[Tex/LaTex] pgfplots hand-made legend (\label + \ref) fails with custom styles

cross-referencingpgfplots

In pgfplots, when I use a custom style to plot a line, \label the line and then \ref to this plot, I am unable to get the desired result.

The desired result would be to get a little line where I am using \ref.

The actual result:

On the first compilation, I get LaTeX Warning: Reference 'plot:coor' on page 1 undefined on input line 11., and the line in the text gets replaced by ??.
The second compilation fails with ! Package pgfkeys Error: I do not know the key '/tikz/custom' and I am going to ignore it. Perhaps you misspelled it..

I'm using:

pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-2.3-1.40.12 (TeX Live 2011)
LaTeX2e <2011/06/27>
pgfplots 2011/07/29 v1.5 (git show 1.5-1-gcc2f2d2 )
tikz 2010/10/13 v2.10 (rcs-revision 1.76).

A minimum (not) working example:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[custom/.style={thick}]
\begin{axis}
\addplot[custom] coordinates {(0,0) (1,1) (2,3)};
\label{plot:coor}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
This is \ref{plot:coor}.
\end{document}

If I add the custom style to the axis-environment, the problem remains. If I copy the thick to the arguments of addplot, the problem goes away. However, in my real situation, I apply a similar style to four different plots, so I would like to use a custom style. My questions:

Is this a bug?
If yes, is it known and is there a workaround?
If no, how do I \refer to a \labeled plot created with a custom style?
Why is it behaving in this way?

Best Answer

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I realised the answer to my own question.

The reason \ref won't work is because when \ref is invoked, the style defined inside the tikzpicture is no longer known. To make it work, use \pgfplotsset:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\pgfplotsset{custom/.style={thick}}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot[custom] coordinates {(0,0) (1,1) (2,3)};
\label{plot:coor}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture} 
This is \ref{plot:coor}.
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] plotting two time series with bounds

This happens because PGFPlots only uses one "stack" per axis: You're stacking the second confidence interval on top of the first. The easiest way to fix this is probably to use the approach described in "Is there an easy way of using line thickness as error indicator in a plot?": After plotting the first confidence interval, stack the upper bound on top again, using stack dir=minus. That way, the stack will be reset to zero, and you can draw the second confidence interval in the same fashion as the first:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots, tikz}

\usepackage{pgfplotstable}

\pgfplotstableread{
temps   y_h y_h__inf    y_h__sup    y_f y_f__inf    y_f__sup    

1   0.237340    0.135170    0.339511    0.237653    0.135482    0.339823    
2   0.561320    0.422007    0.700633    0.165871    0.026558    0.305184    
3   0.694760    0.534205    0.855314    0.074856    -0.085698   0.235411    
4   0.728306    0.560179    0.896432    0.003361    -0.164765   0.171487    
5   0.711710    0.544944    0.878477    -0.044582   -0.211349   0.122184    
6   0.671241    0.511191    0.831291    -0.073347   -0.233397   0.086703    
7   0.621177    0.471219    0.771135    -0.088418   -0.238376   0.061540    
8   0.569354    0.431826    0.706882    -0.094382   -0.231910   0.043146    
9   0.519973    0.396571    0.643376    -0.094619   -0.218022   0.028783    
10  0.475121    0.366990    0.583251    -0.091467   -0.199598   0.016664    
}{\table}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}

    \begin{axis}
    % y_h confidence interval
    \addplot [stack plots=y, fill=none, draw=none, forget plot]   table [x=temps, y=y_h__inf]   {\table} \closedcycle;
    \addplot [stack plots=y, fill=gray!50, opacity=0.4, draw opacity=0, area legend]   table [x=temps, y expr=\thisrow{y_h__sup}-\thisrow{y_h__inf}]   {\table} \closedcycle;
    % subtract the upper bound so our stack is back at zero
    \addplot [stack plots=y, stack dir=minus, forget plot, draw=none] table [x=temps, y=y_h__sup] {\table};

    % y_f confidence interval
    \addplot [stack plots=y, fill=none, draw=none, forget plot]   table [x=temps, y=y_f__inf]   {\table} \closedcycle;
    \addplot [stack plots=y, fill=gray!50, opacity=0.4, draw opacity=0, area legend]   table [x=temps, y expr=\thisrow{y_f__sup}-\thisrow{y_f__inf}]   {\table} \closedcycle;

    % the line plots (y_h and y_f)    
    \addplot [stack plots=false, very thick,smooth,blue]  table [x=temps, y=y_h]   {\table};
    \addplot [stack plots=false, very thick,smooth,blue]  table [x=temps, y=y_f]   {\table};
    \end{axis}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] How to hide empty (value 0) ybars with pgfplots

You can use

 y filter/.expression={y==0 ? nan : y}

in the options of \addplot.

\documentclass{article}

% ---------------------------------- tikz
\usepackage{pgfplots}          % to print charts
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.12}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis} [
      % general
      ybar,
      scale only axis,
      height=0.5\textwidth,
      width=1.2\textwidth,
      ylabel={\# Dots},
      nodes near coords,
      xlabel={Variation},
      xticklabel style={
        rotate=90,
        anchor=east,
      },
      %enlarge x limits={abs value={3}},
      ]
      \addplot+[y filter/.expression={y==0 ? nan : y}] table [
        x=grade,
        y=value,
      ] {
grade   value
-11 0
-10 0
-9  0
-8  0
-7  0
-6  0
-5  3
-4  1
-3  2
-2  15
-1  11
0   179
1   8
2   1
3   0
4   1
5   2
6   0
7   0
8   0
9   0
10  0
11  0
      };
    \end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] plotting two time series with bounds

[Tex/LaTex] How to hide empty (value 0) ybars with pgfplots

Related Question