Defaulting to matplotlib ticking behavior

holoviews/plotting/mpl/chart.py

@@ -291,11 +291,13 @@ def _compute_ticks(self, view, edges, widths, lims):
         Compute the ticks either as cyclic values in degrees or as roughly
         evenly spaced bin centers.
         """
+        if self.xticks is None:
+            return None
         if self.cyclic:
             x0, x1, _, _ = lims
             xvals = np.linspace(x0, x1, self.xticks)
             labels = ["%.0f" % np.rad2deg(x) + '\N{DEGREE SIGN}' for x in xvals]
-        else:
+        elif self.xticks:
             dim = view.get_dimension(0)
             inds = np.linspace(0, len(edges)-1, self.xticks, dtype=np.int)
             xvals = [edges[i] for i in inds]

holoviews/plotting/mpl/element.py

@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ class ElementPlot(GenericElementPlot, MPLPlot):
     zaxis = param.Boolean(default=True, doc="""
         Whether to display the z-axis.""")
 
-    xticks = param.Integer(default=5, doc="""
+    xticks = param.Parameter(default=None, doc="""
         Number of ticks along the x-axis.""")
 
     xticker = param.ClassSelector(default=None, class_=ticker.Locator, doc="""
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ class ElementPlot(GenericElementPlot, MPLPlot):
     xrotation = param.Integer(default=0, bounds=(0, 360), doc="""
         Rotation angle of the xticks.""")
 
-    yticks = param.Integer(default=5, doc="""
+    yticks = param.Parameter(default=None, doc="""
         Number of ticks along the y-axis.""")
 
     yticker = param.ClassSelector(default=None, class_=ticker.Locator, doc="""
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ class ElementPlot(GenericElementPlot, MPLPlot):
     zrotation = param.Integer(default=0, bounds=(0, 360), doc="""
         Rotation angle of the xticks.""")
 
-    zticks = param.Integer(default=5, doc="""
+    zticks = param.Parameter(default=None, doc="""
         Number of ticks along the z-axis.""")
 
     zticker = param.ClassSelector(default=None, class_=ticker.Locator, doc="""
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ def _finalize_ticks(self, axis, xticks, yticks, zticks):
             log_locator = ticker.LogLocator(numticks=self.xticks,
                                             subs=range(1,10))
             axis.xaxis.set_major_locator(log_locator)
-        elif self.xticks:
+        elif self.xticks is not None:
             axis.xaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.MaxNLocator(self.xticks))
 
         for tick in axis.get_xticklabels():
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ def _finalize_ticks(self, axis, xticks, yticks, zticks):
             log_locator = ticker.LogLocator(numticks=self.yticks,
                                             subs=range(1,10))
             axis.yaxis.set_major_locator(log_locator)
-        elif self.yticks:
+        elif self.yticks is not None:
             axis.yaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.MaxNLocator(self.yticks))
 
         if not self.projection == '3d':
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ def _finalize_ticks(self, axis, xticks, yticks, zticks):
             log_locator = ticker.LogLocator(numticks=self.zticks,
                                             subs=range(1,10))
             axis.zaxis.set_major_locator(log_locator)
-        else:
+        elif self.zticks is not None:
             axis.zaxis.set_major_locator(ticker.MaxNLocator(self.zticks))
 
         if self.projection == '3d':

holoviews/plotting/mpl/pandas.py

@@ -51,10 +51,10 @@ class DFrameViewPlot(ElementPlot):
                                          'hist_kwds', 'density_kwds'],
                       'autocorrelation': ['kwds']}
 
-    xticks = param.Number(default=0, doc="""
+    xticks = param.Number(default=None, doc="""
         By default we don't mess with Pandas based tickmarks""")
 
-    yticks = param.Number(default=0, doc="""
+    yticks = param.Number(default=None, doc="""
         By default we don't mess with Pandas based tickmarks""")
 
     style_opts = list({opt for opts in dframe_options.values() for opt in opts})