Re: [Matplotlib-users] Runtime customization of plots

[Gökhan S. <gok...@gm...>]

On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 5:57 PM, Andrea Gavana <and...@gm...>wrote:

> Hi All,
>
>    I believe this question has been already asked in the past (I
> found something at
> http://old.nabble.com/A-good,-interactive-plotting-package-td15396445.html
> ).
>
> I use matplotlib extensively in our applications, and some of my users
> repetitively asked for a way to customize *in runtime* the plots my
> apps generate. I.e., the app brings up a figure with a bunch of lines,
> points and texts, and they would like to change this linewidth, the
> colour of that point, the appearance of an axis, the legend keys and
> so on. I am currently answering "it can't be done at the moment" :-D.
> It is obviously not true, it just require some (a lot, maybe) work.
>
> Now, I know nothing about the other backends, but I know something
> about wx and I believe it is doable. Obviously, if my job was software
> programming and not reservoir engineering I would already have given
> it a try, but unfortunately we only get 24 hours per day...
>
> I don't think anything like this already exists, but it's an innocent
> question and I hope I won't be kicked for asking :-D . If someone
> knows about a possible/existing implementation, or even a start of an
> implementation, please let me know.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Andrea.
>
> "Imagination Is The Only Weapon In The War Against Reality."
> http://xoomer.alice.it/infinity77/
> http://thedoomedcity.blogspot.com/
>
>
Hello,

I can list three ways to interact with active plots:

1-)  Using keyboard shortcuts: Changing scaling  using "k" and "l" keys are
my favorite. See more at
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/users/navigation_toolbar.html

2-) Using the interactive navigation toolbar and with a small extension
written by Pierre Raybaut (on Qt4Agg backend) For a screenshot see
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9210/mplqtextra.png
This is open to development. Actually many of the command line mpl interface
could be integrated into that window.

3-) Directly from within IPython shell. That's another useful way of
updating figure properties (e.g. adding labels, changing font) IPython and
matplotlib are very well integrated in that manner. Similarly, Mayavi does a
great job of integrating shell and UI.


-- 
Gökhan