Clear axis types during Plotly.newPlot

[etpinard]

fixes #1231

So that calling plot then newPlot using the same layout object does not lead to any side-effects.

For example,

var gd = document.getElementById('graph')
var layout = {};

var numberTrace = {
  x: [22000, 22100, 2300],
  type: "histogram"
};

var stringTrace = {
  x: ['apple', 'orange'],
  type: "histogram"
};

Plotly.plot(gd, [numberTrace], layout);

console.log(layout.xaxis.type)  // => 'linear'

// so subsequent `newPlot` will try to plot a categorical histogram
// on  a linear axis.

Plotly.newPlot(gd, [stringTrace], layout);

---

There are probably other auto attributes (referencing #1282) that could/should get the same treatment in newPlot. Obviously, the real way to fix this issue would to not mutate the user layout object, but that's a much harder project.

[etpinard]

@alexcjohnson thoughts on this?

[alexcjohnson]

If we do that, then you can't use newPlot in cases where the axis autotype is wrong.

One way I can imagine doing this that wouldn't be too invasive:

• when we set an autotype, save a private var (like _autotype: true) in the fullLayout axis.
• in your new loop in newPlot, instead do something like:

var axList = Plotly.Axes.list(gd);
for(var i = 0; i < axList.length; i++) {
    var ax = axList[i];
    var axIn = layout[ax._name];
    if(axIn && axIn.type && ax._autotype) axIn.type = '-';
}

[etpinard]

Ooops. I forgot to push one commit. Thanks for checking!

But I guess most importantly, would you be ok with this kind of (hacky) solution in newPlot?

[alexcjohnson]

would you be ok with this kind of (hacky) solution

yes - hack away :)

[etpinard]

Closing. We'll come up with a better solution as part of #1850