Returning Matplotlib image as string

Question

I am using matplotlib in a django app and would like to directly return the rendered image. So far I can go plt.savefig(...), then return the location of the im

Answer 1

There is a recipe in the Matplotlib Cookbook that does exactly this. At its core, it looks like:

def simple(request):
    from matplotlib.backends.backend_agg import FigureCanvasAgg as FigureCanvas
    from matplotlib.figure import Figure

    fig=Figure()
    ax=fig.add_subplot(111)
    ax.plot(range(10), range(10), '-')
    canvas=FigureCanvas(fig)
    response=django.http.HttpResponse(content_type='image/png')
    canvas.print_png(response)
    return response

Put that in your views file, point your URL to it, and you're off and running.

Edit: As noted, this is a simplified version of a recipe in the cookbook. However, it looks like there is a difference between calling print_png and savefig, at least in the initial test that I did. Calling fig.savefig(response, format='png') gave an image with that was larger and had a white background, while the original canvas.print_png(response) gave a slightly smaller image with a grey background. So, I would replace the last few lines above with:

    canvas=FigureCanvas(fig)
    response=django.http.HttpResponse(content_type='image/png')
    fig.savefig(response, format='png')
    return response

You still need to have the canvas instantiated, though.