[matplotlib-devel] Timers independent of canvases

[Michiel de H. <mjl...@ya...>]

Dear all,

The animation code in matplotlib relies on timers to update the animated figures. Currently a new timer is created by calling new_timer on a canvas, as in

>>> f = pylab.figure()
>>> timer = f.canvas.new_timer()

This seems a bit of a wrinkle. For example, you may want to associate a timer with multiple figures, or with no figure at all; also you may want to continue using a timer after a particular figure is closed.

I would therefore propose to make timers independent of canvases. Something like this:

>>> from matplotlib import events
>>> timer = events.Timer()

This has the additional advantage of making the different backends more similar to each other; in the current implementation some backends rely on the canvas when making a timer, while others ignore it.

I have made a branch on github that does exactly this; see
https://github.com/mdehoon/matplotlib/tree/Timer
I have verified that the animation examples still work correctly with all backends.

Any comments/suggestions/criticisms? If this seems a good idea, I can make a pull request.

Best,
-Michiel.