Add update functionality to make_subplots

[etpinard]

@theengineear @chriddyp

So that axes can be generated with custom attributes.

Perhaps like

tls.make_subplots(rows=4, cols=3, update_xaxes=dict(), update_yaxes=dict())

and/or

tls.make_subplots(rows=2, cols=2, specs=[[{update_xaxis=dict(), update_yaxis=dict()}, {}], [{}, {}]])

more info here.

[chriddyp]

I recall that we thought about adding an axes object or attribute to Figure and Layout to put axes into lists: #170 (comment)

which would allow easier:

for axis in Figure.axes:
  axis['showgrid'] = False

adding @aneda @cldougl

[etpinard]

@chriddyp

The for axis in Figure.axes pattern works great when looping over all axes, but not so much when pinpointing one axis or a handful of axes among all axes - as presented in this stack overflow Q.

[theengineear]

I still think that we're making a micro-language of the make_subplots call. I just feel like you need to (1) understand plotly json syntax and now (2) understand all of make_subplots to grok this code. That said, it's clearly a need if we're getting SO hits on it.

@etpinard the second method you suggest covers the user's needs, so I'd vote for that, even if it's a little more verbose.

Could we do something like this (and maybe this is what you were getting at with the first approach)?

tls.make_subplots(rows=2, cols=2, axes_updates=[
    {'target_axis': 'x', 'row': 1, 'col': 2, 'update': {'title': 'blah'},
    {'target_axis': 'all', 'row': 1, 'col': 2, 'update': {'type': 'log'}
])

That feels more readable to me. But maybe it's (1) not possible given how the code works or (2) working outside the specs system when we don't have to.

(2) cents : D

[gvwilson]

Hi - this issue has been sitting for a while, so as part of our effort to tidy up our public repositories I'm going to close it. If it's still a concern, we'd be grateful if you could open a new issue (with a short reproducible example if appropriate) so that we can add it to our stack. Cheers - @gvwilson