Skip to main content

Plots

MecSimCalc supports the two most popular plotting libraries:

  1. Matplotlib
  2. Plotly

Matplotlib​

Matplotlib is a comprehensive library for creating static, animated, and interactive visualizations in Python.

Visit matplotlib.org for full documentation on how to use Matplotlib:

Once your Matplotlib figure is ready to be displayed, convert it to a HTML string using the mecsimcalc library as follows:

Code​

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import mecsimcalc as msc


def main(inputs):
    # Create matplotlib figure
    x = np.arange(0, 2, 0.01)
    y = 2*(np.cos(4*x))
    plt.plot(x, y)

    # Convert figure to html using msc.print_plot()
    plot_html = msc.print_plot(plt)
    return {"plot": plot_html}

Output​

{{ outputs.plot }}

See Example 2 in the introduction section for a detailed example on using Matplotlib.

Plotly​

Plotly's Python graphing library makes interactive, publication-quality graphs.

Visit plotly.com/python for full documentation on how to use Plotly:

Once your Plotly figure is ready to be displayed, convert it to a HTML string that can be embedded into the outputs step. As follows:

Code​

import plotly.express as px
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np


def main(inputs):
    # Create plotly figure
    x = np.arange(0, 2, 0.01)
    y = 2*(np.cos(4*x))
    fig = px.line(x, y, title="Cosine")

    # Convert figure to html using to_html()
    plot_html = fig.to_html(include_plotlyjs=True, full_html=False)
    return {"plot": plot_html}
caution

In .to_html(), include_plotlyjs must be set to True for the plot to be displayed.

Output​

{{ outputs.plot }}

Plotly Slider​

Plotly is a plotting library similar to Matplotlib, but it also supports interactive plots. The MecSimCalc library provides a function to simplify creating a plotly figure with a slider.

MecSimCalc's plot_slider function takes in a function as an argument and returns the plotly figure with a slider. The function has two arguments: the first argument is the value of the slider, and the second argument is the x value.

Code​

import mecsimcalc as msc

def parabola(a, x): # a is the value of the slider
    return a * x ** 2

def main(inputs):
    a = inputs['a'] # initial value of the slider
    plot_html = msc.plot_slider(parabola, x_range=(-10, 10), y_range=(-100, 100), initial_value=a, slider_range=(-10,10))
    return {"plot": plot_html}

Output​