FigureCanvas Designer #11423

teddyrendahl · Jun 12, 2018

PR Summary

This adds a QtDesignerPlugin for FigureCanvasQt.

Usage

Point the PYQTDESIGNERPATH environment variable to the file system directory where the new figure_plugin.py file lives

export PYQTDESIGNERPATH=/my/path/matplotlib/lib/matplotlib/backends/qt_editor:$PYQTDESIGNERPATH

Open designer, drag and drop the FigureCanvasQt into your widget and save the file
Load the file in Python using pyuic and access the FigureCanvasQT.

class MatplotlibWidget(QWidget):
      def __init__(self, ui_file):
             # Load saved UI file
             self.ui = uic.loadUi(ui_file, self)
             # Access to matplotlib Figure
             figure = self.ui.FigureCanvasQt.figure
             ....

Notes

Qt Versions: I could not find any support for theQtDesigner module in either version of PySide. This works in PyQt4 installed from source but it looks like the version hosted on conda-forge is built with the --no-designer-plugin option.
Happy to document this more formally somewhere just wasn't sure where
The plugin has the option to display a little icon next to the widget. Is there any matplotlib logo that ships with the repository? I could add it?

Closes #758

PR Checklist

Has Pytest style unit tests
Code is PEP 8 compliant
New features are documented, with examples if plot related
Documentation is sphinx and numpydoc compliant
Added an entry to doc/users/next_whats_new/ if major new feature (follow instructions in README.rst there)
Documented in doc/api/api_changes.rst if API changed in a backward-incompatible way

ImportanceOfBeingErnest · Jun 12, 2018

lib/matplotlib/backends/qt_editor/figure_plugin.py

+    def createWidget(self, parent):
+        """Create a FigureCanvasQT instance"""
+        # Create the Canvas with a new Figure
+        fig = FigureCanvasQT(Figure())


Can you explain this a bit? I'm a bit surprised that you already add the figure to the canvas here. What if the user wants to use a different figure? (This may be a stupid question, as I've never worked with Designer.)

I'm not sure of a way to pass in an existing Figure inside the QtDesigner. The idea is that the user creates the .ui file before any Python code is ever written. They then can access this figure (as shown above) by loading the .ui file. I'm not sure how to swap this order and have the Designer be aware of an arbitrary Figure created in user code.

I am happy with this order of operations an the .ui figure now provides a fully functional Figure to work with.

ImportanceOfBeingErnest · Jun 12, 2018

I have no idea how useful this is in total, i.e. if this is a thing many people would actually use. But just suppose it is, I fear people would not be aware of it.
So if this goes into matplotlib, it definitely needs some accompanying documentation and/or example.

tacaswell · Jul 8, 2018

I think the right place to put the plugin is in https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/tree/master/examples/user_interfaces which is where we keep the glade file for wx (which I believe is the same thing, but for WX). Not a slick to use as it being directly importable, but it is at least in the codebase / documentation.

The module it is currently in is a vendored interface generator that we use for the artist editor dialogue in Qt.

tacaswell · Jul 9, 2018

On a bit more consideration (and looking at the gtk install code) maybe the plugin should go in https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/tree/master/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data

tacaswell · Jul 15, 2018

As much as I want this, punting to 3.1 😞

teddyrendahl · Jul 15, 2018

Sorry I've been neglecting this. I can drag it to completion. Just so I understand what else is needed.

Move designer plugin to mpl-data
Add ReSt description to next_whats_new
Add unittest (think I can do this with QFormBuilder)

tacaswell · Jul 15, 2018

@teddyrendahl Yes.

I would be willing to merge this after the RC so in the next week or so.

teddyrendahl · Jul 15, 2018

Awesome. Also should I create a merge commit here or would you prefer rebase?

ImportanceOfBeingErnest · Jul 15, 2018

I addition, as said already, there should be some example or description available. I could imagine that an example inside the Embedding Matplotlib in graphical user interfaces section of the gallery would make sense. This would need to be named with _sgskip at the end, as all other files from that section. And it could include the animated gif used here, as well as some step-by-step instruction.
A "what's new" entry would then consist only of two sentences with a link to that example.

tacaswell · Jul 15, 2018

On the other hand we don't install the data directory by default any more....

anntzer · Jul 16, 2018

We definitely still install mpl-data by default (and it's not as if we could really change that).

teddyrendahl · Jul 19, 2018

Made progress but realizing that I might need a FigureManagerQt object as well. I'll keep exploring... Getting a black canvas that never shows anything when I try and plot.

teddyrendahl · Jul 19, 2018

Okay. Spoke a little too soon. Figured out I needed the the FigureCanvasQtAgg specifically. One unfortunate thing I realized is that Qt assumes that any widget that it loads from a .ui file has a initialization that only receives a single widget (its parent) in __init__. I therefore made a stub class of FigureCanvasQtAgg that matches this signature. It is very ugly but the least complicated way I could think of to get this working. Open to suggestions.

jklymak · Jul 16, 2019

Thanks a lot for the contribution. I'm going to close this as having had no action for quite a while. OTOH, if there is still a community that wants this, please feel free to re-open, with my apologies!

teddyrendahl added 2 commits June 12, 2018 09:17

MAINT: Qt version agnostic import of Designer

f2efb22

ENH: QtDesignerPlugin for FigureCanvasQT

f0ddde1

ImportanceOfBeingErnest reviewed Jun 12, 2018

View reviewed changes

dstansby added the GUI: Qt label Jun 13, 2018

tacaswell added this to the v3.0 milestone Jun 13, 2018

tacaswell modified the milestones: v3.0, v3.1 Jul 15, 2018

MAINT: Move QtDesigner plugin to mpl-data directory

807be2c

teddyrendahl added 2 commits July 15, 2018 16:40

MAINT: Use matplotlib icon

18ccbbc

MAINT: Point to Python module not file

e3855b8

teddyrendahl added 3 commits July 18, 2018 22:09

MAINT: Create a FigureCanvasQtAgg class loadable by Designer

9c72bb9

MAINT: Use rcParams to find matplotlib icon

e816380

DOC: Instructions on how to use QtDesigner plugin

f61524d

Merge remote-tracking branch 'matplot/master' into designer

cb2e1c9

jklymak added the stale label Feb 11, 2019

jklymak modified the milestones: v3.1.0, v3.2.0 Feb 11, 2019

jklymak closed this Jul 16, 2019

anntzer mentioned this pull request May 7, 2020

Closer-to-native signatures for native canvas and toolbar classes #17349

Closed

timhoffm added status: orphaned PR and removed status: inactive labels May 29, 2023

tacaswell mentioned this pull request May 30, 2024

[ENH]: Qt Designer support. #28322

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FigureCanvas Designer #11423

FigureCanvas Designer #11423

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PR Summary

Usage

Notes

PR Checklist

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