# Decorating a PGFPlots bar graph with Tikz decorations [closed]

Update :- This appears to be a problem in which nodes near coords are handled by PGFPlots and incompatibility with Tikz decorations and fading library. I simply commented the nodes near coords line and I got squiggly lines in the top graph and no errors. However, I would still like to know in future, how to use nodes near coords while using decorations. I am still not sure if this constitutes a bug report though.

Original Problem:- I would like to decorate a bar graph in PGFPlots using Tikz decorations library. I find that when I try to decorate it with say zigzag or snake or random steps, it throws an error. This seems specific to bar graphs though. I went to my original data and I tried to decorate a similar data in Histogram plot (Histogram distribution itself is calculated in PGFPlots from raw data), wherein I took the original dataset, used PGFPlots to draw the histogram plot and used Tikz to decorate. To my amazement if I used PGFPlots to calculate the histogram, the options seem to be different than when I use a bar graph on preprocessed data. I would like to decorate the bar graph shown in top figure similar to line edges shown in bottom figure. I have attached the code that generates both. How could I do that?

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,svgnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{filecontents*}{Total_Histogram.dat}
0.00000000e+00 2.00000000e+00
5.00000000e-01 0.00000000e+00
1.00000000e+00 3.00000000e+00
1.50000000e+00 3.00000000e+00
2.00000000e+00 4.00000000e+00
2.50000000e+00 1.00000000e+00
3.00000000e+00 2.00000000e+00
3.50000000e+00 1.00000000e+00
4.00000000e+00 2.00000000e+00
4.50000000e+00 2.00000000e+00
5.00000000e+00 3.00000000e+00
5.50000000e+00 5.00000000e+00
6.00000000e+00 3.00000000e+00
6.50000000e+00 4.00000000e+00
7.00000000e+00 7.00000000e+00
7.50000000e+00 5.00000000e+00
8.00000000e+00 4.00000000e+00
8.50000000e+00 0.00000000e+00
9.00000000e+00 2.00000000e+00
9.50000000e+00 2.00000000e+00
1.00000000e+01 1.00000000e+00
1.05000000e+01 0.00000000e+00
1.10000000e+01 3.00000000e+00
1.15000000e+01 2.00000000e+00
1.20000000e+01 0.00000000e+00
1.25000000e+01 0.00000000e+00
1.30000000e+01 1.00000000e+00
1.35000000e+01 0.00000000e+00
1.40000000e+01 0.00000000e+00
1.45000000e+01 0.00000000e+00
1.50000000e+01 0.00000000e+00
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{filecontents*}{Quiz1_Data_EE1100_Spring2014.txt}
0   1   1   0   3   4   9
0   0   0   0.5 1.5 2.5 4.5
1   1   0   0   1.5 2.5 6
0   0   0   0   1.5 4   5.5
1   1   1   1   3   4   11
1   1   0   0   0   1   3
1   0.5 0   0   3   0   4.5
1   0.5 0   0   0   0   1.5
1   1   1   0   3   4   10
1   0   1   1   0   4   7
1   1   0   0   1.5 6   9.5
1   0   0   0.5 1.5 4   7
1   0   0   0   1.5 4.5 7
0   0   1   0.5 1.5 2   5
1   0   0   0.5 3   1.5 6
1   1   1   1   3   6   13
1   1   0   0   0   6   8
0   0   0   0   0   0   0
0   1   1   1   1.5 1   5.5
0   1   0   0.5 3   7   11.5
1   1   1   0.5 3   1   7.5
1   1   0   0   1.5 2   5.5
1   0   0   0.5 1.5 1   4
1   1   1   1   2   1   7
1   0   1   0   1.5 2   5.5
1   0   1   0   3   3   8
1   0   0   0   0   1   2
1   1   0   0.5 1.5 3   7
1   1   1   0.5 3   1   7.5
0   1   1   0.5 3   2   7.5
1   1   0   0   1.5 8   11.5
1   0   0   0   0   0   1
0   0   1   0   3   1   5
1   1   0   0.5 3   2   7.5
0   1   0   0   1.5 0   2.5
1   1   0   0.5 3   1   6.5
1   1   1   1   3   4   11
1   1   1   0   1.5 5   9.5
1   1   1   0.5 1.5 3   8
1   0   0   0.5 0   2   3.5
1   0   1   0   1.5 3   6.5
0   1   1   1   3   3   9
1   0   0   0   0   1   2
1   0   1   0   1.5 3   6.5
1   1   0   0.5 0   1.5 4
1   1   1   0   0   4   7
0   0   0   0   1.5 0   1.5
1   1   1   0.5 1.5 6   11
1   1   1   0.5 1.5 3   8
0   0   0   0   0   0   0
1   1   0   0.5 3   1   6.5
1   1   1   0   0   4   7
0   1   0   0   0   0   1
1   0   1   0   0   0   2
1   0   0   0   0   4   5
0   1   0   0.5 1.5 0   3
0   1   0   0   0   0   1
1   0   0   0   0   1   2
1   0   1   0   1.5 2   5.5
1   0   1   0   0   4   6
1   1   1   0   1.5 3   7.5
0   0   0   0.5 0   1   1.5
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\centering
\begin{axis}
[
width=\textwidth,
ybar,
ymin=0,
xtick=data,
xticklabel style={rotate=45},
legend columns=-1,
nodes near coords,
every node near coord/.append style={
rotate=30,
xshift=1mm,
inner sep=1pt,
color=gray
},
ytick={0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7},
ymajorgrids,
major grid style={thick,white},
axis on top,
tick pos=left,
xlabel=Total Points in Quiz-1,
ylabel=Number of Students,
x label style={at={(axis description cs:0.5,-0.05)},anchor=north},
title={\bf Performance of students in Quiz-1}
]

\addplot+[color=red!30,draw=black,forget plot] table [y index=1,x index=0,skip coords between index={5}{31}]{Total_Histogram.dat};
\addplot+[color=yellow!30,draw=black,forget plot] table [y index=1,x index=0,skip coords between index={0}{5},skip coords between index={11}{31}]{Total_Histogram.dat};
\addplot+[color=blue!30,draw=black,forget plot] table [y index=1,x index=0,skip coords between index={0}{11},skip coords between index={17}{31}]{Total_Histogram.dat};
\addplot+[color=green!30,draw=black] table [y index=1,x index=0,skip coords between index={0}{17}]{Total_Histogram.dat};

\node [fill=red!30,,decoration={random steps,segment length=6pt,amplitude=2pt},decorate] at (axis cs:0.65,3.75) {Attention};
\node [fill=yellow!30] at (axis cs:3.5,3.75) {C,D grades};
\node [fill=blue!30] at (axis cs:7,7.35) {B grade};
\node [fill=green!30] at (axis cs:11,3.75) {A,S grades};
\draw [->,blue,ultra thick] (axis cs:5.9,0) -- (axis cs:5.9,6.5) node [anchor=north east,draw=gray,xshift=-1.5mm]{Average=5.9};
\draw [<->,gray,ultra thick]    (axis cs:-0.1,5.4) -- (axis cs:5.8,5.4) node [anchor=north,midway]{28 Students};
\draw [<->,gray,ultra thick]    (axis cs:6.0,5.4) -- (axis cs:15,5.4) node [anchor=north,midway]{34 Students};
\end{axis}

\end{tikzpicture}

top color=transparent!20,
bottom color=transparent!20,
middle color=transparent!50]

\begin{axis}[
width=\textwidth,
ymin=0,
title=Quiz-1 Total Points,
xtick=data,
x tick label style = {rotate=45},
ybar interval,
xtick align=outside,
xmajorgrids=false,
enlarge x limits=false,
ymajorgrids=true,
xlabel=Total points obtained,
ylabel=Number of Students,ytick=data,
x label style={at={(axis description cs:0.5,-0.05)},anchor=north},
thick
]

\end{axis}

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}


By Commenting Nodes near coords and adding decorations, I get the following image:-

However, now I cannot use nodes near coords any more.

## closed as off-topic by Bobyandbob, Phelype Oleinik, Troy, Sebastiano, Henri MenkeMar 26 '18 at 20:23

• This question does not fall within the scope of TeX, LaTeX or related typesetting systems as defined in the help center.
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

• Sorry, I don't understand By Commenting Nodes near coords and adding decorations. How did you get last figure, i.e bar with decorations? – ferahfeza Mar 11 '14 at 13:54
• @ferahfeza if you notice the first figure, there are nodes near coords that is, every bar has got a number on the top. In the last figure, I added the keyword decorate and decoration type, however the compiler threw an error. If I commented nodes near coords line, then the last figure is obtained. This is probably a bug wherein PGFPlots does not process nodes near coords correctly with Tikz decorations or fadings turned on. – anakrich Mar 11 '14 at 17:00
• Please give the tikzpicture code part for the last figure. – ferahfeza Mar 11 '14 at 17:36
• @anakrich Is your problem solved with an package update? – Bobyandbob Feb 9 '18 at 21:26
• I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because a package update solved the problem. – Bobyandbob Mar 26 '18 at 16:46