pyfig

Interactive figure and window management for Windows.

pyfig is a Windows-only Python package for interactively arranging and managing figure windows created by Matplotlib, Mayavi/TVTK, and Chaco.

It provides convenient functions for:

• Tiling, stacking, piling, and cascading windows
• Minimizing, maximizing, restoring, and hiding figures
• Snapping windows to screen regions
• Cycling through figures
• Closing or keeping selected figures
• Querying figure positions and screen geometry

The package uses the Win32 API and works directly with figure windows after they have been created.

Gallery

The examples below use Matplotlib figures, but pyfig can also manipulate Mayavi/TVTK and Chaco figure windows.

Tile all open figures

Arrange all open figures in a non-overlapping grid:

from pyfig import fig

fig.tile()

Stack all open figures with partial overlap

Arrange figures with a staircase-style overlap:

from pyfig import fig

fig.stack()

Snap a figure to the right side of the screen

Snap figure number four to the right half of the screen.

fig.snap_right(4)

Features

The screenshots above demonstrate only a subset of the functionality available in pyfig.

Window management

fig.maximize()
fig.minimize()
fig.restore()
fig.hide()

Layout management

fig.tile()
fig.stack()
fig.pile()
fig.cascade()

Screen snapping

fig.snap_left()
fig.snap_right()
fig.snap_top()
fig.snap_bottom()

Figure selection

fig.close(1, 2)
fig.keep(3)

Interactive cycling

fig.cycle()
fig.cycle(pairs=2)
fig.cycle(interval=1.0)

Requirements

• Windows
• Python 3.10+
• pywin32

Installation

Matplotlib support

pip install pyfig[plot]

Core package

pip install pyfig

wxPython support

pip install pyfig[wx]

Everything

pip install pyfig[plot,wx]

Quick Check

After installation, verify that pyfig is working:

import pyfig

pyfig.test()

Quick Start

Create some figures:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

for i in range(1, 5):
    plt.figure(i)

Arrange them:

from pyfig import fig

fig.tile()

Stack them:

fig.stack()

Pile them:

fig.pile()

Maximize a figure:

fig.maximize(4)

Close all figures:

fig.close()

Selecting Figures

By default, functions operate on all open figures:

fig.tile()

You can also target specific figures:

fig.maximize(4)
fig.snap_right(4)

or multiple figures:

fig.stack(1, 2, 3)
fig.tile([1, 2, 3, 4])

Examples

Tile all open figures

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from pyfig import fig

for i in range(1, 5):
    plt.figure(i)

fig.tile()

# Tile figures in pairs
fig.tile(pairs=2)

Keep only selected figures

fig.keep(1, 3)

Snap a figure to the right side of the screen

fig.snap_right(4)

Center all figures

fig.center()

Cycle through open figures

fig.cycle(interval=1.0)

Cycle through figures in pairs

fig.cycle(pairs=2)

Public API

All functionality is available through the pyfig.fig module:

Window operations

close()
hide()
restore()
minimize()
maximize()
keep()
cycle()

Layout operations

tile()
stack()
pile()
cascade()
center()
set_size()

Screen snapping

snap_left()
snap_right()
snap_top()
snap_bottom()

Information functions

find_all_figure_numbers()
find_figure_handles()

get_window_position_and_size()
get_screen_position_and_size()

Configuration

set_prefer_wx()

wxPython Support

If wxPython is installed, pyfig can provide a GUI dialog for figure cycling.

Enable it by setting the environment variable:

set FIG_USE_WX=1

or programmatically:

from pyfig import fig

fig.set_prefer_wx(True)

Without wxPython, pyfig automatically falls back to a console-based interface.

Testing

pyfig includes a convenience function for running its test suite.

Run all tests:

import pyfig

pyfig.test()

Run with additional pytest options:

import pyfig

pyfig.test("-v")

Show available pytest options:

import pyfig

pyfig.test("--help")

For development, tests may also be executed directly using PDM:

pdm run tests

or:

pdm all-tests

License

BSD License.

See the LICENSE file for details.