axisartist incompatible with autofmt_xdate

[ukch]

Compare the results of the following two code samples:

from pylab import *

fig = figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax.bar(range(3), [10, 20, 30])
ax.set_xticks(range(3))
ax.set_xticklabels(["supercalifragilisticexpialidocious",
                    "eventhoughthesoundofitissomethingquiteatrocious",
                    "ifyousayitloudenoughyouresuretosoundprecocious"])
fig.autofmt_xdate()
show()

from pylab import *
import mpl_toolkits.axisartist as AA

fig = figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(AA.Subplot(fig, 111))
ax.bar(range(3), [10, 20, 30])
ax.set_xticks(range(3))
ax.set_xticklabels(["supercalifragilisticexpialidocious",
                    "eventhoughthesoundofitissomethingquiteatrocious",
                    "ifyousayitloudenoughyouresuretosoundprecocious"])
fig.autofmt_xdate()
show()

(The only difference between the samples is that the second one is using mpl_toolkits.axisartist)

The first example formats the tick labels so that they appear diagonally and thus do not overlap each other. The second does not.

I noticed on the AxisGrid page (http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid/index.html) the following message:

axes_grid and axisartist (but not axes_grid1) uses a custom Axes class (derived from the mpl’s original Axes class). As a side effect, some commands (mostly tick-related) do not work. Use axes_grid1 to avoid this, or see how things are different in axes_grid and axisartist (LINK needed)

Although this describes a problem simoilar to the one I'm seeing, it is not very helpful as it does not suggest any alternatives. (For the record, I am using axisartist so that I can configure the shape/colour of the axis border)

[WeatherGod]

autofmt_xdate() is a beast of its own and has plagued us for quite awhile. The issue that is raised in the axes_grid docs is only tangentally related to the issue you are facing here, I think. See pull #1. As far as I know, no change was ever made, but who knows with all of the massive merges caused by the py3k stuff.

[leejjoon]

Basically, what "autofmt_xdate" does is to adjust the horizontal-alignment and rotation of texts.
So, here is a workaround you may use.

def axisartist_autofmt_xdate(ax):
    ax.axis["bottom"].major_ticklabels.set_rotation(30)
    ax.axis["bottom"].major_ticklabels.set_ha("right")

axisartist_autofmt_xdate(ax)

With v1.1 of matplotlib, you may optionally do after above

tight_layout()

[ukch]

Thanks. That seems to work. I am using it in combination with figure.subplots_adjust(bottom=0.2) to achieve similar results.

[efiring]

@leejjoon, does this issue need to stay open?

[leejjoon]

I believe we can close it.