matplotlib-devel Mailing List for matplotlib

Paul Kienzle wrote:
> On Mar 12, 2009, at 9:49 AM, Michael Droettboom wrote:
>
>   
>> We've done some experiments with Enthought Traits at various times to
>> address this issue.  There were always various obstacles to making it
>> work, but it may be worth another look.  Traits has its nice auto- 
>> built
>> property editors (that may address your request), but it would also
>> address one of my long-standing niggles that properties of graphs are
>> often checked far too late and the error messages presented to the  
>> user
>> are very obscured because of it.
>>
>> Of course, all that is a major undertaking -- basically rewriting all
>> the getters and setters on the artist classes to use traits -- but I
>> could see it having quite the payoff in the end.
>>
>>     
>
> I'm not sure if traits can do it.
>   
Why not? Everything you describe below screams "traits" to me.
> I would like to see CSS-like properties, so that when I change the  
> font size on the graph, the title, which is size +2, and the legend  
> which is size -1 also get updated.  I can imagine changing the font  
> for an axes, for a figure or for all figures.  The latter should be  
> stored in a resource file so it doesn't have to be done every  
> session.  Properties which are not set should look up their values  
> elsewhere; if the property of some object has been specialized, then  
> it should not change when the figure properties are set. Properties  
> for printed figures may be different from properties of figures on  
> the screen, e.g., because the printer is monochrome.
>
> Eventually I would like interactive editing of properties by point  
> and click.  Particularly for plotted data the question will be  
> whether the change applies to the data point only, to its line, or to  
> all lines on the graph, to all graphs on the figure, or to all  
> figures, depending on the property.  Doing this without cluttering  
> the UI will be a challenge.
>   

On Mar 12, 2009, at 9:49 AM, Michael Droettboom wrote:

> We've done some experiments with Enthought Traits at various times to
> address this issue.  There were always various obstacles to making it
> work, but it may be worth another look.  Traits has its nice auto- 
> built
> property editors (that may address your request), but it would also
> address one of my long-standing niggles that properties of graphs are
> often checked far too late and the error messages presented to the  
> user
> are very obscured because of it.
>
> Of course, all that is a major undertaking -- basically rewriting all
> the getters and setters on the artist classes to use traits -- but I
> could see it having quite the payoff in the end.
>

I'm not sure if traits can do it.

I would like to see CSS-like properties, so that when I change the  
font size on the graph, the title, which is size +2, and the legend  
which is size -1 also get updated.  I can imagine changing the font  
for an axes, for a figure or for all figures.  The latter should be  
stored in a resource file so it doesn't have to be done every  
session.  Properties which are not set should look up their values  
elsewhere; if the property of some object has been specialized, then  
it should not change when the figure properties are set. Properties  
for printed figures may be different from properties of figures on  
the screen, e.g., because the printer is monochrome.

Eventually I would like interactive editing of properties by point  
and click.  Particularly for plotted data the question will be  
whether the change applies to the data point only, to its line, or to  
all lines on the graph, to all graphs on the figure, or to all  
figures, depending on the property.  Doing this without cluttering  
the UI will be a challenge.

- Paul

We've done some experiments with Enthought Traits at various times to 
address this issue.  There were always various obstacles to making it 
work, but it may be worth another look.  Traits has its nice auto-built 
property editors (that may address your request), but it would also 
address one of my long-standing niggles that properties of graphs are 
often checked far too late and the error messages presented to the user 
are very obscured because of it.

Of course, all that is a major undertaking -- basically rewriting all 
the getters and setters on the artist classes to use traits -- but I 
could see it having quite the payoff in the end.

Mike

João Luís Silva wrote:
> Paul Kienzle wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> What's the status of interactive property editors for mpl graphs?
>>
>> I would like something that would allow me to change properties such  
>> as the size and position of the graph, grids, scales, ranges, colors,  
>> symbols, line styles, fonts, etc., and add annotations.  Some of this  
>> already exists, but allowing users to enter specific values will need  
>> an underlying widget toolkit.
>>
>> Does anybody have anything that I can build on for wx?
>>
>>     
>
> I though about making such a program but concluded it would be a major 
> undertaking. I considered using GTK because that's what I use, but 
> otherwise any toolkit will do. I still have some major unresolved design 
> issues to implement such an application:
>
> - How would the state of the editor be saved? In a new file type (in 
> json for example)? Is there any standard format for this? If it was 
> feasible I'd like to import and export small python scripts, but the 
> import capabilities seem unlikely.
>
> - Mpl is very flexible (just look at the gallery). Would the editor be 
> limited to a subset of the capabilities or the objective would be to 
> take mpl to the limit? Including subplots? and heterogeneous graphics? 
> The interface could get very complex very quickly indeed.
>
> - I seem to recall an open source graphics application along these 
> lines, but can't remember its name (maybe SciGraphica).
>
> If someone is working on such a thing, or if you want to make one I 
> could tinker a bit, but I really don't have enough time to start a major 
> application. BTW I'm not a mpl developer, just a satisfied user :)
>
> Regards,
> João Silva
>
>
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-- 
Michael Droettboom
Science Software Branch
Operations and Engineering Division
Space Telescope Science Institute
Operated by AURA for NASA

Paul Kienzle wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> What's the status of interactive property editors for mpl graphs?
> 
> I would like something that would allow me to change properties such  
> as the size and position of the graph, grids, scales, ranges, colors,  
> symbols, line styles, fonts, etc., and add annotations.  Some of this  
> already exists, but allowing users to enter specific values will need  
> an underlying widget toolkit.
> 
> Does anybody have anything that I can build on for wx?
> 

I though about making such a program but concluded it would be a major 
undertaking. I considered using GTK because that's what I use, but 
otherwise any toolkit will do. I still have some major unresolved design 
issues to implement such an application:

- How would the state of the editor be saved? In a new file type (in 
json for example)? Is there any standard format for this? If it was 
feasible I'd like to import and export small python scripts, but the 
import capabilities seem unlikely.

- Mpl is very flexible (just look at the gallery). Would the editor be 
limited to a subset of the capabilities or the objective would be to 
take mpl to the limit? Including subplots? and heterogeneous graphics? 
The interface could get very complex very quickly indeed.

- I seem to recall an open source graphics application along these 
lines, but can't remember its name (maybe SciGraphica).

If someone is working on such a thing, or if you want to make one I 
could tinker a bit, but I really don't have enough time to start a major 
application. BTW I'm not a mpl developer, just a satisfied user :)

Regards,
João Silva