_tkinter.TclError: can't invoke "wm" command: application has been destroyed

Install
sudo python -mpip install -U matplotlib

Successfully installed matplotlib-2.1.2

Code

    plt.show()
    fig.savefig('./result.png',bbox_inches='tight')  # save the figure to file
    plt.close(fig)  # close the figure

OS: Ubuntu 16.04,
The error:

fig.savefig('./result.png',bbox_inches='tight')  # save the figure to file
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 1834, in savefig
    self.canvas.print_figure(fname, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backend_bases.py", line 2188, in print_figure
    self.figure.dpi = dpi
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 436, in _set_dpi
    self.set_size_inches(w, h, forward=forward)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/figure.py", line 745, in set_size_inches
    manager.resize(int(canvasw), int(canvash))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_tkagg.py", line 540, in resize
    self.canvas._tkcanvas.master.geometry("%dx%d" % (width, height))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1667, in wm_geometry
    return self.tk.call('wm', 'geometry', self._w, newGeometry)
_tkinter.TclError: can't invoke "wm" command: application has been destroyed

Apparently the tk backend needs the figure window to be able to save the figure inside of it. Hence using the tk backend, the following fails.

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use("TkAgg")
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig = plt.figure()
plt.plot([1,2,3])

plt.show()
fig.savefig("test.png")

The usual way to circumvent this problem is to first save the figure and than show it. The following works as expected:

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use("TkAgg")
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig = plt.figure()
plt.plot([1,2,3])

fig.savefig("test.png")
plt.show()

Interestingly this is really a problem of the Tk backend. Using the Qt backend, it is possible to save the figure, even if the window does not exist anymore. The following works:

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use("Qt4Agg")
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig = plt.figure()
plt.plot([1,2,3])

plt.show()
fig.savefig("test.png")

So the issue here, if any, is probably rather: Is it really necessary for the Tk backend to have a window present in order to save a figure?

I think this is an issue similar to #8736; we should not be using the same figure manager to save the plot but just instantiate a new one.

Closed by #10292.

use agg backend when creating animate

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_tkinter.TclError: can't invoke "wm" command: application has been destroyed #10287

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_tkinter.TclError: can't invoke "wm" command: application has been destroyed #10287

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ImportanceOfBeingErnest commented on Jan 22, 2018

anntzer commented on Jan 22, 2018

anntzer commented on Jan 28, 2018

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