Units in axis labels

[aplavin]

Feature description

I didn't find an option to put units into axis labels instead of tick labels. Is it available anywhere?
Maybe that should also be the default? I very rarely see plots with units written at each tick label in practice, the most common way is to put them into axis labels.

For plot types, please add an image of how it should look like

Top: current Unitful support.
Bottom: how I'd really like it to look.

[DanDeepPhase]

I found this in the code:

Makie.jl/src/dim-converts/unitful-integration.jl

Lines 135 to 139 in e73ea0e

	Fix unit to always use Meter & display unit in the xlabel:
	```julia
	uc = Makie.UnitfulConversion(u"m"; units_in_label=false)
	scatter(1:4, [0.01u"km", 0.02u"km", 0.03u"km", 0.04u"km"]; axis=(dim2_conversion=uc, xlabel="x (km)"))
	```

The example is a little wrong, because it hides units for Y and then labels them in X, but this works for your example:

f=Figure()
ax=Axis(f[1,1], 
    dim1_conversion=Makie.UnitfulConversion(u"m"; units_in_label=false),
    xlabel="Distance (m)",
    dim2_conversion=Makie.UnitfulConversion(u"W"; units_in_label=false),
    ylabel="Power (W)",)
mak = scatter!(ax,(1:5)u"m", (10:10:50)u"W")

Not sure if there is a simpler way. It does retain the units in the axis, so following up with same dimension units works.

mak2 = scatter!(ax, (100:100:500)u"cm", (0.005:0.010:0.045)kW)

[aplavin]

Yes, seems like specifying dimconversions manually works, but is very verbose for something wanted in (presumably) the vast majority of cases.
Wonder what's the reason for making units a part of ticklabels: are there some fields where such plots are more common than those with units in axislabels?

Maybe something like this is possible, what do you think?

let
	fig = Figure()
	ax = Axis(fig[1,1], units_in_axislabels="(%s)")  # common alternative values are "[%s]" and  ", %s"
	scatter!(ax, (1:5)u"m", (10:10:50)u"kW")
	fig
end

This would put units into axislabels using the provided pattern.

[icweaver]

Just saw this really nice approach for axis label units in AoG

MakieOrg/AlgebraOfGraphics.jl#619

https://aog.makie.org/v0.9.6/examples/scales/units#units

Wonder what's the reason for making units a part of ticklabels: are there some fields where such plots are more common than those with units in axislabels?

I am wondering this too. From the PR, it seems that the design choice for per-tick unit labels was made because it works better with the Observable update pipeline?

[SimonDanisch]

I'm pretty sure I initially implemented them to be in the labels and then it got complicated somehow, so when I rushed to finally release it, I had to remove it.
Would be nice to bring it back!

[icweaver]

That would be dope! Is your thinking that this would not require figure level recipe support? I see Julius' suggestion of using SpecAPI to potentially get around this, but wasn't sure. I really need to start learning how to use it one of these days!

On a sort of related note, I think we would really appreciate your eyes on this recent DynamicQuantities.jl PR we have in the works when you have some time, since I'm pretty much just cribbing from your Unitful.jl PR, haha

[icweaver]

Dang this is slick

# DynamicQuantities.jl example
x = (6:10)us"cm/mm"
y = (7:11)us"g"

fig = Figure()
scatter(fig[1, 1], y)
plot(fig[1, 2], x, y)
fig

Details

using CairoMakie, DynamicQuantities

import Makie.SpecApi as S

function Makie.convert_arguments(
    ::Type{<:AbstractPlot}, obj::AbstractVector{<:UnionAbstractQuantity}
)
    qa = QuantityArray(obj)
    spec_ax = S.Axis(plots=[S.Lines(qa.value)];
        ylabel = string("Y [ ", qa.dimensions, "]")
    )
    return S.GridLayout(spec_ax)
end

function Makie.convert_arguments(
    ::Type{<:AbstractPlot},
    x::AbstractVector{<:UnionAbstractQuantity},
    y::AbstractVector{<:UnionAbstractQuantity},
)
    qa_x = QuantityArray(x)
    qa_y = QuantityArray(y)
    spec_ax = S.Axis(plots=[S.Lines(qa_x.value, qa_y.value)];
        xlabel = string("X [", qa_x.dimensions, "]"),
        ylabel = string("Y [", qa_y.dimensions, "]")
    )
    return S.GridLayout(spec_ax)
end

I still have a bunch of gaps to cover, but is this the sort of gist of what folks had in mind?

[icweaver]

TIL about Makie.plotsym. This makes specifying plot types really convenient

x = [6, 7, 8]u"m"
y = [8, 9, 10]us"W/Hz"

fig, _, pl = plot(x, y)

lines(fig[1, 2], x, y)

# Single arg case
stairs(fig[2, 1], y)

stem(fig[2, 2], x, y)

fig

Details

using CairoMakie, DynamicQuantities

import Makie.SpecApi as S

function Makie.convert_arguments(
    p::Type{<:AbstractPlot},
    x::AbstractVector{<:UnionAbstractQuantity},
)
    Makie.convert_arguments(p, eachindex(x), x)
end

function Makie.convert_arguments(
    PT::Type{<:AbstractPlot},
    x,
    y::AbstractVector{<:UnionAbstractQuantity},
)
    plot_type_sym = Makie.plotsym(PT)
    qa_x = QuantityArray(x)
    qa_y = QuantityArray(y)
    spec_ax = S.Axis(plots=[Makie.PlotSpec(plot_type_sym, qa_x.value, qa_y.value)];
        xlabel = string("X [", qa_x.dimensions, "]"),
        ylabel = string("Y [", qa_y.dimensions, "]")
    )
    return S.GridLayout(spec_ax)
end