Avoiding <matplotlib.figure.Figure at ......>

I’m working with IPython notebook on a server over ssh. In order to avoid the error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/holoviews/ipython/display_hooks.py", line 203, in wrapped
    **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/holoviews/ipython/display_hooks.py", line 233, in element_display
    **opts(element, get_plot_size(element, size)))()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/holoviews/plotting/raster.py", line 34, in __init__
    super(RasterPlot, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/holoviews/plotting/element.py", line 132, in __init__
    uniform=uniform, **dict(params, **plot_opts))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/holoviews/plotting/plot.py", line 114, in __init__
    self.handles['axis'] = self._init_axis(axis)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/holoviews/plotting/plot.py", line 248, in _init_axis
    fig = plt.figure()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.py", line 435, in figure
    **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4agg.py", line 47, in new_figure_manager
    return new_figure_manager_given_figure(num, thisFig)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4agg.py", line 54, in new_figure_manager_given_figure
    canvas = FigureCanvasQTAgg(figure)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4agg.py", line 72, in __init__
    FigureCanvasQT.__init__(self, figure)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt4.py", line 68, in __init__
    _create_qApp()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5.py", line 138, in _create_qApp
    raise RuntimeError('Invalid DISPLAY variable')
RuntimeError: Invalid DISPLAY variable

One must evaluate

%matplotlib inline

This always results in <matplotlib.figure.Figure at 0x7fb61b7849d0> being under a HoloMap

Of course normally this won’t be an issue, but I’m using a HoloMap in a IPython presentation that I’m preparing. Would you know a way to get rid of this?

[philippjfr]

Yes this one is pretty annoying. We recommend always using the ‘agg’ backend. You can either specify the backend in your matplotlibrc file or do it in the notebook using:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
plt.switch_backend('agg')

[SSZ1]

Did this suggestion not fix it?

Yes this one is pretty annoying. We recommend always using the ‘agg’ backend. You can either specify the backend in your matplotlibrc file or do it in the notebook using:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
plt.switch_backend('agg')

It helped me.Thanks.