How to color the area under a curve using tikz datavisualization?

Question

normally i'm using plain tikz for curve plotting. I need "school book style" coordinate systems with a 50mm grid.

I tried using the tikz data visualization library.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{datavisualization}
\usetikzlibrary{datavisualization.formats.functions}

\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[]
\datavisualization [ 
      school book axes={unit=0.5},
      visualize as smooth line, 
      x axis={label={$x$},grid,grid={minor steps between steps=1}}, 
      y axis={label={$y$},grid,grid={minor steps between steps=1}},
      every major grid/.style = {style={gray, thin}},
      every minor grid/.style = {style={gray, very thin}}
]

data [format=function] { 
  var x : interval [-2:2]; 
  func y = 1/2*(\value x)^2; 
}
info' {
   \fill[fill=lightgray] (visualization cs: x=1, y=0) -- plot [domain=1:2] (visualization cs: x=\x,y={0.5*(\x)^2}) -- (visualization cs: x=2, y=0) --cycle;
}
;
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

The only thing i did not get right, is coloring the area under a curve. I tried the following in the info' block:

\fill[fill=lightgray] (visualization cs: x=1, y=0) -- plot [domain=1:2] (visualization cs: x=\x,y={0.5*(\x)^2}) -- (visualization cs: x=2, y=0) --cycle;

But this results in a PGF Math Error. Package PGF Math Error: Could not parse input '0.5*(1)^2'

I guess i need a way to tell the plot command to use the visualization cs.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

Answer 1

Better create a new visualizer different from visualize as line. So I copy the definition of the latter from tikzlibrarydatavisualization.code.tex. The only different is that

every path/.style={draw},

is changed to

every path/.style={draw,fill},

\documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{datavisualization,datavisualization.formats.functions}

\begin{document}

\makeatletter
\tikzdatavisualizationset{
  visualize as pie/.style={
    new object={
      when=after survey,
      store=/tikz/data visualization/visualizers/#1,
      class=plot handler visualizer,
      arg1=#1,
      arg2={\tikz@dv@plot@handler,\tikz@dv@plot@mark@maker}
    },
    new visualizer={#1}{%
      every path/.style={draw,fill},
      style={every mark/.append style={color=visualizer color}},
      mark size=2pt,
      semithick,
      color=visualizer color,
      mark=none,
      /tikz/data visualization/every visualize as line/.try,
    }{visualizer in legend=\tikz@dv@legend@entry@as@example},
    #1={straight line}
  },
  visualize as pie/.default=pie,
}

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \datavisualization[
        school book axes={unit=0.5},
        x axis={label={$x$},grid,grid={minor steps between steps=1}}, 
        y axis={label={$y$},grid,grid={minor steps between steps=1}},
        every major grid/.style={style={gray,thin}},
        every minor grid/.style={style={gray,very thin}},
        visualize as pie
    ]
        data point[x=-2, y=0]
        data[format=function]{var x :interval [-2:2];func y =1/2*(\value x)^2;}
        data point[x=2, y=0];
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Not exactly using visualization but pgfplots with its fillbetween library. This will look easy.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.11}
\usetikzlibrary{fillbetween}

\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[]
  \begin{axis}[
    grid=both,
    ymin=0,
    xmin=-3,xmax=3,
    axis on top
    ]
    \addplot[draw=none,name path=A,domain=-2:2,fill=olive!40] {1/2*(x)^2}\closedcycle;
    \addplot[solid,thick,red,domain=-2:2] {1/2*(x)^2};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

I have first filled the region and the plotted the curve so as to avoid the lines around the fill. Also, axis on top helps in keeping the x axis on top in this case.

Answer 3

Using coordinate calculation (\usetikzlibrary{calc}) one can do a coordinate transformation. Unfortunately, I only found this kind of messy transformation, maybe someone can post a cleaner way to do this.

info' {
  \begin{scope}[shift={(visualization cs:x=0, y=0)},
     x={($(visualization cs:x=1, y=0)-(visualization cs:x=0, y=0)$)},
     y={($(visualization cs:x=0, y=1)-(visualization cs:x=0, y=0)$)}]
    \fill[fill=lightgray] (1,0) -- plot [domain=1:2] (\x,{0.5*(\x)^2}) -- (2, 0) --cycle;
  \end{scope}
}