Bug report

Bug summary

When sharing the axes through plt.subplots(2, sharex=True) the ticklabels on the upper axes are rightfully suppressed. However, in many cases you may still want/need to show them.

Im matplotlib 2.0.2 this was easily possible by turning them visible again. This is not possible any more with matplotlib 2.2.

Code for reproduction

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, (ax,ax2) = plt.subplots(2, sharex=True)

plt.setp(ax.get_xticklabels(),visible=True)

plt.show()

Actual outcome in matplotlib 2.2.2

Expected outcome, actual outcome in matplotlib 2.0.2

I would expect matplotlib not to break the previously working solution of turning the labels visible. The expected outcome would be, as in version 2.0.2 to see the ticklabels on the upper axes.