--- a/scripts/plot/patch.m	Sat Oct 08 12:37:34 2011 -0700
+++ b/scripts/plot/patch.m	Sat Oct 08 17:34:15 2011 -0400
@@ -152,6 +152,56 @@
 %!       'FaceVertexCData', jet(5), 'FaceColor', 'interp')
 %! view (-37.5, 30)
 
+%!demo
+%! clf
+%! colormap (jet)
+%! x = [0 1 1 0];
+%! y = [0 0 1 1];
+%! subplot (2, 1, 1)
+%! title ("Blue, Light-Green, and Red Horizontal Bars")
+%! patch (x, y + 0, 1);
+%! patch (x, y + 1, 2);
+%! patch (x, y + 2, 3);
+%! subplot (2, 1, 2)
+%! title ("Blue, Light-Green, and Red Vertical Bars")
+%! patch (x + 0, y, 1 * ones (size (x)));
+%! patch (x + 1, y, 2 * ones (size (x)));
+%! patch (x + 2, y, 3 * ones (size (x)));
+
+%!demo
+%! clf
+%! colormap (jet)
+%! x = [0 1 1 0];
+%! y = [0 0 1 1];
+%! subplot (2, 1, 1)
+%! title ("Blue horizontal bars: Dark to Light")
+%! patch (x, y + 0, 1, "cdatamapping", "direct");
+%! patch (x, y + 1, 9, "cdatamapping", "direct");
+%! patch (x, y + 2, 17, "cdatamapping", "direct");
+%! subplot (2, 1, 2)
+%! title ("Blue vertical bars: Dark to Light")
+%! patch (x + 0, y, 1 * ones (size (x)), "cdatamapping", "direct");
+%! patch (x + 1, y, 9 * ones (size (x)), "cdatamapping", "direct");
+%! patch (x + 2, y, 17 * ones (size (x)), "cdatamapping", "direct");
+
+%!demo
+%! clf;
+%! colormap (jet);
+%! x = [ 0 0; 1 1; 1 0 ];
+%! y = [ 0 0; 0 1; 1 1 ];
+%! p = patch (x, y, "facecolor", "b");
+%! title ("Two blue triangles")
+%! set (p, "cdatamapping", "direct", "facecolor", "flat", "cdata", [1 32])
+%! title ("Direct mapping of colors: Light-Green UL and Blue LR triangles")
+
+%!demo
+%! clf;
+%! colormap (jet);
+%! x = [ 0 0; 1 1; 1 0 ];
+%! y = [ 0 0; 0 1; 1 1 ];
+%! p = patch (x, y, [1 32]);
+%! title ("Autoscaling of colors: Red UL and Blue LR triangles")
+
 %!test
 %! hf = figure ("visible", "off");
 %! unwind_protect
@@ -183,4 +233,4 @@
 %!   assert (get (gca, "clim"), [c, 2 * c]);
 %! unwind_protect_cleanup
 %!   close (hf);
-%! end_unwind_protect
\ No newline at end of file
+%! end_unwind_protect

--- a/scripts/plot/private/__go_draw_axes__.m	Sat Oct 08 12:37:34 2011 -0700
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__go_draw_axes__.m	Sat Oct 08 17:34:15 2011 -0400
@@ -699,8 +699,12 @@
                      elseif (nd == 3 && numel (xcol) == 3)
                        ccdat = ccol * ones (3,1);
                      else
-                       r = 1 + round ((size (cmap, 1) - 1)
-                                      * (ccol - clim(1))/(clim(2) - clim(1)));
+                       if (cdatadirect)
+                         r = round (ccol);
+                       else
+                         r = 1 + round ((size (cmap, 1) - 1)
+                                        * (ccol - clim(1))/(clim(2) - clim(1)));
+                       endif
                        r = max (1, min (r, size (cmap, 1)));
                        color = cmap(r, :);
                      endif
@@ -716,10 +720,17 @@
                          ccdat = ccdat(:);
                        endif
                      else
-                       warning ("\"interp\" not supported, using 1st entry of cdata");
-                       r = 1 + round ((size (cmap, 1) - 1) * ccol(1));
+                       if (sum (diff (ccol)))
+                         warning ("\"interp\" not supported, using 1st entry of cdata");
+                       endif
+                       if (cdatadirect)
+                         r = round (ccol);
+                       else
+                         r = 1 + round ((size (cmap, 1) - 1)
+                                        * (ccol - clim(1))/(clim(2) - clim(1)));
+                       endif
                        r = max (1, min (r, size (cmap, 1)));
-                       color = cmap(r,:);
+                       color = cmap(r(1),:);
                      endif
                    endif
                  elseif (isnumeric (obj.facecolor))

--- a/scripts/plot/private/__patch__.m	Sat Oct 08 12:37:34 2011 -0700
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__patch__.m	Sat Oct 08 17:34:15 2011 -0400
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@
 
   failed = false;
 
+  is_numeric_arg = cellfun (@isnumeric, varargin);
+
   if (isempty (varargin))
     args = {"xdata", [0; 1; 1], "ydata", [0; 0; 1], "facecolor", "blue"};
     args = setvertexdata (args);
@@ -51,26 +53,47 @@
     else
       failed = true;
     endif
-  elseif (isnumeric (varargin{1}))
-    if (nargin < 3 || ! isnumeric (varargin{2}))
+  elseif (is_numeric_arg(1))
+    if (nargin < 3 || ! is_numeric_arg(2))
       failed = true;
     else
-      x = varargin{1};
-      y = varargin{2};
-      iarg = 3;
 
-      if (nargin > 3 && ndims (varargin{3}) == 2 && ndims (x) == 2
-          && size_equal(x, varargin{3}) && !ischar(varargin{3}))
+      if (nargin > 4 && all (is_numeric_arg(1:4)))
+        x = varargin{1};
+        y = varargin{2};
         z = varargin{3};
-        iarg++;
-      else
+        c = varargin{4};
+        iarg = 5;
+      elseif (nargin > 3 && all (is_numeric_arg(1:3)))
+        x = varargin{1};
+        y = varargin{2};
         z = [];
+        c = varargin{3};
+        iarg = 4;
+      elseif (nargin > 2 && all (is_numeric_arg(1:2)))
+        x = varargin{1};
+        y = varargin{2};
+        z = [];
+        iarg = 3;
+        if (rem (nargin - iarg, 2) == 1)
+          c = varargin {iarg};
+          iarg++; 
+        else
+          c = [];
+        endif
       endif
 
       if (isvector (x))
         x = x(:);
         y = y(:);
         z = z(:);
+        if (isnumeric (c))
+          if (isvector (c) && numel (c) == numel (x))
+            c = c(:);
+          elseif (size (c, 1) != numel (x) && size (c, 2) == numel (x))
+            c = c.';
+          endif
+        endif
       endif
       args{1} = "xdata";
       args{2} = x;
@@ -79,9 +102,7 @@
       args{5} = "zdata";
       args{6} = z;
 
-      if (isnumeric (varargin{iarg}))
-        c = varargin{iarg};
-        iarg++;
+      if (isnumeric (c))
 
         if (ndims (c) == 3 && size (c, 2) == 1)
           c = permute (c, [1, 3, 2]);
@@ -108,23 +129,31 @@
           args{10} = c;
         else
           ## Color Vectors
-          if (rows (c) != rows (x) || rows (c) != length (y))
-            error ("patch: size of x, y, and c must be equal");
-          else
+          if (isempty (c))
             args{7} = "facecolor";
             args{8} = "interp";
             args{9} = "cdata";
             args{10} = [];
+          else
+            if (rows (c) != rows (x) || rows (c) != length (y))
+              error ("patch: size of x, y, and c must be equal");
+            elseif (rows (c) == rows (x) && rows (c) == rows (y))
+              args{7} = "facecolor";
+              args{8} = "interp";
+              args{9} = "cdata";
+              args{10} = c;
+            else
+              error ("patch: color value not valid");
+            endif
           endif
         endif
-      elseif (ischar (varargin{iarg}) && rem (nargin - iarg, 2) != 0)
+      elseif (ischar (c) && rem (nargin - iarg, 2) == 0)
         ## Assume that any additional argument over an even number is
         ## color string.
         args{7} = "facecolor";
-        args{8} =  tolower (varargin{iarg});
+        args{8} =  tolower (c);
         args{9} = "cdata";
         args{10} = [];
-        iarg++;
       else
         args{7} = "facecolor";
         args{8} = [0, 1, 0];
@@ -288,6 +317,8 @@
 
   if (ndims (c) == 3)
     fvc = reshape (c, size (c, 1) * size (c, 2), size(c, 3));
+  elseif (isvector (c))
+    fvc = c(:);
   else
     fvc = c.';
   endif