How do I change the pointer property on a UI Figure?

I have an appdesigner gui in Matlab 2018b that has a callback for a listbox that plots a set of data on a set of axes adjacent to it. The callback calls a function and I want to change the pointer properties such that upon the clicking of a new data set, it changes the mouse to watch.

I tried

set(gcf, 'Pointer', 'watch');

And that creates a new figure, which is not the functionality I want.

I tried:

set(myUIHandle, 'Pointer', 'watch');

That didn't work either saying UIFigures have no such property

I also tried iptPointerManager to no avail.

Is there no current solution for this in the current version of matlab? Are there no workarounds to this?

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

As of r2019b the Pointer functionality is not supported for UIFigures. However, you'll notice that there is a Pointer property for UIFigures and it does not throw an error when the pointer is set to 'arrow' which is the default and only accepted value.

app.UIFigure.Pointer = 'arrow';

This suggests that pointer options may be coming as App Designer features continue to be rolled out.

See this list for additional unsupported functionality in App Designer.

update: Now supported in r2020a

Pointer control is now supported in UIFigures and Apps as of r2020a.

See this community highlight to learn how to

1. Change the default pointer for a uifigure or app
2. Change the pointer dynamically when it meets certain conditions
3. Create your own pointer symbol

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/discussions/highlights/132556-new-in-r2020a-mouse-pointer-control-in-apps-uifigures

[Davi Carvalho]

Hello, is it possible to do the opposite to what the OP asked and keep Matlab from changing the cursor automatically?

For example, every time the user gets closer to a point drawn with the drawpoint() function, the pointer changes to 'fleur', I'd like to keep it as 'arrow' at all times, can it be done?

[Adam Danz]

Yes it's possible. I show how to do that in this answer .