I though that calling draw() would update the active
> figure without starting the mainloop already, or am I
> confused? Alternatively, in the fltk backend, I have
> allowed calling show() multiple times, it just check
> before running the mainloop that it is not already
> running...Maybe this is also feasible in a more general
> way?
The matlab interface draw function does not need the renderer passed
as an arg (the FigureCanvas.draw method does) and it is intended for
interactive use when you want to force a redraw
>>> o = title('blah')
>>> o.set_fontsize(12) # no draw
>>> o.set_fontstyle('italic') # no draw
>>> draw() # draw
Perry and I discussed trying to come up with some python magic such
that calls to setattr on an artist would trigger a call to
the matlab interface draw_if_interactive. This would have to be done
carefully, because some users will explicitly not want to force a
redraw on any call to a setter since drawing is potentially an
expensive operation. True, they could temporarily turn interaction
off, but I think any solution here would need to be optional.
JDH