how to change the XTick of heatmap?

when I run this code I have 192 months on the x-axis.

I want to show each year (Jan1971,Jan 1972,...Dec 1986) on the x axis. if I do:

set(h,'XTick',datetime('Jan-1971'):calmonths(12):datetime('Dec-1986'));

I have this error:

Error using matlab.graphics.chart.HeatmapChart/set

The name 'XTick' is not an accessible property for an instance of class 'matlab.graphics.chart.HeatmapChart'.

could you please help me to solve the problem.

tbl = readtable('heatmap.test.xlsx');
t1 = datetime(1971,1,1);t2 = datetime(1986,12,1);
t = t1:calmonths(1):t2;t= t(:);
xlabels = string(datestr(t,12));
ylabels = {'A' 'B' 'C' 'D'};
cdata = tbl{:,2:5};
h = heatmap(xlabels,ylabels,cdata');

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

I'm not sure what rule you were following to chose the x-ticks in your question (Jan1971,Jan 1972,...Dec 1986) but here's how to show every January. You can adapt the rule as needed.

t is your datetime vector

h is the handle to your heatmap object.

% Show every January
idx = month(t)==1;             % index of datetime values to show as x tick
h.XDisplayLabels(~idx) = {''}; % replace rejected tick labels with empties

[Rt Ro]

really thank you. you help me a lot.

it is perfect now.

[Adam Danz]

Glad I could help!

Heatmaps are sometimes difficult to customize since they are a different creature than a typical matlab axes. Fortunately this one worked out nicely.

[Rt Ro]

Dear Adam

could you please let me know how I can display the x-axis values as yearly (1971,1972,...,1986)?

thanks,

Rt

[Adam Danz]

idx = [true;diff(year(t))] ~=0;
yearLabels = string(datestr(t,10));
yearLabels(~idx) = {''}; 
h.XDisplayLabels = yearLabels

[Rt Ro]

Thank you for your help.

it works perfectly :).

[Ayobami Olanrewaju]

Thank you, the XDisplayLabels and YDisplayLabels works like magic.

Answer 2

[Rt Ro]

Thank you for your reply.

I did it but it still shows the x-axis values as monthly.

could you please help me?

[Adam Danz]

See updated comment

Answer 3

[Juan Fernández Blasco]

Any of you did face the problem of rotating the x axis values in a heatmap?

I am trying the following:

h2 = heatmap(tsT,stress_attributes,stress_matrix(:,1:272),'TickAngle',45);

Basically, 'TickAngle',45 because I saw it in a post, but I got this error:

The name 'TickAngle' is not an accessible property for an instance of class 'matlab.graphics.chart.HeatmapChart'.

I also tried without succeeding the following:

h2 = heatmap(tsT,stress_attributes,stress_matrix(:,1:272),[],'TickAngle',45);

[Adam Danz]

Heatmaps are notoriously difficult to customize due to inaccessible graphics handles. A workaround is to remove the tick labels completely, overlay an invisible axes the same size as the heatmap, and add the customizable tick labels to the new axes.

Here's a demo.

If you have any problems applying the demo to your needs show me your attempt and I can help straighten things out.