getpixelposition vs OuterPosition of figure

I'm getting different values from getpixelposition and the OuterPosition of the figure ...

get(gcf,'OuterPosition')
ans =
        3062         537        2201         801

>> getpixelposition(gcf)
ans =
        3070         545        2185         708

>> get(gcf,'Position')
ans =
        3070         545        2185         708

What gives? Why is there an 8 pixel discrepancy on each side?

Edit: I added 'Position' to show that this is the same as getpixelposition when units are pixels per Luna's comment. Note that Position is larger than OuterPosition for all properties except the height ...

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

The larger one probably includes the operating system borders of the figure, while the smaller one does not include the border. That's my guess.

[Jim Hokanson]

That appears to be correct, although the border appears to be invisible! It is also unclear what determines border size, as I've seen previous code that hardcoded the size that was incorrect ...

In the mean time I'm launching a temporary figure to determine this discrepancy. It's not ideal but it appears to work. The alternative is to temporarily change the units on the figure of interest but I'm trying to avoid that.

Answer 2

[Luna]

Hi Jim,

I generally set 'units' property as 'normalized' for all figures and uicontrol elements in my codes.

Even the screen resolution changes from one monitor to another the position of your figure window appears in the same position.

get(gcf,'Position') equals to getpixelposition(gcf).

If you use OuterPosition you will get different value.

Position and OuterPosition are different things. Check below to see Position, InnerPosition & OuterPosition.

Figure Position Properties

Also check below link Jan has written:

position-and-outerposition

[Jim Hokanson]

Hi Luna,

Thanks for the response but I specifically need the figure position in pixels. getpixelposition was introduced, I think, so that you could get the figure position in pixels without worrying about the units of the figure.

The link is interesting but doesn't actually answer why they are different. In that example the difference is roughly 4.5, but why?

[Luna]

If you read about figure position properties you will see the difference that's why I have sent that link.

Position — Location and size of drawable area

[left bottom width height]

Location and size of the drawable area, specified as a vector of the form [left bottom width height].

This area excludes the figure borders, title bar, menu bar, and tool bars.

OuterPosition — Location and size of outer bounds

[left bottom width height]

Location and size of the outer bounds, specified as a vector of the form [left bottom width height].

This property defines the region enclosed by the figure’s outer bounds (which includes the borders, title bar, menu bar, and tool bars).

[Image Analyst]

The help says "The default value of [0 0 1 1] includes the whole interior of the container." but it's not clear if the interior of the container includes the toolbar, which is outside the uniform graph area but inside the outer window border. And the help pictures for OuterPosition aren't exactly helpful:

If anything, it looks like the outerposition might not include the toolbar, though it doesn't show a figure window with a toolbar, unfortunately. It would be nice if they were more exact in their description.

[Jim Hokanson]

The outerposition includes the title, toolbar, and menubar.

What's strange is that the 'outerposition' is missing some sort of invisible border that 'position' keeps.

Edit: Nevermind, the outerposition is larger than the position on the sides by the invisible border width ...

[Image Analyst]

But Position (the red line) is inside the Outerposition (blue) so why do you say that? If it's inside the blue, then the outer coordinates of the blue line should take it into account.

[Jim Hokanson]

Because I didn't get enough sleep last night and it was only when I was trying to explain it to you that I realized my mistake!