How do I change the default background color of view(biograph) objects created in MATLAB?

I would like to change the background color of the view(biograph) object but I cant seem to be able by using standard ways of figure.

Any idea?

[dpb]

Don't have the TB so no way can experiment here although you might try SAVE and see if can attach. Probably can't load w/o the TB, but "ya never know!".

My only suggestion would be if the axes created is a special axes object instead of a standard one, try Yair Altman's undocumented properties utility available from the FEX and see if can find hidden properties inside the object that let you change the features you wish.

TMW has really gone out of their way recently to make stuff opaque and/or even nearly black so one can't do anything momma won't allow.

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

I don't believe you can do what you ask.

If you're not required to use the biograph object consider using a graph or digraph object instead. When you plot those they are plotted inside a regular axes whose Color property you can customize.

d = digraph(sprand(10, 10, 0.2));
h = plot(d, 'EdgeColor', 'w');
ax = ancestor(h, 'axes');
ax.Color = 'r';

Answer 2

[Tim DeFreitas]

There isn't a native way to set the background color of the biograph viewer. You can select "File > Print to Figure" to get a normal figure window, and standard color setting commands should work on the axes.

Alternatively, you can create a graph or digraph, and use the plot method, which produces a figure whose background color can immediately changed.

[dpb]

So why has TMW started to do this kind of thing on a more and more regular basis?

What's the point in making a customized version for a specific toolbox and then neutering it so the client has to come to the forum for a workaround and be told to use a completely different technique?

And just why is the background color so sacrosanct that it should have been hidden from the user in the first place?

This is just rude to the user and expensive for both parties.

$0.02, imo(nsh)o, ymmv, etc., etc., etc., ...

[Tim DeFreitas]

In this case, biograph is relatively old (2006a) and predates MATLAB graph by almost 10 years (2015b), and was originally developed for the Bioinformatics Toolbox, not as a general purpose graphing utility. I can't speak to the original authors' design, but there may have been limitations associated with using figures directly, particularly with respect to interactions between the biograph object and the viewer. Setting the background color may not have been considered an important or requested feature, so it was omitted not out of malice, but out of simplicity.

In the intervening time, users naturally requested graphing capability outside of the Bioinformatics Toolbox, and that led to the development of MATLAB graph/digraph, and the associated plots, taking into consideration cases where users might want more customization. At the same time, the graphics features of MATLAB have grown in a way that allows better integration for interactive plots, while biograph has not had many feature requests, hence the apparent feature gap.

We appreciate the feedback and do take it under consideration when developing both base MATLAB and toolboxes.

[dpb]

It seems in this case then that the Toolbox doc ought to be revised to deprecate the use of the tool inside and reflect the more general solution; perhaps for compatibility purposes simply alias it.

Just as a sidelight, having been a ML user almost continuously since Ver 3, 2006A seems pretty recent to this geezer! <VBG>