Why does MatLab subbornly enforces an accessible A4 format width of 17.197916666666664 cm (not 21 cm)???

hello,

here is what appears to be a stupid assumption of MatLab, about what are the capabilities of your printer with respect to its minimum margin capabilities :

try this one:

F= figure;
    h = gcf ;  % current figure handle
	h.Units = 'centimeters';
	h.PaperType= 'A4';
	h.PaperUnits = 'centimeters';
	h.PaperOrientation= 'landscape'; % 'portrait';
	h.PaperPositionMode= 'manual'; % 'auto';
	h.Position = [0 0 29.7 21.0 ]; 
	h.PaperSize =  [29.7 21.0]; 

now, type on the command line:

>> h.position

ans = 0 0 29.7000 17.1979

From the property inspector the last number is actually 17.197916666666664 cm

or differently just type:

    sprintf('Obtained Width = %20.18f cm ...',h.Position(4))

So it looks that Matlab enforces what it believes is an "Grand Universal Value for Accessible Margins for all Existing Printers in the World"...;

>>> 17.197916666666664 cm: How clever from MatLab indeed !

>>> Or it is a bug that the MatLab team is unable to correct ?

A new acronym should be defined for MatLab: WatYouGetIsNotWhatYouWant

:-(

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

What is the value of the figure's PaperPosition property? The purpose of that property is to specify the "Figure size and location on page when printing or saving, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]." as opposed to the Position property which controls "Location and size of the drawable area, specified as a vector of the form [left bottom width height]. This area excludes the figure borders, title bar, menu bar, and tool bars."

Answer 2

[francois heslot]

Hello Steven,

Along your suggestion,

I did set

h.PaperPosition = [0 0 29.7 21]

now I get a closer value, but still missing the exact mark.

h.Position 

ans =

         0         0   29.6968   20.9550

• Any idea of why this is not 29.7000 X 21.0000 cm ? arn't we talking of parameters whose values are stored as 'double' ?
• If I WANT to get the whole 21 X29.7 cm paper as drawable area, and get 20.00 cm in MatLab correspond to 20.00 cm on paper, what is the way to go ? ( I do *not* want an automatic inclusion of "figure borders, title bar, menu bar, and tool bars"s)

thanks,