[Tex/LaTex] Styling a particular y tick on tikz plot

tickstikz-pgf

I want to change the style of a single y axis tick mark. The y-axis is for a car's speed in mph, and I want the speed limit to be a single bold line. I currently have major, and minor ticks set up. I have 2 ticks (speed limit & speed limit *2) for the major ticks and is styled bold, and the minor ticks have the speeds in between the two. The issue arises when a person does more then twice the speed limit and goes off the chart (the ymax value is set to the speed limit *2). I am making the .tex documents in bulk via a c program, so I cannot hand edit each chart for the occurrences. I would assume there is a way in order to style a single tick differently, or adding a separate horizontal line on the chart to represent the speed limit. Let me know if you need anymore information.

Here's the chart that I am making:

\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \begin{axis}
        [
            title = Peak vs. Average Speeds,
            enlarge x limits = 0.03,
            ymin = 0,
            ymax = 50,    %This is controlled by speed limit *2
            ybar = 0pt,
            ylabel=Speed (mph),
            ymajorgrids = true,
            yminorgrids = true,
            minor y tick num = {4},
            ytick = {0, 25, 50},
            ytick pos = left,
            extra y tick style = {major grid style = {line width = 0.1pt, draw=gray!}},

            % These tick labels are generated by a loop being controlled by the speed limit. It would be great if I didn't need it.
            extra y tick labels = {5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 35, 40, 45},
            extra y ticks = {5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 35, 40, 45},
            symbolic x coords = {00:00, 00:30, 01:00, 01:30, 02:00, 02:30, 03:00, 03:30, 04:00, 04:30, 05:00, 05:30, 06:00, 06:30, 07:00, 07:30, 08:00, 08:30, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 13:00, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, 17:00, 17:30, 18:00, 18:30, 19:00, 19:30, 20:00, 20:30, 21:00, 21:30, 22:00, 22:30, 23:00, 23:30, 24:00},
            x axis line style = {line width = 1pt},
            xtick pos = left,
            xtick = {00:00, 02:00, 04:00, 06:00, 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00, 24:00},
            minor x tick num = {3},
            major grid style = {line width = 0.6pt, draw = black!},
            minor grid style = {line width = 0.1pt, draw = gray!},
            bar width = 3pt,
            width = 7in,
            height = 4.25in,
            legend pos = north west
        ]
        \addplot table[x=Time, y=Peak Speed, col sep = comma] {Peak_and_Average_Speeds.csv};
        \addplot table[x=Time, y=Average Speed, col sep = comma] {Peak_and_Average_Speeds.csv};
        \legend{Peak Speed, Average Speed};
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

Thank you for your help.

Best Answer

Since you want the graph limits to come from the data, let pgfplots set the tick marks/grid lines itself. Just draw darker lines over the top.

One way to get the speed limit info is to write a file containing \def\limit{25} or even just 25. Alternatively, you could add it to one of the tables as a third column and read it using \pgfplotstableread and \pgfplotstablegetelem.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

% the following can be either inside or outside the tikzicture
\def\limit{25}% speed limit, possibly read using \input{file}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\double}{int(2*\limit)}%

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
            title = Peak vs. Average Speeds,
            enlarge x limits = 0.03,
            ymin = 0,
            ybar = 0pt,
            ymajorgrids=true,
            major grid style = {line width = 0.1pt, draw = gray!},
            ylabel=Speed (mph),
            ytick distance=5,
            ytick pos = left,
            ytick style={opacity=0},% otherwise, zooming in will reveal ticks on top of the grid lines
            symbolic x coords = {00:00, 00:30, 01:00, 01:30, 02:00, 02:30, 03:00, 03:30, 04:00, 04:30, 05:00, 05:30, 06:00, 06:30, 07:00, 07:30, 08:00, 08:30, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 13:00, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, 17:00, 17:30, 18:00, 18:30, 19:00, 19:30, 20:00, 20:30, 21:00, 21:30, 22:00, 22:30, 23:00, 23:30, 24:00},
            x axis line style = {line width = 1pt},
            xtick pos = left,
            xtick = {00:00, 02:00, 04:00, 06:00, 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00, 24:00},
            minor x tick num = {3},
            bar width = 3pt,
            width = 7in,
            height = 4.25in,
            legend pos = north west
        ]
        \coordinate (sw) at (rel axis cs: 0,0);% lower left corner of axis box
        \coordinate (ne) at (rel axis cs: 1,1);% upper right corner of axis box
        \coordinate (limit) at (axis cs: 00:00,\limit);% any x coord will do
        \coordinate (double) at (axis cs: 00:00,\double);
        \draw[black,line width = 0.6pt] (sw|-limit) -- (ne|-limit) (sw|-double)--(ne|-double);
        %\addplot table[x=Time, y=Peak Speed, col sep = comma] {Peak_and_Average_Speeds.csv};
        %\addplot table[x=Time, y=Average Speed, col sep = comma] {Peak_and_Average_Speeds.csv};
        \addplot coordinates {(00:00,10) (24:00,65)}; % replace unavailable tables
        \legend{Peak Speed, Average Speed};
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

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[Tex/LaTex] Date plot using pgfplots with odd tick label

This is a known bug that's fixed in the development version of PGFplots. You can include the bugfix without upgrading the package by defining the patched function in your preamble.

I'm not sure what's going on with the grid lines, you may want to file a bug report about that. You can work around it by using the following settings:

minor x tick num=11,
xtick={2009-08-18 08:00,2009-08-18 10:00},
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Here's the complete code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepgfplotslibrary{dateplot} 

\makeatletter
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            \advance\c@pgf@countb by1
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        \fi
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\makeatother


\begin{document} 

\frame{
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
mark =none,
date ZERO=2009-08-18 08:30,
xmin=2009-08-18 08:30,
xmax=2009-08-18 10:29,
ymin=0, 
ymax=189,
grid=both,
axis x line=bottom,
axis y line=left,
date coordinates in=x,
minor x tick num=11,
minor y tick num=4,
xtick={2009-08-18 08:00,2009-08-18 10:00},
extra x ticks=2009-08-18 09:00,
ytick={0,50,100,150},
xticklabel= \hour:\minute,
]
\addplot [thick,blue]coordinates {
(2009-08-18 08:30, 000)
(2009-08-18 09:00, 060)
(2009-08-18 09:20, 060)
(2009-08-18 10:00, 100)
(2009-08-18 10:10, 060)
} node [below] {Train A};

\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
}

\end{document}

pgfplots dateplot

[Tex/LaTex] How to draw a chart in the economist style with pgfplots

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As maetra points out, the style seems to have changed at some point in 2012. I have included a second style, economist new that uses a white background and a frame around the labels.

PGFplots chart in The Economist Style

PGFPlots chart in new The Economist Style

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

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\definecolor{plotcolor1}{RGB}{1,77,100}
\definecolor{plotcolor2}{RGB}{1,162,217}

\pgfplotscreateplotcyclelist{economist}{%
    fill=plotcolor1,draw=plotcolor1,text=black\\%
    fill=plotcolor2,draw=plotcolor2,text=black\\%
}

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        ybar,
        ymin=0,
        enlarge x limits=1.5,
        nodes near coords,
        every axis plot post/.append style={
            point meta=explicit symbolic
        },
        /tikz/background rectangle/.style={
            fill=backgroundcolor
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        tight background,
        show background rectangle,
        cycle list name=economist,
        axis x line*=bottom,
        x axis line style={black},
        xtick=\empty,
        axis y line=right,
        y axis line style={opacity=0},
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        tickwidth=0pt,
        grid=major,
        grid style=white,
        extra description/.code={
            \fill [red] (-0.05,1.15) rectangle +(-1em,6ex);
            \node [anchor=base west, inner sep=0pt] at (0,1.15) {\large\textbf{#1}};
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            inner sep=2pt,
            outer sep=3pt
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}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[economist new=Mortality, ymax=60]
\addplot coordinates {(1,18) [WW1]};
\addplot coordinates {(2,50) [Spanish Flu]};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Best Answer

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[Tex/LaTex] Date plot using pgfplots with odd tick label

[Tex/LaTex] How to draw a chart in the economist style with pgfplots

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