FigureCanvasAgg' object has no attribute 'invalidate' ? python plotting

Question

I\'ve been following \'python for data analysis\'. On pg. 345, you get to this code to plot returns across a variety of stocks. However, the plotting function does not work for

Answer 1

I found this error to be due to a combination of:

• using pandas plotting with a series or dataframe member method
• plotting with a date index
• using %matplotlib inline magic in ipython
• importing the pylab module before the matplotlib magic

So the following will fail on a newly started kernel in an ipython notebook:

# fails 
import matplotlib.pylab
%matplotlib inline

import pandas
ser = pandas.Series(range(10), pandas.date_range(end='2014-01-01', periods=10))
ser.plot()

The best way to solve this is to move the magic up to the top:

# succeeds
%matplotlib inline # moved up
import matplotlib.pylab

import pandas
ser = pandas.Series(range(10), pandas.date_range(end='2014-01-01', periods=10))
ser.plot()

However the problem also goes away if you pass the series to a matplotlib plotting method, don't use a date index, or simply don't import the matplotlib.pylab module.