How do I set the focus on entering an axes in matplotlib?

Question

I bind key_press events in Matplotlib. They are not triggered unless I click on the figure first. I want to force the keyboard focus to be on the axes when the mouse enters it.

I attempted to follow the guidance in this answer:

Matplotlib 'key_press_event' does not respond

I get an error:

AttributeError: 'Canvas' object has no attribute 'setFocus'

This is my event handler:

    def on_enter(self, event):
        # self.fig.canvas.setFocus()
        event.canvas.setFocus()

I tried to reference the canvas in two ways: from the event or from my stored figure object. Both give the same error.

How do you set the focus in matplotlib?

System information:

MAC OS Sonoma 14.3
using the %matplotlib widget in a Jupyter Notebook
Backend is ipympl.backend_nbagg
For GUI controls, I am using ipywidgets.

I set the handler using this:


  self.cid_enter = self.fig.canvas.mpl_connect('axes_enter_event', self.on_enter)

When I call dir on the Canvas object, it says these are the properties:

Canvas Methods:
[
   '__annotations__'
   '__class__'
   '__del__'
   '__delattr__'
   '__dict__'
   '__dir__'
   '__doc__'
   '__eq__'
   '__format__'
   '__ge__'
   '__getattribute__'
   '__getstate__'
   '__gt__'
   '__hash__'
   '__init__'
   '__init_subclass__'
   '__le__'
   '__lt__'
   '__module__'
   '__ne__'
   '__new__'
   '__reduce__'
   '__reduce_ex__'
   '__repr__'
   '__setattr__'
   '__setstate__'
   '__sizeof__'
   '__str__'
   '__subclasshook__'
   '__weakref__'
   '_active_widgets'
   '_add_notifiers'
   '_all_trait_default_generators'
   '_button'
   '_call_widget_constructed'
   '_closed'
   '_comm_changed'
   '_compare'
   '_control_comm'
   '_cross_validation_lock'
   '_current_image_mode'
   '_cursor'
   '_data_url'
   '_default_keys'
   '_descriptors'
   '_device_pixel_ratio'
   '_dom_classes'
   '_figure_label'
   '_fix_ipython_backend2gui'
   '_force_full'
   '_gen_repr_from_keys'
   '_get_embed_state'
   '_get_trait_default_generator'
   '_handle_control_comm_msg'
   '_handle_custom_msg'
   '_handle_key'
   '_handle_message'
   '_handle_mouse'
   '_handle_msg'
   '_handle_set_device_pixel_ratio'
   '_holding_sync'
   '_idle_draw_cntx'
   '_image_mode'
   '_instance_inits'
   '_ipython_display_'
   '_is_idle_drawing'
   '_is_numpy'
   '_is_saving'
   '_key'
   '_lastKey'
   '_last_buff'
   '_last_mouse_xy'
   '_lastx'
   '_lasty'
   '_lock_property'
   '_log_default'
   '_message'
   '_model_id'
   '_model_module'
   '_model_module_version'
   '_model_name'
   '_msg_callbacks'
   '_notify_observers'
   '_notify_trait'
   '_png_is_old'
   '_print_pil'
   '_property_lock'
   '_register_validator'
   '_remove_notifiers'
   '_repr_keys'
   '_repr_mimebundle_'
   '_rubberband_height'
   '_rubberband_width'
   '_rubberband_x'
   '_rubberband_y'
   '_send'
   '_set_device_pixel_ratio'
   '_should_send_property'
   '_size'
   '_states_to_send'
   '_static_immutable_initial_values'
   '_switch_canvas_and_return_print_method'
   '_timer_cls'
   '_trait_default_generators'
   '_trait_from_json'
   '_trait_notifiers'
   '_trait_to_json'
   '_trait_validators'
   '_trait_values'
   '_traits'
   '_view_count'
   '_view_module'
   '_view_module_version'
   '_view_name'
   '_widget_construction_callback'
   '_widget_types'
   'add_class'
   'add_traits'
   'blit'
   'blur'
   'buffer_rgba'
   'button_pick_id'
   'button_press_event'
   'button_release_event'
   'callbacks'
   'capture_scroll'
   'class_own_trait_events'
   'class_own_traits'
   'class_trait_names'
   'class_traits'
   'close'
   'close_all'
   'close_event'
   'comm'
   'copy_from_bbox'
   'cross_validation_lock'
   'current_dpi_ratio'
   'device_pixel_ratio'
   'draw'
   'draw_event'
   'draw_idle'
   'enter_notify_event'
   'events'
   'figure'
   'filetypes'
   'fixed_dpi'
   'flush_events'
   'focus'
   'footer_visible'
   'get_default_filename'
   'get_default_filetype'
   'get_diff_image'
   'get_manager_state'
   'get_renderer'
   'get_state'
   'get_supported_filetypes'
   'get_supported_filetypes_grouped'
   'get_view_spec'
   'get_width_height'
   'grab_mouse'
   'handle_ack'
   'handle_button_press'
   'handle_button_release'
   'handle_comm_opened'
   'handle_control_comm_opened'
   'handle_dblclick'
   'handle_draw'
   'handle_event'
   'handle_figure_enter'
   'handle_figure_leave'
   'handle_key_press'
   'handle_key_release'
   'handle_motion_notify'
   'handle_refresh'
   'handle_resize'
   'handle_scroll'
   'handle_send_image_mode'
   'handle_set_device_pixel_ratio'
   'handle_set_dpi_ratio'
   'handle_toolbar_button'
   'handle_unknown_event'
   'has_trait'
   'header_visible'
   'hold_sync'
   'hold_trait_notifications'
   'inaxes'
   'is_saving'
   'key_press_event'
   'key_release_event'
   'keys'
   'layout'
   'leave_notify_event'
   'log'
   'manager'
   'manager_class'
   'model_id'
   'motion_notify_event'
   'mouse_grabber'
   'mpl_connect'
   'mpl_disconnect'
   'new_manager'
   'new_timer'
   'notify_change'
   'observe'
   'on_msg'
   'on_trait_change'
   'on_widget_constructed'
   'open'
   'pan_zoom_throttle'
   'pick'
   'pick_event'
   'print_figure'
   'print_jpeg'
   'print_jpg'
   'print_png'
   'print_raw'
   'print_rgba'
   'print_tif'
   'print_tiff'
   'print_to_buffer'
   'print_webp'
   'release_mouse'
   'remove_class'
   'renderer'
   'required_interactive_framework'
   'resizable'
   'resize'
   'resize_event'
   'restore_region'
   'scroll_event'
   'scroll_pick_id'
   'send'
   'send_binary'
   'send_event'
   'send_json'
   'send_state'
   'set_cursor'
   'set_image_mode'
   'set_state'
   'set_trait'
   'setup_instance'
   'show'
   'start_event_loop'
   'stop_event_loop'
   'supports_blit'
   'switch_backends'
   'syncing_data_url'
   'tabbable'
   'toolbar'
   'toolbar_position'
   'toolbar_visible'
   'tooltip'
   'tostring_argb'
   'tostring_rgb'
   'trait_defaults'
   'trait_events'
   'trait_has_value'
   'trait_metadata'
   'trait_names'
   'trait_values'
   'traits'
   'unobserve'
   'unobserve_all'
   'widget_types'
   'widgetlock'
   'widgets'
]

How do I set the focus on entering an axes in matplotlib?

Answers (1)

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