[Matplotlib-users] poly_between and time series data

[Shailesh K. <ko...@me...>]

Hello,

I am trying to fill the space below a curve where my x-axis is indexed 
by time. The matplotlib api documentation and the examples don't touch 
on this subject and I haven't had much luck trying a few different 
variations. Here's what I've tried so far, maybe someone can point out 
what I'm doing wrong.

import time
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.mlab as mlab

time_strings = [ list of times as strings ]
xs = [ date2num(time.strptime(string) for string in time_strings ]
ys = [ list of float values ]

fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax.plot_date(xs, ys)

xv, yv = mlab.poly_below(0, xs, ys)
ax.fill(xv, yv)


When I do this, I get a 'year out of range' error. If I try and fill the 
area before the call to ax.plot_date, The fill looks like a solid bar 
about the height of the max y-value.

From, looking at the posts on the mailing list it doesn't seem that I'm 
doing something terribly wrong, maybe I'm missing something subtle?

Thanks,
   - Shailesh