feat: add explicit option to control how densities are resolved, chan…

…ge how densities are resolved by default (#9172)

Will add more description soon, just seeing if tests pass first because
my local installation doesn't work.

---------

Co-authored-by: GitHub Actions Bot <vega-actions-bot@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Dominik Moritz <domoritz@gmail.com>

build/vega-lite-schema.json

@@ -8145,6 +8145,14 @@
           "description": "The minimum number of samples to take along the extent domain for plotting the density.\n\n__Default value:__ `25`",
           "type": "number"
         },
+        "resolve": {
+          "description": "Indicates how parameters for multiple densities should be resolved. If `\"independent\"`, each density may have its own domain extent and dynamic number of curve sample steps. If `\"shared\"`, the KDE transform will ensure that all densities are defined over a shared domain and curve steps, enabling stacking.\n\n__Default value:__ `\"shared\"`",
+          "enum": [
+            "independent",
+            "shared"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
         "steps": {
           "description": "The exact number of samples to take along the extent domain for plotting the density. If specified, overrides both minsteps and maxsteps to set an exact number of uniform samples. Potentially useful in conjunction with a fixed extent to ensure consistent sample points for stacked densities.",
           "type": "number"

examples/compiled/area_density.vg.json

@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
           "type": "kde",
           "field": "IMDB Rating",
           "bandwidth": 0.3,
-          "as": ["value", "density"]
+          "as": ["value", "density"],
+          "resolve": "shared"
         },
         {
           "type": "impute",

site/docs/transform/density.md

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ The density transform performs one-dimensional [kernel density estimation](https
 
 ## Density Transform Definition
 
-{% include table.html props="density,groupby,cumulative,counts,bandwidth,extent,minsteps,maxsteps,steps,as" source="DensityTransform" %}
+{% include table.html props="density,groupby,cumulative,counts,bandwidth,extent,minsteps,maxsteps,resolve,steps,as" source="DensityTransform" %}
 
 ## Usage
 

src/compile/data/density.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ export class DensityTransformNode extends DataFlowNode {
     this.transform = duplicate(transform); // duplicate to prevent side effects
     const specifiedAs = this.transform.as ?? [undefined, undefined];
     this.transform.as = [specifiedAs[0] ?? 'value', specifiedAs[1] ?? 'density'];
+    const resolve = this.transform.resolve ?? 'shared';
+    this.transform.resolve = resolve;
   }
 
   public dependentFields() {
@@ -40,9 +42,7 @@ export class DensityTransformNode extends DataFlowNode {
       field: density,
       ...rest
     };
-    if (this.transform.groupby) {
-      result.resolve = 'shared';
-    }
+    result.resolve = this.transform.resolve;
     return result;
   }
 }

src/transform.ts

@@ -496,6 +496,14 @@ export interface DensityTransform {
    * __Default value:__ `["value", "density"]`
    */
   as?: [FieldName, FieldName];
+  /**
+   * Indicates how parameters for multiple densities should be resolved.
+   * If `"independent"`, each density may have its own domain extent and dynamic number of curve sample steps.
+   * If `"shared"`, the KDE transform will ensure that all densities are defined over a shared domain and curve steps, enabling stacking.
+   *
+   * __Default value:__ `"shared"`
+   */
+  resolve?: 'independent' | 'shared';
 }
 
 export function isDensity(t: Transform): t is DensityTransform {

test/compile/data/density.test.ts

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ describe('compile/data/fold', () => {
       expect(density.assemble()).toEqual({
         type: 'kde',
         field: 'v',
+        resolve: 'shared',
         as: ['value', 'density']
       });
     });
@@ -54,21 +55,23 @@ describe('compile/data/fold', () => {
       expect(density.assemble()).toEqual({
         type: 'kde',
         field: 'v',
+        resolve: 'shared',
         as: ['A', 'density']
       });
     });
 
-    it('should add resolve shared if we group', () => {
+    it('should add resolve "independent" if we set it explicitly', () => {
       const transform: Transform = {
         density: 'v',
-        groupby: ['a']
+        groupby: ['a'],
+        resolve: 'independent'
       };
       const density = new DensityTransformNode(null, transform);
       expect(density.assemble()).toEqual({
         type: 'kde',
         groupby: ['a'],
         field: 'v',
-        resolve: 'shared',
+        resolve: 'independent',
         as: ['value', 'density']
       });
     });
@@ -119,7 +122,7 @@ describe('compile/data/fold', () => {
         as: ['A', 'B']
       };
       const density = new DensityTransformNode(null, transform);
-      expect(density.hash()).toBe('DensityTransform {"as":["A","B"],"density":"v"}');
+      expect(density.hash()).toBe('DensityTransform {"as":["A","B"],"density":"v","resolve":"shared"}');
     });
   });