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plot window hangs and/or is generally unresponsive #8505
Description
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Bug report
Bug summary
Interactive code example from documentation produces hanging/unresponsive window, frequently stuck behind other windows.
Code for reproduction
from matplotlib documentation here
#backend set to TkAgg, others also error...
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.ion()
plt.plot([1.6, 2.7])Actual outcome
Figure window appears, is unresponsive and no plot is shown. Figure cannot be moved, will go to background (cmd tab will not bring window to top). Within seconds the cursor becomes unresponsive "beachball" when over the figure window.
Expected outcome
A (non hanging, cmd-tabbable) plot window with something plotted. This error has persisted for some time.
Matplotlib version
- Matplotlib 1.5.1 (latest with
conda update matplotlib), python 2.7.11 (anaconda distr.), macos 10.12.4
Activity
bitworm commentedon Apr 17, 2017
Similar behavior has been reported long ago, without resolution: spyder-ide/spyder#2022. I have tried every available backend without satisfactory results. Any workarounds welcome...
bitworm commentedon Apr 17, 2017
After further investigation, this appears to be from the
plt.ion()call.bitworm commentedon Apr 17, 2017
And somehow,
%matplotlibsolves this. What does this do exactly?tacaswell commentedon Apr 18, 2017
#4779 (which I really need to finish and get merged) has some of the gory details. In short:
%matplotlib.This is exasperated by IPython changing from using readline (which tk actually properly register's it's self with automatically on import) to prompt toolkit (which has a different registration method). Your example should work older versions of IPython or the vanilla python prompt.
Closing this as it is not a bug in matplotlib (but with integrating your GUI with IPython).
bitworm commentedon Apr 18, 2017
thanks @tacaswell. I have been futzing with this for way too long. Does anyone compile up-to-date recommended matplotlib setups? I have a very standard computing configuration, yet there is a swirling mass of out-of-date solutions floating around Stack Overflow, Github, blogs etc (e.g.,
%pyplot) making it difficult to find an "orthodox" setup that functions well.tacaswell commentedon Apr 18, 2017
Running
%matplotlibin IPython will work correctly on all reasonably modern ipython/matplotlib version combinations, see http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/stable/interactive/reference.html#plotting-with-matplotlib