[Matplotlib-users] Consistent cross-platform plotting

[Matt F. <fa...@ea...>]

I cannot seem to get consistent plotting behavior across platforms  
without using a kludgy work-around.

I have a python library that produces plots using matplotlib. A user  
of this library would call several high-level functions that happen  
to also produce plots, e.g.,

Metric1_compare(a,b)
Metric2_compare(a,b)
Metric2_compare(b,c)

Each of the above functions calls show(), producing a plot (three  
total). On Linux (with GTKAgg? -- the default for Fedora 6), this  
works as expected. Closing the first plot causes the second to be  
produced, and so forth.

On MacOS usng MacPython 2.5.1 and the latest SciPy Superpack (with  
TkAgg or WXAgg) this does not work. The first function calls show(),  
which evidently turns on interactive mode and then turns the  
execution over to the GUI. After the first plot is closed this  
results in the other 2 plots being drawn interactively and then  
closed immediately.

 From the FAQ, it seems that the desired behavior would be obtained  
via Metric* each calling draw(), and then the user's script should  
call show() after all calls to Metric*. This seems very unclean to me.

Without going through all of the hassle of compiling the requirements  
for GTKAgg on the Mac, is it possible to obtain the same behavior on  
both platforms?


Thanks,
Matt