MATLAB GUI: Tracking mouse locations

In the first part of the series, we will create a simple GUI that will show the current position of the mouse on the GUI.

Step-by-step guide:

1. Create new GUI using MATLAB GUIDE, save file as gui_mouse
2. Create two static text fields and configure them as fellow
1. rename tags to lbl_x and lbl_y
2. set strings to 'x loc:' and 'y loc:'
3. set FontSize to 18, and resize components 
3. Configure figure property (double-click on figure)
1. rename tag to fig_mouse
2. change unit to pixels
3. click on callback for WindowButtonMotionFcn and insert the following code
pos = get(hObject, 'currentpoint'); % get mouse location on figure
x = pos(1); y = pos(2); % assign locations to x and y
set(handles.lbl_x, 'string', ['x loc:' num2str(x)]); % update text for x loc
set(handles.lbl_y, 'string', ['y loc:' num2str(y)]); % update text for y loc 


4. Save all files and run the GUI or M-file.

Note: anytime the mouse is moved over the GUI, it will trigger the WindowButtonMotionFcn on the figure, which will then update the labels with the current location of the mouse pointer on the figure. 

Video:




Files:

Download source files here.