Plotly python how to draw unbounded lines and spans?

Question

I am using plotly (the offline version) within an IPython notebook and I like it a lot. However I couldn't find a way to plot a vertical line or a vertical band.

The equivalents in matplotlib are:

import matplotlib.plyplot as plt
plt.axvline(x=0)
plt.axvspan(xmin=0, xmax=1)

thanks in advance

Answer 1

You can add shapes to your plotly layout. Shapes can include lines or rectangles. They can also be made unbounded by drawing them relative to the plotting area rather than a particular axis. Have a look through the examples in the plotly shapes docs.

layout = {
        'title': "My Chart",
        'shapes': [
            {  # Unbounded line at x = 4
                'type': 'line',
                # x-reference is assigned to the x-values
                'xref': 'x',
                # y-reference is assigned to the plot paper [0,1]
                'yref': 'paper',
                'x0': 4,
                'y0': 0,
                'x1': 4,
                'y1': 1,
                'line': {
                    'color': 'rgb(55, 128, 191)',
                    'width': 3,
                }
            },
            {  # Unbounded span at 6 <= x <= 8
                'type': 'rect',
                # x-reference is assigned to the x-values
                'xref': 'x',
                # y-reference is assigned to the plot paper [0,1]
                'yref': 'paper',
                'x0': 6,
                'y0': 0,
                'x1': 8,
                'y1': 1,
                'fillcolor': '#d3d3d3',
                'opacity': 0.2,
                'line': {
                    'width': 0,
                }
            }
        ],
    }