How to do tiledlayout for Boxplots?

I am trying to do a tiledlayout for MATLAB boxplots. My code is:

tiledlayout('flow');
boxplot(randn(10,5));
nexttile;
boxplot(randn(10,5)+5);
nexttile;
boxplot(randn(10,5)-6);
nexttile;
boxplot(randn(10,5));

But I always get the below warnings

Warning: Unable to set 'Position', 'InnerPosition', 'OuterPosition', or

'ActivePositionProperty' for objects in a TiledChartLayout

> In boxplot>renderLabels/setLabelappdata (line 3012)

In boxplot>renderLabels (line 2913)

In boxplot (line 407)

Any clues please?

Answer 1

[Sai Sri Pathuri]

The boxplot function sets the position of axes (If the axes are not UI axes -> line 3012) and according to the warning, it can not be set for tiled layout. This might be the reason for the warning. If you do not want the warning to show up, you may use

warning('MATLAB:handle_graphics:Layout:NoPositionSetInTiledChartLayout','off')

And for all the plots to be shown, use nexttile before first plot. Refer this example.

tiledlayout('flow');
nexttile;
boxplot(randn(10,5));

[Benoit Espinola]

That (exception in behaviour for boxplot with tiled layouts compared to other basic matlab plotting functions) is terrible programming from Mathworks' side.

[Babak Zandi]

I have also received this warning message. Such simple things shouldn't be an issue for a company like MathWorks.

[Adam Danz]

I agree that this should be considered a bug.

• Boxplot documentation does not specify the type of axes to use and does not mention any problems with tiledlayout
• Other graphics functions such as bar(), histogram(), contour(), and many more do not have any problems with tiledlayout axes
• One simple solution could be to skip running the setLabelappdata function in boxplot when the axes are created by nexttile.

If there aren't plans to make the position properties of tiledlayout axes editable, this problem should be addressed IMO.

[Bill Tubbs]

I have this problem. As well as the warnings I am seeing the following defects in the pdfs created by exportgraphics. Any idea if this is related to the warnings or a separate issue?

Answer 2

[Adam Danz]

As of r2020a, you can use the new boxchart() function which is a "stand alone visualization" version of the boxplot() function but with a limited subset of optional parameters.

The boxchart() objects can be plotted on the tiledlayout without a warning message.

% requires release >= r2020a
tiledlayout('flow');
nexttile;
boxchart(randn(10,5));
nexttile;
boxchart(randn(10,5)+5);
nexttile;
boxchart(randn(10,5)-6);
nexttile;
boxchart(randn(10,5));