# Multiple traces plotly\_express **URL:** \ **Category:** đź“Š Plotly Python\ **Created:** [May 12, 2019, 8:09am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360 "2019-05-12T08:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sladkovm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@sladkovm](https://community.plotly.com/u/sladkovm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 8:09am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/1 "2019-05-12T08:09:36Z")
I’m trying to plot the multiple traces on one plot using the plotly\_express ```auto import plotly_express as px fig1 = px.scatter(df, x='date', y='cp_setting') fig1.add_scatter(df, x='date', y='20m_critical_power') fig1 ``` but stumble upon this error: ```auto The 'cliponaxis' property must be specified as a bool (either True, or False) ``` What are the general recommendations on how to plot multiple traces with px? ---
**Author:** ![nicolaskruchten](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/nicolaskruchten/32/7018_2.png) [@nicolaskruchten](https://community.plotly.com/u/nicolaskruchten)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/2 "2019-05-12T18:27:12Z")
The way you’re trying to do it is the recommended way… @jmmease any thoughts about this error? EDIT: I would now actually recommend doing things like this ```auto import plotly_express as px px.scatter(df.melt(id_vars="date"), x='date', y='value', color='variable') ``` ---
**Author:** ![jmmease](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/jmmease/32/3706_2.png) [@jmmease](https://community.plotly.com/u/jmmease)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 10:43am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/3 "2019-05-13T10:43:12Z")
Hi @sladkovm, This is the recommended way to add traces. Could you include the full stack trace for the error you’re getting? Also, if you could write out a sample data frame that causes the error that would be helpful. Thanks! -Jon ---
**Author:** ![sladkovm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@sladkovm](https://community.plotly.com/u/sladkovm)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/4 "2019-05-13T14:58:15Z")
```auto --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ValueError Traceback (most recent call last) in 1 fig = px.scatter(_df, x='date', y='cp_setting') ----> 2 fig.add_scatter(_df, x='date', y='20m_critical_power') 3 fig ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/cycling-analytics-o7NF_DiO/lib/python3.6/site-packages/plotly/graph_objs/_figure.py in add_scatter(self, cliponaxis, connectgaps, customdata, customdatasrc, dx, dy, error_x, error_y, fill, fillcolor, groupnorm, hoverinfo, hoverinfosrc, hoverlabel, hoveron, hovertemplate, hovertemplatesrc, hovertext, hovertextsrc, ids, idssrc, legendgroup, line, marker, mode, name, opacity, orientation, r, rsrc, selected, selectedpoints, showlegend, stackgaps, stackgroup, stream, t, text, textfont, textposition, textpositionsrc, textsrc, tsrc, uid, uirevision, unselected, visible, x, x0, xaxis, xcalendar, xsrc, y, y0, yaxis, ycalendar, ysrc, row, col, **kwargs) 7492 ycalendar=ycalendar, 7493 ysrc=ysrc, -> 7494 **kwargs 7495 ) 7496 return self.add_trace(new_trace, row=row, col=col) ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/cycling-analytics-o7NF_DiO/lib/python3.6/site-packages/plotly/graph_objs/ __init__.py in __init__ (self, arg, cliponaxis, connectgaps, customdata, customdatasrc, dx, dy, error_x, error_y, fill, fillcolor, groupnorm, hoverinfo, hoverinfosrc, hoverlabel, hoveron, hovertemplate, hovertemplatesrc, hovertext, hovertextsrc, ids, idssrc, legendgroup, line, marker, mode, name, opacity, orientation, r, rsrc, selected, selectedpoints, showlegend, stackgaps, stackgroup, stream, t, text, textfont, textposition, textpositionsrc, textsrc, tsrc, uid, uirevision, unselected, visible, x, x0, xaxis, xcalendar, xsrc, y, y0, yaxis, ycalendar, ysrc, **kwargs) 37400 # ---------------------------------- 37401 _v = arg.pop('cliponaxis', None) > 37402 self['cliponaxis'] = cliponaxis if cliponaxis is not None else _v 37403 _v = arg.pop('connectgaps', None) 37404 self['connectgaps'] = connectgaps if connectgaps is not None else _v ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/cycling-analytics-o7NF_DiO/lib/python3.6/site-packages/plotly/basedatatypes.py in __setitem__ (self, prop, value) 3164 # ### Handle simple property ### 3165 else: -> 3166 self._set_prop(prop, value) 3167 3168 # Handle non-scalar case ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/cycling-analytics-o7NF_DiO/lib/python3.6/site-packages/plotly/basedatatypes.py in _set_prop(self, prop, val) 3405 return 3406 else: -> 3407 raise err 3408 3409 # val is None ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/cycling-analytics-o7NF_DiO/lib/python3.6/site-packages/plotly/basedatatypes.py in _set_prop(self, prop, val) 3400 validator = self._validators.get(prop) 3401 try: -> 3402 val = validator.validate_coerce(val) 3403 except ValueError as err: 3404 if self._skip_invalid: ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/cycling-analytics-o7NF_DiO/lib/python3.6/site-packages/_plotly_utils/basevalidators.py in validate_coerce(self, v) 590 pass 591 elif not isinstance(v, bool): --> 592 self.raise_invalid_val(v) 593 594 return v ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/cycling-analytics-o7NF_DiO/lib/python3.6/site-packages/_plotly_utils/basevalidators.py in raise_invalid_val(self, v, inds) 275 typ=type_str(v), 276 v=repr(v), --> 277 valid_clr_desc=self.description())) 278 279 def raise_invalid_elements(self, invalid_els): ValueError: Invalid value of type 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame' received for the 'cliponaxis' property of scatter Received value: date cp_setting \ date 2003-07-10 22:00:00+00:00 2003-07-10 22:00:00+00:00 220.0 2003-07-11 22:00:00+00:00 2003-07-11 22:00:00+00:00 220.0 2003-07-12 22:00:00+00:00 2003-07-12 22:00:00+00:00 220.0 2003-07-13 22:00:00+00:00 2003-07-13 22:00:00+00:00 220.0 2003-07-15 22:00:00+00:00 2003-07-15 22:00:00+00:00 220.0 20m_critical_power date 2003-07-10 22:00:00+00:00 162.56768 2003-07-11 22:00:00+00:00 246.19832 2003-07-12 22:00:00+00:00 209.03568 2003-07-13 22:00:00+00:00 182.16999 2003-07-15 22:00:00+00:00 125.85205 The 'cliponaxis' property must be specified as a bool (either True, or False) ``` I wonder if it has anything to do with a datetime, but the vanilla plotly way seems to work: ```auto trace1 = go.Scatter(x=df.date, y=df.cp_setting, mode='lines', name='CP Setting') trace2 = go.Scatter(x=df.date, y=df['20m_critical_power'], mode='markers', name='20m Power') iplot(go.Figure([trace1, trace2])) ``` ---
**Author:** ![nicolaskruchten](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/nicolaskruchten/32/7018_2.png) [@nicolaskruchten](https://community.plotly.com/u/nicolaskruchten)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/5 "2019-05-13T15:07:08Z")
Ah sorry I didn’t see the `df` in your `fig1.add_scatter(df, ...` call! `add_scatter` doesn’t have the same “data frame + column names” API as Plotly Express so here you’ll need to do something like `fig.add_scatter(x=df.date, y=df.20m_critical_power)`. ---
**Author:** ![sladkovm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@sladkovm](https://community.plotly.com/u/sladkovm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/6 "2019-06-11T11:52:11Z")
Thanks, this works. I like add\_xxx API better. Does allow mixing columns from two different dataframes while plotting. ---
**Author:** ![tmbluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@tmbluth](https://community.plotly.com/u/tmbluth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/7 "2019-06-24T22:13:48Z")
What about for adding traces after you’ve split data by facets? For example: ``` import plotly_express as px import pandas as pd df = px.data.gapminder() df_grouped = df.groupby(['continent','year'], as_index=False).mean() px_plot = px.line(df_grouped, x='year', y='gdpPercap', color='continent', facet_row='continent') # Plot before.... px_plot ``` ![px_plot1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/plot/original/2X/9/9b510bb44a9500980f0a35d71a15e972d21351d2.png) ``` for c in list(df_grouped.continent.unique()): continent_df = df_grouped.loc[df_grouped.continent==c, :].reset_index() px_plot.add_scatter(x=continent_df.year, y=continent_df.lifeExp*100, name=continent_df.continent[0]) # ...plot after px_plot ``` ![px_plot2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/plot/original/2X/5/53f01af50dbc6b5cae99cc1a4f35a2e33e069c62.png) They all get plotted in the first facet but I’m hoping to add a trace within each facet based off the facet attribute(s) and/or color in a dual axis fashion. Any suggestions? PS Yes, this is a non-practical example, but was the easiest reproducible example to avoid sharing proprietary data ---
**Author:** ![nicolaskruchten](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/nicolaskruchten/32/7018_2.png) [@nicolaskruchten](https://community.plotly.com/u/nicolaskruchten)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/8 "2019-06-25T13:32:46Z")
This is tricky at the moment but in a couple of weeks when Plotly.py v4 is released, with Plotly Express built-in as `plotly.express` you’ll be able to add `row=n, col=m` in your `add_scatter()` call to target a specific facet. In the meantime, you’ll need to set the `yaxis` and `xaxis` attributes of your new traces to match whatever subplot you want to target. ---
**Author:** ![Soerendip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Soerendip](https://community.plotly.com/u/Soerendip)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/9 "2019-09-20T20:26:47Z")
What if I want to add a line\_3d?? fig does not have that property add\_line\_3d?? ---
**Author:** ![Soerendip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Soerendip](https://community.plotly.com/u/Soerendip)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/10 "2019-09-20T20:31:49Z")
fig.add\_scatter3d also does not work. It does not accept a dataframe as first argument. It would be nice if the api would be more consistent. ---
**Author:** ![nicolaskruchten](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/nicolaskruchten/32/7018_2.png) [@nicolaskruchten](https://community.plotly.com/u/nicolaskruchten)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/multiple-traces-plotly-express/23360/11 "2020-05-26T16:21:54Z")
With [version 4.8 of Plotly.py](https://community.plotly.com/t/announcing-plotly-py-4-8-plotly-express-support-for-wide-and-mixed-form-data-plus-a-pandas-backend/40048/1), you can now plot this kind of data directly from PX, with `y=['cp_setting', '20m_critical_power']`