Plot Modules for GUI Integration

Overview

The ARTS Python interface includes a comprehensive set of plot modules for visualizing workspace group data types. These modules are located in python/src/pyarts3/plots/ and provide a consistent interface for creating matplotlib visualizations. It is non-exhaustive but covers several commonly used workspace groups.

The intent is that we might use these plot modules in GUI applications that need to visualize ARTS data. Each plot module is designed to handle a specific workspace group type, providing tailored plotting functionality.

Design Pattern

All plot modules follow a consistent pattern with the plot() function:

def plot(
    data: pyarts.arts.<WorkspaceGroup>,
    *,
    fig=None,
    ax=None,
    # ... additional parameters
    **kwargs
):
    """Plot the workspace group data.

    Parameters
    ----------
    data : ~pyarts3.arts.<WorkspaceGroup>
        The data to plot
    fig : Figure, optional
        Matplotlib figure (None creates new)
    ax : Axes, optional
        Matplotlib axes (None creates new)
    **kwargs
        Additional keyword arguments passed to underlying matplotlib functions

    Returns
    -------
    fig : Figure
        The matplotlib figure
    ax : Axes (or list of Axes)
        The matplotlib axes
    """
    # Implementation
    return fig, ax

Critical: All plot functions must accept **kwargs and pass them to the underlying matplotlib plotting functions. This allows GUI frameworks to pass arbitrary styling parameters without knowing the specific parameters each plot type uses.

Usage Examples

Basic Usage

import pyarts3 as pyarts
import pyarts3.plots as plots

# Create or load data
vector_data = pyarts.arts.Vector([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])

# Create plot
fig, ax = plots.Vector.plot(
    vector_data,
    xlabel="Index",
    ylabel="Value",
    title="My Vector Plot"
)

# Display or save
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.show()

Adding New Plot Modules

To add a new plot module for a workspace group:

1. Create python/src/pyarts3/plots/NewType.py following the standard pattern.

2. Implement the plot() function with appropriate visualization.

3. Add Sphinx documentation with .. plot:: directive examples if possible.

4. Import the module in python/src/pyarts3/plots/__init__.py

Required imports:

import pyarts3 as pyarts
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

__all__ = ['plot']

Future Enhancements

Please ensure to add new types as you implement them if you deem them plot-worthy. It helps ensure that we have a comprehensive set of visualization tools for ARTS data, and visualization is a key aspect of helping users understand what we are doing.