# Tikz stacked bars plot - change labels

I have the following bar plot.

The code for this is:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage[x11names]{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows, arrows.meta, bending, shapes, 3d, calc, fit, positioning}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
ybar stacked,
scale = 0.4,
bar width=15pt,
nodes near coords,
enlargelimits=0.15,
legend style={at={(0.5,-0.20)},
anchor=north},
ylabel={\#bla},
grid,
symbolic x coords={a,b,c,d},
xtick=data,
x tick label style={anchor=north},
]
\addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(a,5) (b,15) (c,1) (d,10)};
\addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(a,8) (b,29) (c,0) (d,1)};
\legend{\strut blubb, \strut peng}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


Obviously several things about this plot are not actually pretty. What I would like to change is:

• Make the numbers at the bars (the blue and red numbers) smaller without making the axis labels (black numbers) smaller, too.
• Control the positioning of the numbers at the bars (blue and red). In particular I do not want them to overlap and to extend over bar-borders such as the 5 on the left does.
• The red numbers always seem to add the two values given in the code. I do not want that. I want the blue number to represent how many 'blubb' I have and the red number who many 'peng' I have.

Can anyone help me with that? Thanks!

Soraltan

• I tried to add a greeting to be polite. However, the site would not accept my edit for some reason. So, now down below here: Hello everyone! – Soraltan Oct 24 '16 at 16:11
• Welcome to TeX.SX! I think you should read the meta.tex.stackexchange.com/q/1436/116930 page which explains very well how to write answers in TeX.SX – mattdanzi Oct 24 '16 at 17:08

I am pretty sure that the following solution addresses the points 1 and 3, but I don't know if I have understood point 2 correctly.

Point 1 can be achieved by adding

nodes near coords style={
font=\tiny,
},


and Point 3 is the default since PGFPlots v1.9.

For Point 2 I adapted the solution given here, where now the nodes are placed "above" the bar, if the current bar value is smaller than the given value to the new style, that is in this case

nodes near coords custom=5,


This works fine for the given values, because the small ones are always the last given (or the following are zero where a special handler skips these entries).

\documentclass[border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\pgfplotsset{
compat=1.9,
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
scale=0.4,
bar width=15pt,
% -----------------------------------------------------------------
% <https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/141006/95441>
% ----------
ybar stacked,
% Bottom nodes
% #1: the THRESHOLD after which we switch to a special display.
nodes near coords custom/.style={
large value/.style={
% everything is fine here, so I think there is no need
% to change something
},
small value/.style={
/pgfplots/scatter/position=absolute,
at={(axis cs:\pgfkeysvalueof{/data point/x},\pgfkeysvalueof{/data point/y})},
%        color=red,
text opacity=1,
inner ysep=0.5pt,
anchor=west,
},
every node near coord/.style={
check for zero/.code={%
\pgfmathfloatifflags{\pgfplotspointmeta}{0}{%
% If meta=0, make the node a coordinate (which doesn't have text)
\pgfkeys{/tikz/coordinate}%
}{%
\begingroup
% this group is merely to switch to FPU locally. Might be
% unnecessary, but who knows.
\pgfkeys{/pgf/fpu}%
\pgfmathparse{\pgfplotspointmeta<#1}%
\global\let\result=\pgfmathresult
\endgroup
%
% simplifies debugging:
%\show\result
%
\pgfmathfloatcreate{1}{1.0}{0}%
\let\ONE=\pgfmathresult
\ifx\result\ONE
% AH : our condition 'y < #1' is met.
\pgfkeysalso{/pgfplots/small value}%
\else
% ok, proceed as usual.
\pgfkeysalso{/pgfplots/large value}%
\fi
}
},
check for zero,
font=\tiny,
rotate=90,
},
},
nodes near coords={\pgfmathprintnumber[precision=1]{\pgfplotspointmeta}},
nodes near coords custom=5,
% -----------------------------------------------------------------
enlargelimits=0.15,
legend style={at={(0.5,-0.20)},
anchor=north},
ylabel={\#bla},
grid,
xtick=data,
% -----------------------------------------------------------------
% this has to be replaced by the xticklabels'
%            symbolic x coords={a,b,c,d},
xticklabels={a,b,c,d},
typeset ticklabels with strut,
% -----------------------------------------------------------------
ymin=0,
]
%            % because using the new style gives an error when using
%            % symbolic x coords' replace the symbols with integers
%            % starting from 1 and provide the symbols as xticklabels'
%            \addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(a,5) (b,15) (c,1) (d,10)};
%            \addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(a,8) (b,29) (c,0) (d,1)};
\addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(1,5) (2,15) (3,1) (4,10)};
\addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(1,8) (2,29) (3,0) (4,1)};

\legend{\strut blubb, \strut peng}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


• Hi, I know it is discouraged to revive a thread that has been dead for a year. But it is also rude to be offered very elaborate solutions to ones problems and to not respond to them. The thing is, that for private reasons I had to postpone the work on my thesis. And before I even knew, we are here, one year later. I finally got around to finishing my thesis and by that also to me brushing up the figures. This particular barplot looks so much cooler now. Thank you very much! – Soraltan Nov 3 '17 at 8:40

I've found this rough solution, but it doesn't satisfy all of your points:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage[x11names]{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows, arrows.meta, bending, shapes, 3d, calc, fit, positioning}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
ybar stacked,
grid,
bar width=15pt,
nodes near coords,
enlargelimits=0.2,
legend style={at={(0.5,-0.20)},
anchor=north,legend columns=-1},
ylabel={\#bla},
symbolic x coords={a,b,c,d},
xtick=data,
x tick label style={anchor=north},
]
\addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(a,2) (b,15) (c,1) (d,10) };
\addplot+[ybar] plot coordinates {(a,8) (b,29) (c,0) (d,1)};
\legend{blubb, peng}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}
`