plotly / plotly/plotly.py

Inconsistent row and col parameters used to add vline to faceted subplots

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bug P3 sev-2
Dominant language
Python
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Description

I'm trying to have a vertical line added to faceted plots, with the line being at a different position for every subplot. Here's a MRE:

import plotly.express as px
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
from itertools import product

# Prepare data
combinations = list(product(range(1, 11), repeat=2))
df = pd.DataFrame(combinations, columns=['cat', 'x'])
df['y'] = np.random.randint(1, 100, size=len(df))

# Figure
fig = px.line(df, x='x', y='y', facet_col='cat', facet_col_wrap=3)

# Add vlines in a loop
def generate_lines(n, d):
    tuples_list = []
    a = 1  # Initial value for a
    b = 1  # Initial value for b
    for i in range(1, n+1):
        tuples_list.append((i, a, b))
        if i % d == 0:  # Check if the divider is reached
            a += 1  # Increment a when the divider is reached
            b = 1   # Reset b to 1 when the divider is reached
        else:
            b += 1  # Increment b otherwise
    return tuples_list

lines = generate_lines(10, 3)
for i, a, b in lines:
    fig.add_vline(x=i, row=a, col=b, opacity=1, line_width=2, line_dash='dash', line_color='red')

fig.show()

What this code should produce is a vertical line at the value of the cat parameter but this is obviously not the case:

image

It took me a while to figure out what's actually happening. The issue is that the row argument does not start at the top left in the same way as faceting does, but instead starts at the bottom left. As a result, the (1,2) plot with a value of 2 is not shown because that's an empty space (would correspond to cat=11) and the 2nd subplot does not receive their vertical line.

This leads to inconsistencies and the required code to make the location more complicated because e.g. reducing the number of categories to 9 would mean that (1,1) needs to suddenly get a value of 7.

The behavior would be more intuitive if row 1 was the top one instead of the bottom one. If this is not a bug but a feature, it would be good to have this explicitly stated in the documentation / API reference.

Using plotly 5.13.0

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the supplied MRE with plotly 5.13.0, focusing on how facet_col_wrap assigns subplot rows and how add_vline interprets row and col. Inspect the facet and subplot-row/column behavior exposed by these APIs. Done means either row numbering matches the faceting layout or the documentation/API reference clearly explains the existing behavior and its workaround.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
data-visualization
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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