How do I get the properties of annotation objects in the current figure?

I created some annotation objects such as text boxes and arrows in a figure. I would like to obtain the strings entered in the text boxes.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

To obtain the properties and values of annotation objects in the current figure, search the figure using the FINDALL function to locate hggroup objects that are children of the annotation object parent axes. The following code provides an example:

close all

clear all

% Create some annotations

annotation('textbox',[0.5 0.5 0.1 0.1],'string','hello world');

annotation('textbox',[0.7 0.9 0.1 0.1],'string','hello world1');

annotation('textbox',[0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1],'string','hello world2');

annotation('line',[0.2 0.2],[0.8 0.3]);

fig = gcf;

% Return the axes that contains the annotation objects

ax = findall(fig, 'Type', 'axes', 'Tag', 'scribeOverlay');

% Find the Children with type hggroup

annotation_handles = findall(get(ax,'Children'),'Type','hggroup');

ss = size(annotation_handles);

j = max(ss);

% In a loop, determine if the annotations are of textbox type

for i = 1:j

     hh = get(annotation_handles(i));

     % Check if the object has a 'String' property

     if(isfield(hh,'String'))

     text_string{i} = get(annotation_handles(i),'string');

     else i = i+1;

     end

end

% Display the strings in the annotation textboxes

text_string

It is important to note that all annotation objects are of type 'hggroup' and hence based on the type you cannot determine whether it is a textbox or a line. Hence, you will need to find if the 'String' property exists in the handle structure of the annotation object.