StackedLineChart Properties

Stacked plot appearance and behavior

StackedLineChart properties control the appearance and behavior of a stacked plot. In a stacked plot, you can plot the variables of a table or timetable, or the columns of a matrix, in separate y-axes stacked vertically. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the stacked plot.

You can use dot notation to query and set properties.

T = readtable('outages.csv');
s = stackedplot(T);
c = s.Color;
s.Color = 'red';

Table Data

SourceTable — Source table

table | timetable

Source table, specified as a table or a timetable.

You can create a table from workspace variables using the table function, or you can import data as a table using the readtable function. You can create a timetable from workspace variables using the timetable function.

Note

The property is ignored and read-only when the plotted data comes from an array.

Array Data

XData — x-values

vector

x-values, specified as a vector. The number of elements in the vector must equal the number of rows in the value of the YData property.

Note

The property is ignored and read-only when the plotted data comes from a table or timetable.

Example: [1:10]

Data Types: double | single | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

YData — y-values

array

y-values, specified as an array. The stackedplot function plots each column of the value of YData in its own y-axis.

Note

The property is ignored and read-only when the plotted data comes from a table or timetable.

Example: [1:10;5:5:50]

Data Types: double | single | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

Stacked Plot Display

DisplayVariables — Displayed variables

cell array of character vectors | string array | numeric array | logical array

Displayed variables, specified as a character vector, cell array of character vectors, string array, numeric array, or logical array. By setting this property you can plot a subset or a permutation of the variables in the input table or timetable.

If DisplayVariables is a cell array, it also can be a nested cell array. The stackedplot function plots all the variables specified in a nested cell in the same y-axis.

Example: s.DisplayVariables = [1 3 4] specifies the first, third, and fourth variables.

Example: s.DisplayVariables = {{'Temp1','Temp2'},'Pressure'} uses a nested cell array to specify that Temp1 and Temp2 are plotted together.

Example: s.DisplayVariables = {{1,2},5} specifies variables by number and plots the first and second variables together.

DisplayLabels — Labels for y-axes

cell array of character vectors | string array

Labels for the stacked y-axes values, specified as a cell array of character vectors or a string array. Specify one label for each value in DisplayVariables. By default, the values are the same as the values in DisplayVariables.

If you add a value, delete a value, or rearrange the values in DisplayVariables, then this property updates accordingly to maintain the pairings of values and labels.

Example: s.DisplayLabels = {'Temperature','Humidity','Pressure'}

XVariable — Table variable for x-axis

character vector | string | numeric scalar | logical vector

Table variable for the x-axis, specified in one of these forms:

• Character vector or string indicating the name of one table variable

• Numeric scalar indicating the index of one table variable

• Logical vector containing one true element

Note

The property is ignored and read-only when the plotted data come from an array or a timetable.

XLimits — Minimum and maximum x-axis limits

two-element vector of the form [min max]

Minimum and maximum x-axis limits, specified as a two-element vector of the form [min max], where max is greater than min. You can specify the limits as numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. However, the type of values that you specify must match the type of values along the axis.

You can specify both limits or you can specify one limit and let the axes automatically calculate the other. For an automatically calculated minimum or maximum limit, use -inf or inf, respectively.

Example: s.XLimits = [0 100]

Example: s.XLimits = [-inf 100]

Example: s.XLimits = [0 inf]

Data Types: double | single | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | datetime | duration

AxesProperties — Properties of y-axes

array of StackedAxesProperties objects

Properties of the y-axes, specified as an array of StackedAxesProperties objects. You can index into AxesProperties to change the y-axis properties for one variable in the stacked plot. For more information, see StackedAxesProperties Properties.

Example: s.AxesProperties(2).YLimits = [0 10] specifies limits for the second plot in the stacked plot. The other plots are unaltered.

LineProperties — Properties of lines

array of StackedLineProperties objects

Properties of lines, specified as an array of StackedLineProperties objects. You can index into LineProperties to change the properties of a line for one variable in the stacked plot. For more information, see StackedLineProperties Properties.

Example: s.LineProperties(3).Color = 'red' changes the line color of the third plot in the stacked plot. The other plots are unaltered.

GridVisible — Display of grid lines

'on' | on/off logical value

Display of grid lines, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

Line

Color — Line color

[0 0.4470 0.7410] (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Line color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, or one of the color options listed in the first table.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
'red'	'r'	[1 0 0]	'#FF0000'
'green'	'g'	[0 1 0]	'#00FF00'
'blue'	'b'	[0 0 1]	'#0000FF'
'cyan'	'c'	[0 1 1]	'#00FFFF'
'magenta'	'm'	[1 0 1]	'#FF00FF'
'yellow'	'y'	[1 1 0]	'#FFFF00'
'black'	'k'	[0 0 0]	'#000000'
'white'	'w'	[1 1 1]	'#FFFFFF'
'none'	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB^® uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	'#0072BD'
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	'#D95319'
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	'#EDB120'
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	'#7E2F8E'
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	'#77AC30'
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	'#4DBEEE'
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	'#A2142F'

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

Example: '#0000FF'

LineStyle — Line style

'-' (default) | '--' | ':' | '-.' | 'none'

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
'-'	Solid line
'--'	Dashed line
':'	Dotted line
'-.'	Dash-dotted line
'none'	No line	No line

LineWidth — Line width

0.5 (default) | positive value

Line width, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch. If the line has markers, then the line width also affects the marker edges.

The line width cannot be thinner than the width of a pixel. If you set the line width to a value that is less than the width of a pixel on your system, the line displays as one pixel wide.

Markers

Marker — Marker symbol

'none' (default) | 'o' | '+' | '*' | '.' | ...

Marker symbol, specified as one of the values listed in this table. By default, the object does not display markers. Specifying a marker symbol adds markers at each data point or vertex.

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
'o'	Circle
'+'	Plus sign
'*'	Asterisk
'.'	Point
'x'	Cross
'_'	Horizontal line
'|'	Vertical line
's'	Square
'd'	Diamond
'^'	Upward-pointing triangle
'v'	Downward-pointing triangle
'>'	Right-pointing triangle
'<'	Left-pointing triangle
'p'	Pentagram
'h'	Hexagram
'none'	No markers	Not applicable

MarkerSize — Marker size

6 (default) | positive value

Marker size, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch.

MarkerEdgeColor — Marker outline color

'none' | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Marker outline color, specified as 'none', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, or one of the color options listed in the first table.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
'red'	'r'	[1 0 0]	'#FF0000'
'green'	'g'	[0 1 0]	'#00FF00'
'blue'	'b'	[0 0 1]	'#0000FF'
'cyan'	'c'	[0 1 1]	'#00FFFF'
'magenta'	'm'	[1 0 1]	'#FF00FF'
'yellow'	'y'	[1 1 0]	'#FFFF00'
'black'	'k'	[0 0 0]	'#000000'
'white'	'w'	[1 1 1]	'#FFFFFF'
'none'	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	'#0072BD'
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	'#D95319'
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	'#EDB120'
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	'#7E2F8E'
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	'#77AC30'
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	'#4DBEEE'
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	'#A2142F'

Example: [0.5 0.5 0.5]

Example: 'blue'

Example: '#D2F9A7'

MarkerFaceColor — Marker fill color

'none' (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Marker fill color, specified as 'none', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, or one of the color options listed in the first table.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
'red'	'r'	[1 0 0]	'#FF0000'
'green'	'g'	[0 1 0]	'#00FF00'
'blue'	'b'	[0 0 1]	'#0000FF'
'cyan'	'c'	[0 1 1]	'#00FFFF'
'magenta'	'm'	[1 0 1]	'#FF00FF'
'yellow'	'y'	[1 1 0]	'#FFFF00'
'black'	'k'	[0 0 0]	'#000000'
'white'	'w'	[1 1 1]	'#FFFFFF'
'none'	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	'#0072BD'
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	'#D95319'
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	'#EDB120'
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	'#7E2F8E'
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	'#77AC30'
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	'#4DBEEE'
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	'#A2142F'

Example: [0.3 0.2 0.1]

Example: 'green'

Example: '#D2F9A7'

Font

FontName — Font name

supported font name | 'FixedWidth'

Font name, specified as a supported font name or 'FixedWidth'. To display and print text properly, you must choose a font that your system supports. The default font depends on your operating system and locale.

To use a fixed-width font that looks good in any locale, use 'FixedWidth'. The fixed-width font relies on the root FixedWidthFontName property. Setting the root FixedWidthFontName property causes an immediate update of the display to use the new font.

FontSize — Font size

8 (default) | scalar numeric value

Font size, specified as a scalar numeric value. The font size affects the title, axis labels, and tick labels. It also affects any legends associated with the axes. The font size is measured in points.

Example: s.FontSize = 12

Labels

Title — Title of stacked plot

character vector | string scalar | numeric scalar | string array | numeric array | cell array | categorical array

Title of the stacked plot, specified as a character vector, string scalar, numeric scalar, string array, numeric array, cell array, or categorical array.

If the value of Title is an array, then the elements of the array are stacked vertically and displayed as the title. If the value is a cell array, then its elements can be character vectors, strings, or numbers.

Alternatively, use the title function to add a title.

title('My Title')

Example: s.Title = 'A Title';

Example: s.Title = 137

Example: s.Title = {'Stacked plot',char(datetime('now'))};

Example: s.Title = {'Stacked plot',137};

XLabel — Text for x-axis label

character vector | string scalar | numeric scalar | string array | numeric array | cell array | categorical array

Text for x-axis label, specified as a character vector, string scalar, numeric scalar, string array, numeric array, cell array, or categorical array.

If the value of XLabel is an array, then the elements of the array are stacked vertically and displayed as the x-axis label. If the value is a cell array, then its elements can be character vectors, strings, or numbers.

Alternatively, use the xlabel function to add an x-axis label.

xlabel('My x-Axis Label')

Example: s.XLabel = 'An x-axis Label';

Example: s.XLabel = 137

Example: s.XLabel = {'An x-axis Label',char(datetime('now'))};

Example: s.XLabel = {'An x-axis Label',137};

Position

OuterPosition — Outer size and location

[0 0 1 1] (default) | four-element vector

Outer size and location of the plot within the parent container (typically a figure, panel, or tab), specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height].

• The left and bottom elements define the distance from the lower left corner of the container to the lower left corner of the plot.

• The width and height elements are the width and height of the rectangle that encloses the plot and the axes, including decorations such as the title and axis labels.

The default value of [0 0 1 1] covers the whole interior of the container. The units are normalized relative to the size of the container. To change the units, set the Units property.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout.

InnerPosition — Inner size and location

four-element vector

Inner size and location of the plot within the parent container (typically a figure, panel, or tab) specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height].

• The left and bottom elements define the distance from the lower left corner of the container to the lower left corner of the plot.

• The width and height elements are the width and height of the rectangle that encloses the plot and the axes, excluding decorations such as the title and axis labels.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout.

Position — Inner size and location

four-element vector

Inner size and location of the plot within the parent container (typically a figure, panel, or tab) returned as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. This property is equivalent to the InnerPosition property.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout.

PositionConstraint — Position to hold constant

'outerposition' | 'innerposition'

Position property to hold constant when adding, removing, or changing decorations, specified as one of the following values:

• 'outerposition' — The OuterPosition property remains constant when you add, remove, or change decorations such as a title or an axis label. If any positional adjustments are needed, MATLAB adjusts the InnerPosition property.

• 'innerposition' — The InnerPosition property remains constant when you add, remove, or change decorations such as a title or an axis label. If any positional adjustments are needed, MATLAB adjusts the OuterPosition property.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout.

Units — Position units

'normalized' (default) | 'inches' | 'centimeters' | 'points' | 'pixels' | 'characters'

Position units, specified as one of these values.

Units	Description
'normalized' (default)	Normalized with respect to the container, which is typically the figure or a panel. The lower left corner of the container maps to (0,0) and the upper right corner maps to (1,1).
'inches'	Inches.
'centimeters'	Centimeters.
'characters'	Based on the default uicontrol font of the graphics root object: Character width = width of letter x. Character height = distance between the baselines of two lines of text.
'points'	Typography points. One point equals 1/72 inch.
'pixels'	Pixels. Starting in R2015b, distances in pixels are independent of your system resolution on Windows® and Macintosh systems. On Windows systems, a pixel is 1/96th of an inch. On Macintosh systems, a pixel is 1/72nd of an inch. On Linux® systems, the size of a pixel is determined by your system resolution.

When specifying the units as a Name,Value pair during object creation, you must set the Units property before specifying the properties that you want to use these units, such as Position.

Layout — Layout options

empty LayoutOptions array (default) | TiledChartLayoutOptions object | GridLayoutOptions object

Layout options, specified as a TiledChartLayoutOptions or GridLayoutOptions object. This property is useful when the chart is either in a tiled chart layout or a grid layout.

To position the chart within the grid of a tiled chart layout, set the Tile and TileSpan properties on the TiledChartLayoutOptions object. For example, consider a 3-by-3 tiled chart layout. The layout has a grid of tiles in the center, and four tiles along the outer edges. In practice, the grid is invisible and the outer tiles do not take up space until you populate them with axes or charts.

This code places the chart c in the third tile of the grid..

c.Layout.Tile = 3;

To make the chart span multiple tiles, specify the TileSpan property as a two-element vector. For example, this chart spans 2 rows and 3 columns of tiles.

c.Layout.TileSpan = [2 3];

To place the chart in one of the surrounding tiles, specify the Tile property as 'north', 'south', 'east', or 'west'. For example, setting the value to 'east' places the chart in the tile to the right of the grid.

c.Layout.Tile = 'east';

To place the chart into a layout within an app, specify this property as a GridLayoutOptions object. For more information about working with grid layouts in apps, see uigridlayout.

If the chart is not a child of either a tiled chart layout or a grid layout (for example, if it is a child of a figure or panel) then this property is empty and has no effect.

Interactivity

Visible — State of visibility

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

State of visibility, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

• 'on' — Display the object.

• 'off' — Hide the object without deleting it. You still can access the properties of an invisible object.

Parent/Child

Parent — Parent container

Figure object | Panel object | Tab object | TiledChartLayout object | GridLayout object

Parent container, specified as a Figure, Panel, Tab, TiledChartLayout, or GridLayout object.

HandleVisibility — Visibility of object handle

'on' (default) | 'off' | 'callback'

Visibility of the object handle in the Children property of the parent, specified as one of these values:

• 'on' — Object handle is always visible.

• 'off' — Object handle is invisible at all times. This option is useful for preventing unintended changes by another function. Set the HandleVisibility to 'off' to temporarily hide the handle during the execution of that function.

• 'callback' — Object handle is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command line, but permits callback functions to access it.

If the object is not listed in the Children property of the parent, then functions that obtain object handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties cannot return it. Examples of such functions include the get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close functions.

Hidden object handles are still valid. Set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to 'on' to list all object handles regardless of their HandleVisibility property setting.

Version History

Introduced in R2018b

R2020a: ActivePositionProperty is not recommended

Not recommended starting in R2020a

Starting in R2020a, setting or getting ActivePositionProperty is not recommended. Use the PositionConstraint property instead.

There are no plans to remove ActivePositionProperty at this time, but the property is no longer listed when you call the set, get, or properties functions on the chart object.

To update your code, make these changes:

• Replace all instances of ActivePositionProperty with PositionConstraint.

• Replace all references to the 'position' option with the 'innerposition' option.