[Matplotlib-users] Plot to display or file in the same script?
I'm trying to make a simple utility for doing a quick check of some data (electrophysiology recordings from our fMRI scanner lab). I want it to be foolproof as much as possible, so I was trying to figure out how to write a script that would try to plot to the display, then if that didn't work, to save it to a file instead (preferably as pdf, but I could live with png if that was the only option.) I've been searching the documentation and code examples for a while, and all I can find seems to suggest that the choice of display vs. file is predetermined at the very beginning by the choice of backend. I suppose that would mean I'd have to put the whole thing inside a try block, then if that didn't work, start over from scratch with a different backend and build the plot again. I was hoping to find a way to build the plot, then just try to show it or something like that, and if that failed, then save it instead. But so far I have not been able to figure out such a thing. So I would appreciate any help! Thanks very much! -- -dave Pseudo-colored pictures of a person's brain lighting up are undoubtedly more persuasive than a pattern of squiggles produced by a polygraph. That could be a big problem if the goal is to get to the truth. -Dr. Steven Hyman, Harvard -- Special Offer-- Download ArcSight Logger for FREE (a $49 USD value)! Finally, a world-class log management solution at an even better price-free! Download using promo code Free_Logger_4_Dev2Dev. Offer expires February 28th, so secure your free ArcSight Logger TODAY! http://p.sf.net/sfu/arcsight-sfd2d ___ Matplotlib-users mailing list Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
Re: [Matplotlib-users] Plot to display or file in the same script?
On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, David Perlman dperl...@wisc.edu wrote: I'm trying to make a simple utility for doing a quick check of some data (electrophysiology recordings from our fMRI scanner lab). I want it to be foolproof as much as possible, so I was trying to figure out how to write a script that would try to plot to the display, then if that didn't work, to save it to a file instead (preferably as pdf, but I could live with png if that was the only option.) I've been searching the documentation and code examples for a while, and all I can find seems to suggest that the choice of display vs. file is predetermined at the very beginning by the choice of backend. I suppose that would mean I'd have to put the whole thing inside a try block, then if that didn't work, start over from scratch with a different backend and build the plot again. I was hoping to find a way to build the plot, then just try to show it or something like that, and if that failed, then save it instead. But so far I have not been able to figure out such a thing. So I would appreciate any help! Thanks very much! You can always put the show call in a try block and do a savefig if the show fails. I don't know where you get the idea that you have to do one or the other... Unless you are talking about the issue where the closing of a figure window would cause you to lose the figure data? In which case, you should be fine catching the show and doing the savefigg because the close event never occurred. However, you might get messy this way with a blank figure window... To be foolproof I would just always save first and then attempt to show. If the show was successful, you can delete the saved figure. Sorry for the rambling, but those are my thoughts on it. Ben Root -- Special Offer-- Download ArcSight Logger for FREE (a $49 USD value)! Finally, a world-class log management solution at an even better price-free! Download using promo code Free_Logger_4_Dev2Dev. Offer expires February 28th, so secure your free ArcSight Logger TODAY! http://p.sf.net/sfu/arcsight-sfd2d ___ Matplotlib-users mailing list Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
Re: [Matplotlib-users] Plot to display or file in the same script?
The problem is that if no display is available, the error gets raised on the
point where I try to create a new figure, long before getting to show(), so I
can't do anything at all. Here's what it looks like when I log in without a
display available:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.figure()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File stdin, line 1, in module
File
/usr/local/Python/Versions/2.6.5/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py,
line 270, in figure
**kwargs)
File
/usr/local/Python/Versions/2.6.5/lib/python2.6/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.py,
line 83, in new_figure_manager
window = Tk.Tk()
File /usr/local/Python/Versions/2.6.5/lib/python2.6/lib-tk/Tkinter.py, line
1643, in __init__
self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive,
wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable
I can do this, which is widely recommended:
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('Agg')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig=plt.figure()
fig.save_fig('test.png')
But as far as I can tell from searching, once you do this, there is no way to
display to the screen. Unless there is a very clever trick that I don't know
about... which I am asking for here... :-)
On Jan 26, 2011, at 11:16 PM, Benjamin Root wrote:
On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, David Perlman dperl...@wisc.edu wrote:
I'm trying to make a simple utility for doing a quick check of some data
(electrophysiology recordings from our fMRI scanner lab). I want it to be
foolproof as much as possible, so I was trying to figure out how to write a
script that would try to plot to the display, then if that didn't work, to
save it to a file instead (preferably as pdf, but I could live with png if
that was the only option.)
I've been searching the documentation and code examples for a while, and all
I can find seems to suggest that the choice of display vs. file is
predetermined at the very beginning by the choice of backend. I suppose
that would mean I'd have to put the whole thing inside a try block, then if
that didn't work, start over from scratch with a different backend and build
the plot again. I was hoping to find a way to build the plot, then just try
to show it or something like that, and if that failed, then save it
instead. But so far I have not been able to figure out such a thing. So I
would appreciate any help! Thanks very much!
You can always put the show call in a try block and do a savefig if
the show fails. I don't know where you get the idea that you have to
do one or the other...
Unless you are talking about the issue where the closing of a figure
window would cause you to lose the figure data? In which case, you
should be fine catching the show and doing the savefigg because the
close event never occurred. However, you might get messy this way with
a blank figure window...
To be foolproof I would just always save first and then attempt to
show. If the show was successful, you can delete the saved figure.
Sorry for the rambling, but those are my thoughts on it.
Ben Root
--
-dave
Pseudo-colored pictures of a person's brain lighting up are
undoubtedly more persuasive than a pattern of squiggles produced by a
polygraph. That could be a big problem if the goal is to get to the
truth. -Dr. Steven Hyman, Harvard
--
Special Offer-- Download ArcSight Logger for FREE (a $49 USD value)!
Finally, a world-class log management solution at an even better price-free!
Download using promo code Free_Logger_4_Dev2Dev. Offer expires
February 28th, so secure your free ArcSight Logger TODAY!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/arcsight-sfd2d
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