How to set different height to subplots sharing X-Axes?

ebosi · October 17, 2018, 9:37pm

Background

Distinct subplots () with same height (✘)

I can create a graph with Subplots with Shared X-Axes (example adapted from [Plot.ly doc] https://plot.ly/python/subplots/#subplots-with-shared-xaxes), with proper separation between subplots and where you can insert a specific title for each subplot via subplot_titles:

from plotly import tools
import plotly.plotly as py
import plotly.graph_objs as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2],
    y=[10, 11, 12]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[100, 110, 120],
)
trace3 = go.Scatter(
    x=[3, 4, 5],
    y=[1000, 1100, 1200],
)
fig = tools.make_subplots(rows=3, cols=1, specs=[[{}], [{}], [{}]],
                          shared_xaxes=True, shared_yaxes=True,
                          vertical_spacing=0.1, subplot_titles=('subtitle 1', 
                          'subtitle 2', 'subtitle 3'))
fig.append_trace(trace1, 3, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace2, 2, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace3, 1, 1)

fig['layout'].update(height=600, width=600, title='Subplots with Shared X-Axes')
py.plot(fig, filename='subplots-shared-xaxes')

Merged subplots (✘) with distinct height ()

I can also create a graph with Stacked Subplots with a Shared X-Axis (example adapted from [Plot.ly doc] https://plot.ly/python/subplots/#stacked-subplots-with-a-shared-xaxis), where you can define the relative height of each subplot via domain:

from plotly import tools
import plotly.plotly as py
import plotly.graph_objs as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2],
    y=[10, 11, 12]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[100, 110, 120],
    yaxis='y2'
)
trace3 = go.Scatter(
    x=[3, 4, 5],
    y=[1000, 1100, 1200],
    yaxis='y3'
)
data = [trace1, trace2, trace3]
layout = go.Layout(
    yaxis=dict(
        domain=[0, 0.25]
    ),
    legend=dict(
        traceorder='reversed'
    ),
    yaxis2=dict(
        domain=[0.25, 0.75]
    ),
    yaxis3=dict(
        domain=[0.75, 1]
    )
)
fig = go.Figure(data=data, layout=layout)
fig['layout'].update(height=600, width=600, title='Stacked Subplots with Shared X-Axes')
py.plot(fig, filename='stacked-subplots-shared-x-axis')

Question

How to to create subplots with shared x-axes where you have both a title (fig 1) and different relative height (fig 2) for each subplot?

What I have tried

A hack is to make a plot span over multiple rows:

fig = tools.make_subplots(rows=4, cols=1, specs=[[{}], [{'rowspan': 2}], [None], [{}]],
                          shared_xaxes=True, shared_yaxes=True,
                          vertical_spacing=0.01, subplot_titles=('subtitle 1', 
                          'subtitle 2', None, 'subtitle 3'))

yet it is quite not correct I think (and absolutely ugly if you want one subplot to be ten times bigger than the others).

A slightly better option is to use update axes with ranges, yet subplot titles get messed up (they are still evenly vertically distributed):

from plotly import tools
import plotly.plotly as py
import plotly.graph_objs as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2],
    y=[10, 11, 12]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[100, 110, 120],
)
trace3 = go.Scatter(
    x=[3, 4, 5],
    y=[1000, 1100, 1200],
)
fig = tools.make_subplots(
    rows=3,
    cols=1,
    specs=[[{}], [{}], [{}]],
    shared_xaxes=True,
    shared_yaxes=True,
    vertical_spacing=0.1,
    subplot_titles=(
        'subtitle 1',
        'subtitle 2',
        'subtitle 3'
    )
)
fig.append_trace(trace1, 3, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace2, 2, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace3, 1, 1)

fig['layout'].update(height=600, width=600, title='Subplots with Shared X-Axes and `domain` hack')
fig['layout']['yaxis1'].update(domain=[0, 0.2])
fig['layout']['yaxis2'].update(domain=[0.3, 0.7])
fig['layout']['yaxis3'].update(domain=[0.8, 1])
py.plot(fig, filename='subplots-shared-x-axis-domain-hack', auto_open=True)

Picture : i.stack.imgur.com/QwHvT.png

ebosi · October 18, 2018, 4:15pm

You can find a bit more up-to-date version of this question on StackOverflow.

jmmease · October 19, 2018, 10:39am

Hi @ebosi,

The way this should work is to use the row_width parameter to make_subplots. It’s description is at the very bottom of the make_subplots docstring:

row_width (kwargs, list of numbers)
    Row_width specifications

    - Functions similarly to `column_width`. Specify a list that contains
      numbers where the amount of numbers in the list is equal to `rows`.

    - The numbers in the list indicate the proportions that each row
      domains take along the full vertical domain excluding padding.

    - For example, if row_width=[3, 1], vertical_spacing=0, and
      cols=2, the domains for each row from top to botton would be
      [0. 0.75] and [0.75, 1]

Unfortunately, it looks like the title placement logic doesn’t take row_width/column_width doesn’t take into account:

from plotly import tools
import plotly.plotly as py
import plotly.graph_objs as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2],
    y=[10, 11, 12]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[100, 110, 120],
)
trace3 = go.Scatter(
    x=[3, 4, 5],
    y=[1000, 1100, 1200],
)
fig = tools.make_subplots(rows=3, cols=1,
                          shared_xaxes=True,
                          vertical_spacing=0.1,
                          subplot_titles=('subtitle 1', 'subtitle 2', 'subtitle 3'),
                          row_width=[0.2, 0.4, 0.2]
                         )

fig.append_trace(trace1, 3, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace2, 2, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace3, 1, 1)

fig['layout'].update(height=600, width=600, title='Subplots with Shared X-Axes')
go.FigureWidget(fig)

I opened a bug report at https://github.com/plotly/plotly.py/issues/1229.

In case it’s helpful as a starting point for developing a workaround, here’s the subplot title placement logic:

github.com

plotly/plotly.py/blob/f69d9cad88e19e09f3c506108f2a4dd98796e832/plotly/tools.py#L1313-L1357


# Add subplot titles


# If shared_axes is False (default) use list_of_domains
# This is used for insets and irregular layouts
if not shared_xaxes and not shared_yaxes:
    x_dom = list_of_domains[::2]
    y_dom = list_of_domains[1::2]
    subtitle_pos_x = []
    subtitle_pos_y = []
    for x_domains in x_dom:
        subtitle_pos_x.append(sum(x_domains) / 2)
    for y_domains in y_dom:
        subtitle_pos_y.append(y_domains[1])
# If shared_axes is True the domin of each subplot is not returned so the
# title position must be calculated for each subplot
else:
    subtitle_pos_x = [None] * cols
    subtitle_pos_y = [None] * rows
    delt_x = (x_e - x_s)
    for index in range(cols):

This file has been truncated. show original

-Jon

ebosi · October 19, 2018, 11:43am

Thank you!

I should have been able to find row_width by myself, yet I’m glad it let to finding a bug! (Yet I’m sorry it is actually a bug!)

ebosi · November 7, 2018, 11:07am

This bug has been solved by Kully in PR #1245 and fixed in plotly v3.4.0.

Following code — using only 3 subplots and row_width=[0.2, 0.4, 0.2] — should thus work flawlessly:

from plotly import tools
import plotly.plotly as py
import plotly.graph_objs as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2],
    y=[10, 11, 12]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[100, 110, 120],
)
trace3 = go.Scatter(
    x=[3, 4, 5],
    y=[1000, 1100, 1200],
)
fig = tools.make_subplots(rows=3, cols=1,
                          shared_xaxes=True,
                          vertical_spacing=0.1,
                          subplot_titles=('subtitle 1', 'subtitle 2', 'subtitle 3'),
                          row_width=[0.2, 0.4, 0.2]
                         )

fig.append_trace(trace1, 3, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace2, 2, 1)
fig.append_trace(trace3, 1, 1)

fig['layout'].update(height=600, width=600, title='Subplots with Shared X-Axes')
go.FigureWidget(fig)

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How to set different height to subplots sharing X-Axes?

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