uislider (App Designer)

Create slider component

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Use only with App Designer or figures created with the uifigure function. When using GUIDE or the figure function, create a slider using uicontrol.

Syntax

  • sld = uislider
  • sld = uislider(parent)
    example
  • sld = uislider(___,Name,Value)
    example

Description

sld = uislider creates a slider in a new UI figure window and returns the slider object.

example

sld = uislider(parent) specifies the parent object in which to create the slider. The parent object must be a UI figure window, or a tab, panel, or button group within a UI figure window.

example

sld = uislider(___,Name,Value) specifies slider properties using one or more Name,Value pair arguments. Use this option with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

Input Arguments

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Parent object of the slider, specified as a figure, panel, tab or button group object.

The parent object must be either a figure created using the uifigure function, or a tab, panel, or button group within such a figure.

Name-Value Pair Arguments

Specify optional comma-separated pairs of Name,Value arguments. Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name must appear inside single quotes (' '). You can specify several name and value pair arguments in any order as Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN.

Example: 'Limits',[0 50] specifies the minimum slider value as 0 and the maximum slider value as 50.

The properties listed here are a subset of the available properties. For the full list, see Slider (App Designer) Properties.

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Slider value, specified as a numeric value. The numeric value must be within the range specified by the Limits property value.

Minimum and maximum slider values, specified as a two-element numeric array. The first value must be less than the second value.

If you change Limits such that Value is less than the new lower limit, MATLAB® sets Value to the new lower limit. For example, suppose Limits is [0 100] and Value is 20. If the Limits changes to [50 100], then MATLAB sets the Value to 50.

Similarly, if you change Limits such that the slider Value is greater than the new upper limit, MATLAB sets the Value to the new upper limit.

Major tick mark values, specified as a 1-by-n numeric array. Any array value that falls outside the Limits property value is not displayed. MATLAB removes duplicate array values.

Setting the MajorTicks property value sets the MajorTicksMode property value to 'manual'.

Labels on each major tick mark, specified as a cell array of character vectors. MATLAB uses each element as the label for the major tick marks specified in the MajorTicks property.

Setting MajorTickLabels changes the MajorTickLabelsMode value to 'manual'.

  • If you specify more MajorTickLabels elements than MajorTicks elements, then MATLAB ignores the extra labels.

  • If you specify fewer MajorTickLabels elements than MajorTicks elements, then MATLAB leaves the extra ticks unlabeled.

To create a blank label to a major tick, specify an empty character vector for that tick's corresponding MajorTickLabels element.

Example: {'100','80','60','40','20','0'}

Example: {'Min','Max'}

Code to execute when the app user changes the slider value, specified as one of these values:

  • Function handle

  • Cell array containing a function handle and additional arguments

  • Character vector that is a valid MATLAB expression, which is evaluated in the base workspace.

If you specify this property as a function handle (or cell array containing a function handle), MATLAB passes an event object containing callback data as an argument to the callback function. This object contains the properties described in the following table. You can access these properties inside the callback function using dot notation.

Event PropertyValue
PreviousValueValue of slider before app user's most recent interaction with it.
ValueValue of slider after app user's most recent interaction with it.
SourceHandle to slider that executes the ValueChangedFcn callback.
EventName'ValueChanged'

For example, to display the previous and current value of the slider in the MATLAB Command Window, specify this code in the ValueChangedFcn callback:

event.PreviousValue
event.Value

This callback function does not execute if the slider value changes programmatically.

Example: @myfunc

Example: {@myfunc, x}

Code to execute as the app user changes the slider value, specified as one of these values:

  • Function handle

  • Cell array containing a function handle and additional arguments

  • Character vector that is a valid MATLAB expression, which is evaluated in the base workspace.

If you specify this property as a function handle (or cell array containing a function handle), MATLAB passes an event object containing callback data as an argument to the callback function. This object contains the properties described in the following table. You can access these properties inside the callback function using dot notation.

Event PropertyValue
ValueCurrent value of the slider as the app user is interacting with it.
SourceHandle to the component that executes the ValueChangingFcn callback.
EventName'ValueChanging'

For example, to display the value of the slider in the MATLAB Command Window, specify this code in the ValueChangingFcn callback:

event.Value

The Value property of the slider is not updated until the app user releases the slider thumb. Therefore, to get the slider values as the thumb is being moved, your code must get the event.Value rather than the slider object Value.

The callback executes as follows:

  • If the app user clicks the slider value once. then the callback executes a single time. For example, if the slider is on 1.0, and the app user single-clicks at 1.1, then the callback executes once.

  • If the app user clicks and drags the slider to a new position, the callback executes repeatedly. For example, if the slider value is 1.0, and the app user clicks, holds, and drags the thump to value 10.0, then the callback executes multiple times until the app user releases the thumb.

When the slider Value property changes programmatically, the callback does not execute.

Example: @myfunc

Example: {@myfunc, x}

Location and size of the slider excluding tick marks and labels, specified as the vector [left bottom width height]. This table describes each element in the vector.

ElementDescription
leftDistance from the inner left edge of the parent container to the outer left edge of the slider
bottomDistance from the inner bottom edge of the parent container to the outer bottom edge of the slider
widthDistance between the right and left outer edges of the slider
heightDistance between the top and bottom outer edges of the slider

All measurements are in pixel units.

You cannot change the height of a slider when the Orientation property value is 'horizontal'. Similarly, you cannot change the width of a slider when the Orientation property value is 'vertical'.

    Note:   The Position values are relative to the drawable area of the parent container component (UI figure, button group, panel, or tab). The drawable area of a container component is the area inside its borders, excluding the title bar.

Example: [100 200 60 60]

Examples

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fig = uifigure;
sld = uislider(fig);

Create a uifigure window containing a panel. Create a slider and specify its position within the panel.

fig = uifigure;
pnl = uipanel(fig);
sld = uislider(pnl,'Position',[50 50 150 3]);

Create a slider. Set the Value property to 50.

fig = uifigure;
sld = uislider(fig,'Value',50);

Determine the current slider limits.

limits = sld.Limits
limits =

     0   100

Change the slider limits and set the value to 35.

sld.Limits = [-50 50];
sld.Value = 35;

Create a slider and a gauge. When an app user moves the slider thumb and releases the mouse button, the needle of the gauge reflects the slider value.

Save the following code to sliderValue.m on your MATLAB path.

This code creates a UI figure window containing a slider and a gauge. When an app user moves the slider thumb, the ValueChangedFcn callback for the slider updates the gauge to reflect the slider value.

function slidervalue
% Create UI figure window and components

fig = uifigure('Position',[100 100 350 275]);

cg = uigauge(fig,'Position',[100 100 120 120]);

sld = uislider(fig,...
    'Position',[100 75 120 3],...
    'ValueChangedFcn',@(sld,event) updateGauge(sld,cg));

end

% Create ValueChangedFcn callback
function updateGauge(sld,cg)
cg.Value = sld.Value;
end

Run sliderValue, and then move the slider thumb. When you release the mouse button, the circular gauge needle moves to the matching value on the gauge.

Create a slider and a gauge. As an app user moves the slider thumb, the needle of the gauge reflects the changing slider value

This code creates a UI figure window containing a slider and a gauge. As an app user moves the slider thumb, the ValueChangingFcn callback for the slider updates the gauge to reflect the slider value.

Save the following code to sliderChanging.m on your MATLAB path.

function sliderchanging
% Create UI figure window and components

fig = uifigure('Position',[100 100 350 275]);

cg = uigauge(fig,'Position',[100 100 120 120]);

sld = uislider(fig,...
               'Position',[100 75 120 3],...
               'ValueChangingFcn',@(sld,event) sliderMoving(event,cg));

end

% Create ValueChangingFcn callback
function sliderMoving(event,cg)
cg.Value = event.Value;
end

Run sliderChanging, and then move the slider. As you move the slider, the circular gauge needle moves, reflecting the slider value.

See Also

Functions

Properties

Introduced in R2016a

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