figure: improved auto tight_layout support

1) Use getter and setter instead of property
2) in tight_layout, don't proceed if an Axes is not a SubplotBase
3) in colorbar, make use_gridspec default to True.

Author: efiring

lib/matplotlib/figure.py

@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                  linewidth = 0.0,   # the default linewidth of the frame
                  frameon = True,    # whether or not to draw the figure frame
                  subplotpars = None, # default to rc
-                 tight = None,     # whether to apply tight_layout
+                 tight_layout = None, # default to rc figure.autolayout
                  ):
         """
         *figsize*
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         *subplotpars*
             A :class:`SubplotParams` instance, defaults to rc
 
-        *tight*
+        *tight_layout*
             If *False* use *subplotpars*; if *True* adjust subplot
             parameters using :meth:`tight_layout`.  Defaults to
             rc ``figure.autolayout``.
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ def __init__(self,
             subplotpars = SubplotParams()
 
         self.subplotpars = subplotpars
-        self._set_tight(tight)
+        self.set_tight_layout(tight_layout)
 
         self._axstack = AxesStack()  # track all figure axes and current axes
         self.clf()
@@ -336,15 +336,23 @@ def _set_dpi(self, dpi):
         self.callbacks.process('dpi_changed', self)
     dpi = property(_get_dpi, _set_dpi)
 
-    def _get_tight(self):
+    def get_tight_layout(self):
+        """
+        Return the Boolean flag, True to use :meth`tight_layout` when drawing.
+        """
         return self._tight
-    def _set_tight(self, tight):
+
+    def set_tight_layout(self, tight):
+        """
+        Set whether :meth:`tight_layout` is used upon drawing.
+        If None, the rcParams['figure.autolayout'] value will be set.
+
+        ACCEPTS: [True | False | None]
+        """
         if tight is None:
             tight = rcParams['figure.autolayout']
         tight = bool(tight)
         self._tight = tight
-    tight = property(_get_tight, _set_tight,
-                     doc="If *True*, use :meth:`tight_layout`")
 
     def autofmt_xdate(self, bottom=0.2, rotation=30, ha='right'):
         """
@@ -880,7 +888,7 @@ def draw(self, renderer):
         if not self.get_visible(): return
         renderer.open_group('figure')
 
-        if self.tight and self.axes:
+        if self.get_tight_layout() and self.axes:
             try:
                 self.tight_layout(renderer)
             except ValueError:
@@ -1262,7 +1270,7 @@ def colorbar(self, mappable, cax=None, ax=None, **kw):
         """
         if ax is None:
             ax = self.gca()
-        use_gridspec = kw.pop("use_gridspec", False)
+        use_gridspec = kw.pop("use_gridspec", True)
         if cax is None:
             if use_gridspec and isinstance(ax, SubplotBase):
                 cax, kw = cbar.make_axes_gridspec(ax, **kw)
@@ -1405,6 +1413,12 @@ def tight_layout(self, renderer=None, pad=1.08, h_pad=None, w_pad=None, rect=Non
 
         from tight_layout import get_renderer, get_tight_layout_figure
 
+        no_go = [ax for ax in self.axes if not isinstance(ax, SubplotBase)]
+        if no_go:
+            warnings.Warn("Cannot use tight_layout;"
+                          " all Axes must descend from SubplotBase")
+            return
+
         if renderer is None:
             renderer = get_renderer(self)