(findstr(a, '2019')) % Only apply to R2019
    set(groot,'defaultAxesCreateFcn','disableDefaultInteractivity(gca)'); % Disable interactivity of cursor in axes
end

[Benjamin Kraus]

There is a bug with this solution that will cause some strange and unexpected behaviors.

The issue is the call to gca, which will only work if the axes has HandleVisibility set to 'on' and if the parent figure of the axes also has HandleVisibility set to 'on'. Otherwise, gca will create a new axes instead of operating on the axes you think it should. This is particularly troublesome for App Designer, because the figure has HandleVisibility set to 'off' by default.

The better way to achieve the same goal is to use a function handle and set the DefaultAxesCreateFcn like this:

set(groot, 'defaultAxesCreateFcn', @(ax,~) disableDefaultInteractivity(ax))

The difference here is that the axes handle itself is passed directly to disableDefaultInteractivity so it is no longer dependent upon gca working.

Answer 2

[Bruno Luong]

For R2019b all the tricks found previously no longer work.

I found this one does the trick

set(groot,'defaultAxesCreateFcn', ...
@(ax,varargin) start(timer('StartDelay',1,'ExecutionMode','singleShot','TimerFcn',@(varargin) axtoolbar(ax,{}))));

You might put it in startup.m file

if ~verLessThan('MATLAB','9.7')
    set(groot,'defaultAxesCreateFcn', ...
        @(ax,varargin) start(timer('StartDelay',1,'ExecutionMode','singleShot','TimerFcn',@(varargin) axtoolbar(ax,{}))));
end

[KAE]

You just saved me some misery when I update Matlab, so thanks!

[Bruno Luong]

I have a more robust and cleaner version, that does not create plenty of timer objects

You can call

DisableAxeToolbar() in the startup.m (need to be on the default path) or independently.

function DisableAxeToolbar()
% DisableAxeToolbar()
% Overright MATLAB automatic creation of axtoolbar
% that appears above the top-right corner when a new axes is created
% You might invoke DisableAxeToolbar in sctatup.m

try %#ok
    if ~verLessThan('matlab','9.5')
        set(groot, 'defaultFigureCreateFcn', @(fig,dummy) addToolbarExplorationButtons(fig));
        if verLessThan('MATLAB','9.7')
            set(groot, 'defaultAxesCreateFcn', @(ax,dummy) set(ax.Toolbar,'Visible','off'));
        else
            set(groot, 'defaultAxesCreateFcn', @(ax,varargin) TriggerAxeToolbarRemovalTimer([], ax));
        end
        %fprintf('Restore global figure Toolbar\n');
    end
end
end

%%
function TriggerAxeToolbarRemovalTimer(th, varargin) % R2019 or later
persistent T
if isempty(th)
    if isempty(T)
        T = CreateAxeToolbarRemovalTimer();
    end
    th = T;
end
if nargin >= 2
    ax = varargin{1};
    try
        set(th, 'UserData', ax);
        start(th);
    catch
        % if we get here many axes are being created, we stack the timer
        newth = CreateAxeToolbarRemovalTimer('StopFcn', @(obj, varargin) delete(obj));
        TriggerAxeToolbarRemovalTimer(newth, varargin{:});
    end
end
end % TriggerAxeToolbarRemovalTimer

function T = CreateAxeToolbarRemovalTimer(varargin)
T = timer('Name', 'AxeToolbarRemovalTimer',...
          'BusyMode', 'queue', ...
          'StartDelay', 1,...
          'ExecutionMode', 'singleShot',...
          'TimerFcn', @(obj, event, varargin) Disableaxtoolbar(get(obj, 'UserData')),... % get(obj,'UserData') returns axe handle
          varargin{:});
end

function Disableaxtoolbar(ax)
try
    axtoolbar(ax, {}, 'Visible', 'off');
    % fprintf('disable toolbar axe invoked\n');
catch
    fprintf('disable toolbar fails\n');
end
end

[Bruno Luong]

Limitation: when new-plot replaces the oldone, the toolbar comeback !

close all
plot(rand(1,10)); % toolbar removed

hold on
plot(rand(1,10)); % toolbar still dsappears

hold off
plot(rand(1,10)); % toolbar comes back

% But when I call this it disappears again !!!!
axtoolbar(gca)

I don't quite understand how the toolbar works.

Right now I don't know how to work around this.

[KAE]

Well I certainly appreciate that you shared what you tried! Sounds like a Yair Altman level question.

Answer 3

[m miozzi]

Yes, Yair!!

In http://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/improving-graphics-interactivity there is a suggestion about disabling unwanted interactivity behaviors while preserving zoom and pan (but you can choose what you like...):

hAxes.Interactions = [zoomInteraction regionZoomInteraction rulerPanInteraction];

hAxes.Toolbar = [];

The first attempts to apply the suggestion failed like described by Bruno, because of the reset of the default axes Interaction property at line 53 of clo.m (<MATLABROOT>\toolbox\matlab\graphics\private\clo.m).

By adding lines 54 and 55 in clo.m (see below) everything works like requested.

This is encouraging, but a serious analysis of the side effects was not done yet.

52 obj = handle(obj); % In case of double handle

53 obj.clo(hsave, (do_reset == 1)); % Call clo method on graphics class

54 obj.Interactions = [zoomInteraction regionZoomInteraction rulerPanInteraction];

55 obj.Toolbar = [];

Answer 4

[Andrew Peters]

disableDefaultInteractivity didn't work for me on R2021b, but putting this into startup did:

set(groot,'defaultAxesCreateFcn', @(ax,~) set(ax,'Interactions',[]));