Matplotlib data cursor

datacursor.py

from matplotlib import cbook

class DataCursor(object):
    """A simple data cursor widget that displays the x,y location of a
    matplotlib artist when it is selected."""
    def __init__(self, artists, tolerance=5, offsets=(-20, 20), 
                 template='x: %0.2f\ny: %0.2f', display_all=False):
        """Create the data cursor and connect it to the relevant figure.
        *artists* is the matplotlib artist or sequence of artists that will be 
            selected. 
        *tolerance* is the radius (in points) that the mouse click must be
            within to select the artist.
        *offsets* is a tuple of (x,y) offsets in points from the selected
            point to the displayed annotation box
        *template* is the format string to be used. Note: For compatibility
            with older versions of python, this uses the old-style (%) 
            formatting specification.
        *display_all* controls whether more than one annotation box will
            be shown if there are multiple axes.  Only one will be shown
            per-axis, regardless. 
        """
        self.template = template
        self.offsets = offsets
        self.display_all = display_all
        if not cbook.iterable(artists):
            artists = [artists]
        self.artists = artists
        self.axes = tuple(set(art.axes for art in self.artists))
        self.figures = tuple(set(ax.figure for ax in self.axes))

        self.annotations = {}
        for ax in self.axes:
            self.annotations[ax] = self.annotate(ax)
            # Hide the annotation box until clicked...
            self.annotations[ax].set_visible(False)

        for artist in self.artists:
            artist.set_picker(tolerance)
        for fig in self.figures:
            fig.canvas.mpl_connect('pick_event', self)

    def annotate(self, ax):
        """Draws the annotation box for the given axis *ax*."""
        annotation = ax.annotate(self.template, xy=(0, 0), ha='right',
                xytext=self.offsets, textcoords='offset points', va='bottom',
                bbox=dict(boxstyle='round,pad=0.5', fc='yellow', alpha=0.5),
                arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle='->', connectionstyle='arc3,rad=0')
                )
        return annotation

    def __call__(self, event):
        """Update and draw the annotation box for the pick event *event*."""
        # Rather than trying to interpolate, just display the clicked coords
        # This will only be called if it's within "tolerance", anyway.
        x, y = event.mouseevent.xdata, event.mouseevent.ydata
        annotation = self.annotations[event.artist.axes]
        if x is not None:
            if not self.display_all:
                # Hide any other annotation boxes...
                for ann in self.annotations.values():
                    ann.set_visible(False)
            # Update the annotation in the current axis..
            annotation.xy = x, y
            annotation.set_text(self.template % (x, y))
            annotation.set_visible(True)
            event.canvas.draw()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    plt.figure()
    plt.subplot(2,1,1)
    line1, = plt.plot(range(10), 'ro-')
    plt.subplot(2,1,2)
    line2, = plt.plot(range(10), 'bo-')

    DataCursor([line1, line2])

    plt.show()