get(0,'default') does not list all default properties

Here is my output in Matlab2012a for the following command:

>> get(0,'default')

ans =

          defaultFigurePosition: [560 528 560 420]
               defaultTextColor: [0 0 0]
              defaultAxesXColor: [0 0 0]
              defaultAxesYColor: [0 0 0]
              defaultAxesZColor: [0 0 0]
          defaultPatchFaceColor: [0 0 0]
          defaultPatchEdgeColor: [0 0 0]
               defaultLineColor: [0 0 0]
    defaultFigureInvertHardcopy: 'on'
             defaultFigureColor: [0.8000 0.8000 0.8000]
               defaultAxesColor: [1 1 1]
          defaultAxesColorOrder: [7x3 double]
          defaultFigureColormap: [64x3 double]
        defaultSurfaceEdgeColor: [0 0 0]

I know there are more default values than this as I can access them individually if I already know them (DefaultLineLineWidth, DefaultLineLineStyle, etc.) As far as I can tell this list should be massive. That command is the most common suggestion for listing default values.

Any suggestions on why it doesn't list all default values (related to figures/axes/plot/etc)? Thanks!

Answer 1

[Jan]

The default values precede the factory values. Default values found by get(0, 'default') have been set in the function matlabrc or anywhere else. The missing defaults use the factory settings. See doc: setting-default-property-values.

get(0, 'default')
% Does not contain 'defaultLineColor'

get(0, 'defaultLineColor')
% [0,0,0]

set(0, 'defaultLineColor', [1, 0, 0])
get(0, 'default')
% Does contain 'defaultLineColor'

% Set the value to the factory settings:
set(0, 'defaultLineColor', 'factory')
get(0, 'defaultLineColor')
% [0,0,0]

% Remove the default, such that the factory is used:
set(0, 'defaultLineColor', 'remove')

The magic strings 'default', 'remove', and 'factory' are used to control the default values. A sad side-effect is, that these strings cannot be used as values of properties directly:

figure;
uicontrol('String', 'default');

This does not show 'default' in a button, but an empty string! You have to use this:

uicontrol('String', '\default');

This is obviously a bad design from the very early days of Matlab kept for backward compatibility. Of course the special commands should be the ones started with a backslash.

[John Lunzer]

Super fantastic answer! Thank you :) Also thank you for warning me of that caveat, I'll keep that in mind.

[Adam Danz]

Updated link: doc: setting-default-property-values

Answer 2

[Matt Fig]

Here is a silly little function to get all of those defaults listed. You could modify this to produce more or less by manipulating the cell array HC, and of course instantiating an instance of any object in named in HC. Also, one could modify this to allow a handle to be passed in, then return the defaults for only that type of object.

function S = defaultprops()
% Returns default property values for common HG objects.
% Only returns those properties who have non-empty values.
% Author: Matt Fig

HC = {'figure','axes','line','text','patch','uicontrol',...
      'uicontextmenu','uimenu','image','surface','light',...
      'rectangle'};
warning off %#ok
onof = get(0,'showhidden');
set(0,'showhidden','on');
% Create the objects.
F = figure('visible','off','tag','propfig');
plot(1:10);
text;
uicontrol;
patch([0 0],[0 0],'r');
image;
rectangle;
surface;
uicontextmenu;
uimenu;
light;

for ii = 1:length(HC)
    prp = get(findobj(F,'type',HC{ii}));
    fn = fieldnames(prp);
    for jj = 1:length(fn)
        try
            dfp = get(0,['default',HC{ii},fn{jj}]);
            if ~isempty(dfp)  % Remove to return all settables.
                S.(HC{ii}).(fn{jj}) = dfp;
            end
        catch  %#ok

          end
      end
  end

close(F)
set(0,'showhidden',onof)
warning on %#ok

[John Lunzer]

This my good friend, is absolutely beautiful and a huge part of what I was looking for!

One thing I've been particularly interested in lately is the properties of the data cursor. I usually get these through:

cursorMode = datacursormode(gcf)
cursorMode.CurrentDataCursor.get

And then set any properties I want by placing set() commands in a custom cursor update function. I do this because these properties only appear once the data cursor has been placed on the plot. This method isn't perfect and I have issues when I use sub plots.

My follow up question: is there a way to place the datacursor on a plot automatically (without the user clicking) and then is there a way to integrate that into this awesome function?

Thanks for your wonderful help!