RectangleSelector Disappears on Zoom

Question

When I run this example and create a rectangular selection if I zoom or move the plot window around the selection disappears until I deselect the move or zoom tool and click on

Answer 1

In the source code for RectangularSelector the release method (line 2119) handles the visibility of the selector

def _release(self, event):   
"""on button release event"""
    if not self.interactive:
        self.to_draw.set_visible(False)

Subclass RectangleSelector to modify the release method

class visibleRectangleSelector(RectangleSelector):
    def release(self, event):
        super(visibleRectangleSelector, self).release(event)
        self.to_draw.set_visible(True)
        self.canvas.draw()   ##updates canvas for new selection

Sample Code using doc example

from __future__ import print_function
"""
Do a mouseclick somewhere, move the mouse to some destination, release
the button.  This class gives click- and release-events and also draws
a line or a box from the click-point to the actual mouseposition
(within the same axes) until the button is released.  Within the
method 'self.ignore()' it is checked whether the button from eventpress
and eventrelease are the same.

"""
from matplotlib.widgets import RectangleSelector
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt


class visibleRectangleSelector(RectangleSelector):
    def release(self, event):
        super(visibleRectangleSelector, self).release(event)
        self.to_draw.set_visible(True)
        self.canvas.draw() 


def line_select_callback(eclick, erelease):
    'eclick and erelease are the press and release events'
    x1, y1 = eclick.xdata, eclick.ydata
    x2, y2 = erelease.xdata, erelease.ydata
    print("(%3.2f, %3.2f) --> (%3.2f, %3.2f)" % (x1, y1, x2, y2))
    print(" The button you used were: %s %s" % (eclick.button,
                                                erelease.button))


def toggle_selector(event):
    print(' Key pressed.')
    if event.key in ['Q', 'q'] and toggle_selector.RS.active:
        print(' RectangleSelector deactivated.')
        toggle_selector.RS.set_active(False)
    if event.key in ['A', 'a'] and not toggle_selector.RS.active:
        print(' RectangleSelector activated.')
        toggle_selector.RS.set_active(True)


fig, current_ax = plt.subplots()  # make a new plotting range
N = 100000  # If N is large one can see
x = np.linspace(0.0, 10.0, N)  # improvement by use blitting!

plt.plot(x, +np.sin(.2 * np.pi * x), lw=3.5, c='b', alpha=.7)  # plot something
plt.plot(x, +np.cos(.2 * np.pi * x), lw=3.5, c='r', alpha=.5)
plt.plot(x, -np.sin(.2 * np.pi * x), lw=3.5, c='g', alpha=.3)

print("\n      click  -->  release")

# drawtype is 'box' or 'line' or 'none'
toggle_selector.RS = RectangleSelector(
    current_ax,
    line_select_callback,
    drawtype='box',
    useblit=False,
    button=[1, 3],  # don't use middle button
    minspanx=5,
    minspany=5,
    spancoords='pixels',
    interactive=True)
plt.connect('key_press_event', toggle_selector)
plt.show()