Plotted a graph, want to specify label position relative to node

I plotted a graph, but the node labels sometimes collide:

A=ceil(10*rand(30));                                        
A=triu(A,1)+triu(A,1)';                                     
NodeLabels = arrayfun( @(x)sprintf('x%010u',x) , 1:30 , ... 
                       'Uniform',false);                    
GportDist = graph( A , NodeLabels );                        
ax=plot( GportDist, 'Layout','force' , ...                  
   'WeightEffect','direct' , 'Interpreter','none');         

I haven't found a way to specify the label position relative to the node, e.g., North, NorthEast, South, etc.

Is there a way to specify label positions relative to nodes?

I am using Matlab 2019a.

[dpb]

You can try varying the 'HorizontalAlignment', 'VerticalAlignment' and perhaps the 'Rotation' properties...

[FM]

Hi, dpb....how does one access those properties? They don't show from issuing "ax". Issuing "ax" at the commad line shows the axis properties and there is an option to "Show all properties", but those properties don't appear in the resulting bigger list.

In the figure itself, I also clicked the button for "Open Property Inspector", but the only labels properties pertain to tick labels. This is also the only context for labels that I can find from an internet search.

Answer 1

[Chunru]

One workaround is to delete the NodeLabel and use text (and then you can control the position):

ax.NodeLabel={};
htext = text(ax.XData, ax.YData, NodeLabels, 'HorizontalAlignment', 'center');

[FM]

Thanks, Chunru. That works perfectly. Each text object in the htext array has it's own set of properties, including 'VerticalAlignment'. I found the following two pages educational:

1. https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/text.html
2. https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/matlab.graphics.primitive.text-properties.html