python - how can I display cursor on all axes vertically but only on horizontally on axes with mouse pointer on top

Question

I would like the cursor to be visible across all axes vertically but only visible horizontally for the axis that the mouse pointer is on.

This is a code exert of what I am using at the moment.

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

fig = plt.figure(facecolor='#07000d')

ax1 = plt.subplot2grid((2,4), (0,0), rowspan=1,colspan=4, axisbg='#aaaaaa')
ax2 = plt.subplot2grid((2,4), (1,0), rowspan=1,colspan=4, axisbg='#aaaaaa')

multi = MultiCursor(fig.canvas, (ax1, ax2), color='r', lw=.5, horizOn=True, vertOn=True)
plt.show()

This is what I have. What I would like is to have the horizontal cursor to be only visible for the axis that mouse pointer is on but have the vertical visible for both.

Answer 1

So I came up with a solution. I made my own custom cursor using mouse events wrapped in a class. Works great. You can add your axes in an array/list.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

class CustomCursor(object):

def __init__(self, axes, col, xlimits, ylimits, **kwargs):
    self.items = np.zeros(shape=(len(axes),3), dtype=np.object)
    self.col = col
    self.focus = 0
    i = 0
    for ax in axes:
        axis = ax
        axis.set_gid(i)
        lx = ax.axvline(ymin=ylimits[0],ymax=ylimits[1],color=col)
        ly = ax.axhline(xmin=xlimits[0],xmax=xlimits[1],color=col)
        item = list([axis,lx,ly])
        self.items[i] = item
        i += 1
def show_xy(self, event):
    if event.inaxes:
        self.focus = event.inaxes.get_gid()
        for ax in self.items[:,0]:
            self.gid = ax.get_gid()                                     
            for lx in self.items[:,1]:
                lx.set_xdata(event.xdata)
            if event.inaxes.get_gid() == self.gid:
                self.items[self.gid,2].set_ydata(event.ydata)
                self.items[self.gid,2].set_visible(True)
    plt.draw()

def hide_y(self, event):
    for ax in self.items[:,0]:
        if self.focus == ax.get_gid():
            self.items[self.focus,2].set_visible(False)




if __name__ == '__main__':
fig = plt.figure(facecolor='#07000d')
ax1 = plt.subplot2grid((2,4), (0,0), rowspan=1,colspan=4, axisbg='#aaaaaa')
ax2 = plt.subplot2grid((2,4), (1,0), rowspan=1,colspan=4, axisbg='#aaaaaa')

cc = CustomCursor([ax1,ax2], col='red', xlimits=[0,100], ylimits=[0,100], markersize=30,)
fig.canvas.mpl_connect('motion_notify_event', cc.show_xy)
fig.canvas.mpl_connect('axes_leave_event', cc.hide_y)


plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()