Merge pull request #407 from NCAR/box2_with_set_spine_visibility

box_2 with Viz function set_tick_direction_spine_visibility

Gallery/Boxplots/NCL_box_2.py

@@ -31,6 +31,67 @@
 for a in range(len(data)):
     data[a] = [x - 4 for x in data[a]]
 
+###############################################################################
+# Helper function that will be released in GeoCAT-Viz. Delete this block after release.
+
+
+def set_tick_direction_spine_visibility(ax,
+                                        tick_direction='out',
+                                        top_spine_visible=True,
+                                        bottom_spine_visible=True,
+                                        left_spine_visible=True,
+                                        right_spine_visible=True):
+    """Utility function to turn off axes spines and set tickmark orientations.
+
+    Note: This function should be called after calling add_major_minor_ticks()
+
+    Args:
+
+        ax (:class:`matplotlib.axes._subplots.AxesSubplot` or :class:`cartopy.mpl.geoaxes.GeoAxesSubplot`):
+            Current axes to the current figure
+
+        tick_direction (:class:`str`):
+            Set 'in' to put ticks inside the axes,
+            'out' to put ticks outside the axes,
+            'inout' to put ticks both in and out of the axes.
+
+        top_spine_visible (:class:`bool`):
+            Set False to turn off top spine of the axes.
+
+        bottom_spine_visible (:class:`bool`):
+            Set False to turn off bottom spine of the axes.
+
+        left_spine_visible (:class:`bool`):
+            Set False to turn off left spine of the axes.
+
+        right_spine_visible (:class:`bool`):
+            Set False to turn off right spine.
+    """
+    ax.tick_params(direction=tick_direction, axis='both', which='both')
+    ax.spines['top'].set_visible(top_spine_visible)
+    ax.spines['bottom'].set_visible(bottom_spine_visible)
+    ax.spines['left'].set_visible(left_spine_visible)
+    ax.spines['right'].set_visible(right_spine_visible)
+
+    if top_spine_visible and bottom_spine_visible:
+        ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('default')
+    elif bottom_spine_visible and not top_spine_visible:
+        ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom')
+    elif top_spine_visible and not bottom_spine_visible:
+        ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('top')
+    else:
+        ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('none')
+
+    if left_spine_visible and right_spine_visible:
+        ax.yaxis.set_ticks_position('default')
+    elif not right_spine_visible and left_spine_visible:
+        ax.yaxis.set_ticks_position('left')
+    elif not left_spine_visible and right_spine_visible:
+        ax.yaxis.set_ticks_position('right')
+    else:
+        ax.yaxis.set_ticks_position('none')
+
+
 ###############################################################################
 # Helper function to set edge color of boxes
 
@@ -66,10 +127,6 @@ def setBoxColor(boxplot, colors):
 # Set boxplot edge colors
 setBoxColor(boxplots, ['blue', 'red', '#66FF00'])
 
-# Remove axis lines on top and right sides
-ax.spines['right'].set_visible(False)
-ax.spines['top'].set_visible(False)
-
 # Use geocat.viz.util convenience function to set axes tick values
 gv.set_axes_limits_and_ticks(ax, ylim=(-6.0, 8.5), yticks=[-3.0, 0.0, 3.0, 6.0])
 
@@ -82,17 +139,19 @@ def setBoxColor(boxplot, colors):
                          x_minor_per_major=1,
                          labelsize=16)
 
+# Use geocat.viz.util convenience function to set spines visibility
+set_tick_direction_spine_visibility(ax,
+                                    tick_direction='in',
+                                    top_spine_visible=False,
+                                    right_spine_visible=False)
+
 # Use geocat.viz.util convenience function to add title to the plot axis.
 gv.set_titles_and_labels(ax,
                          maintitle='Tailored Box Plot',
                          maintitlefontsize=22)
 
-# Make both major and minor ticks point inwards towards the plot
-ax.tick_params(direction="in", which='both', pad=9)
-
-# Set ticks only at left and bottom sides of plot
-ax.yaxis.set_ticks_position('left')
-ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom')
+# Set padding between ticks and tick labels
+ax.tick_params(pad=9)
 
 # Display Plot
 plt.tight_layout()