matplotlib绘制鼠标的十字光标（内置方式）

相对于echarts等基于JavaScript的图表库，matplotlib的交互能力相对较差。
在实际应用中，我们经常想使用十字光标来定位数据坐标，matplotlib内置提供支持。

官方示例

matplotlib提供了官方示例https://matplotlib.org/gallery/widgets/cursor.html

from matplotlib.widgets import Cursor
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Fixing random state for reproducibility
np.random.seed(19680801)

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6))
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, facecolor='#FFFFCC')

x, y = 4*(np.random.rand(2, 100) - .5)
ax.plot(x, y, 'o')
ax.set_xlim(-2, 2)
ax.set_ylim(-2, 2)

# Set useblit=True on most backends for enhanced performance.
cursor = Cursor(ax, useblit=True, color='red', linewidth=2)

plt.show()

原理

由源码可知，实现十字光标的关键在于widgets模块中的Cursor类。
class matplotlib.widgets.Cursor(ax, horizOn=True, vertOn=True, useblit=False, **lineprops)

• ax：参数类型matplotlib.axes.Axes，即需要添加十字光标的子图。
• horizOn：布尔值，是否显示十字光标中的横线，默认值为显示。
• vertOn：布尔值，是否显示十字光标中的竖线，默认值为显示。
• useblit：布尔值，是否使用优化模式，默认值为否，优化模式需要后端支持。
• **lineprops：十字光标线形属性， 参见axhline函数支持的属性，https://matplotlib.org/api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.axhline.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.axhline。

简化案例

光标改为灰色竖虚线，线宽为1。

from matplotlib.widgets import Cursor
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

ax = plt.gca()
cursor = Cursor(ax, horizOn=False, vertOn= True, useblit=False, color='grey', linewidth=1,linestyle='--')
plt.show()

## Cursor类源码

class Cursor(AxesWidget):
    """
    A crosshair cursor that spans the axes and moves with mouse cursor.

    For the cursor to remain responsive you must keep a reference to it.

    Parameters
    ----------
    ax : `matplotlib.axes.Axes`
        The `~.axes.Axes` to attach the cursor to.
    horizOn : bool, default: True
        Whether to draw the horizontal line.
    vertOn : bool, default: True
        Whether to draw the vertical line.
    useblit : bool, default: False
        Use blitting for faster drawing if supported by the backend.

    Other Parameters
    ----------------
    **lineprops
        `.Line2D` properties that control the appearance of the lines.
        See also `~.Axes.axhline`.

    Examples
    --------
    See :doc:`/gallery/widgets/cursor`.
    """

    def __init__(self, ax, horizOn=True, vertOn=True, useblit=False,
                 **lineprops):
        AxesWidget.__init__(self, ax)

        self.connect_event('motion_notify_event', self.onmove)
        self.connect_event('draw_event', self.clear)

        self.visible = True
        self.horizOn = horizOn
        self.vertOn = vertOn
        self.useblit = useblit and self.canvas.supports_blit

        if self.useblit:
            lineprops['animated'] = True
        self.lineh = ax.axhline(ax.get_ybound()[0], visible=False, **lineprops)
        self.linev = ax.axvline(ax.get_xbound()[0], visible=False, **lineprops)

        self.background = None
        self.needclear = False

    def clear(self, event):
        """Internal event handler to clear the cursor."""
        if self.ignore(event):
            return
        if self.useblit:
            self.background = self.canvas.copy_from_bbox(self.ax.bbox)
        self.linev.set_visible(False)
        self.lineh.set_visible(False)
        
    def onmove(self, event):
        """Internal event handler to draw the cursor when the mouse moves."""
        if self.ignore(event):
            return
        if not self.canvas.widgetlock.available(self):
            return
        if event.inaxes != self.ax:
            self.linev.set_visible(False)
            self.lineh.set_visible(False)

            if self.needclear:
                self.canvas.draw()
                self.needclear = False
            return
        self.needclear = True
        if not self.visible:
            return
        self.linev.set_xdata((event.xdata, event.xdata))

        self.lineh.set_ydata((event.ydata, event.ydata))
        self.linev.set_visible(self.visible and self.vertOn)
        self.lineh.set_visible(self.visible and self.horizOn)

        self._update()

    def _update(self):
        if self.useblit:
            if self.background is not None:
                self.canvas.restore_region(self.background)
            self.ax.draw_artist(self.linev)
            self.ax.draw_artist(self.lineh)
            self.canvas.blit(self.ax.bbox)
        else:
            self.canvas.draw_idle()
        return False