Limit x axis range of THStack with variable bin width TH1F's

[Alex.Marantis]

Dear fellow ROOT users and experts,
I’m looking for a way to limit the range of the x axis when I’m drawing a THStack which contains a list of TH1F’s with variable bin widths.
As I understand, If a fixed binning width configuration is used, the SetLimits() function limits the range of the x axis successfully. Although, this doesn’t apply in the variable binning case.

This is something that I want to do, mainly for aesthetic reasons. (see histo below)
It would also work for me, if I could remove the last bin and just draw the overflow, which can be done only when drawing TH1’s, as I learned here (/draw-overflow-bin/6610)

Thank you in advance,
Alexandros

Here is a piece of code that I’m using in order to draw the aforementioned THStack

void SampleAnalyzer::Draw_m4l(vector<vector<double>> list_of_obs_vectors, vector<vector<double>> list_of_weight_vectors)
{
	auto hs = new THStack("hs","m4l");
	TCanvas *c1 = new TCanvas("c1", "canvas_m4l", 800, 600);
	int m = list_of_obs_vectors.size();
	TH1F** h = new TH1F*[m];
	
	const Int_t Nbins = 6;
	Double_t edges[Nbins+1] = { 130, 210, 250, 304, 400, 1130, 10000 };


	for (int i = 0; i < list_of_obs_vectors.size(); i++)
	{
		//------------- Make multiple histograms to store multiple vectors --------------//
		h[i] = new TH1F(TString::Format("h0_%d", i), "m4l", Nbins, edges);
		for (int j = 0; j < list_of_obs_vectors[i].size(); j++)
		{
			h[i]->Fill(list_of_obs_vectors[i][j], list_of_weight_vectors[i][j]);
		}
		h[i]->Sumw2();
		hs->Add(h[i]);
	} 

	c1->cd();


	h[0]->SetFillColor(2);
	h[1]->SetFillColor(4);
	h[2]->SetFillColor(5);
	h[3]->SetFillColor(6);
	h[4]->SetFillColor(8);
	h[5]->SetFillColor(29);
	h[6]->SetFillColor(39);



	// h[0]->GetXaxis()->SetRange(1,h[0]->GetNbinsX()+1);

	hs->Draw("hist");
   	hs->GetYaxis()->SetTitle("Yield");
   	hs->GetXaxis()->SetTitle("m_{4l} [GeV]");	
   	// hs->GetXaxis()->SetLimits(500, 2000);

   	TLegend *leg = new TLegend(0.781059,0.728167,0.98167,0.9171);
   	leg->SetBorderSize(0);
   	leg->SetFillStyle(0);
   	leg->SetNColumns(2);
   	leg->SetTextSize(0.03);
   	TLatex latex;
   	latex.DrawLatex(0.68,0.9, "#splitline{#scale[0.7]{#sqrt{s}=13 TeV, #it{#intLdt=139 fb^{-1}}}}{#scale[0.7]{#it{pp #rightarrow 4ljj}, f_{T0}=1 TeV^{-4}}}");

   	leg->AddEntry(h[0],"EWK","F");
   	leg->AddEntry(h[1],"ggQCD","F");
   	leg->AddEntry(h[2],"qqQCD","F");
   	leg->AddEntry(h[3],"ttV","F");
   	leg->AddEntry(h[4],"VVV","F");
   	leg->AddEntry(h[5],"FT0 quad","F");
   	leg->AddEntry(h[6],"FT0 linear","F");
   	leg->Draw();

   	c1->Update(); c1->Modified();
   	gPad->Modified(); gPad->Update();
}

_ROOT Version: 6.24/06
_Platform: macosx64
Compiler: Not Provided

[Wile_E_Coyote]

I think the problem is that “axis ranges” are always aligned with bin edges (i.e., you always get “whole” bins drawn).
So, try to set the upper axis range to something smaller than the last bin’s “low edge” (draw bins “1” to “nbins - 1”).

[Alex.Marantis]

Hello Wile,
thank you for the reply.
If I change from variable width binning to constant, let’s say from
{ 130, 210, 250, 304, 400, 1130, 10000 } to { 0,1500 } (having 6 bins in both cases), in the constant width binning case we will have the following bins: {0, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500}.
So, now, doing hs->GetXaxis()->SetLimits(130, 800), I get the histogram below, where in this case some bins (the 0-250 and the 750-1000) are partially drawn.
The alignment of the axis ranges with the bin edges, applies only for the variable width case?
Thanks again,
Alexandros

[Wile_E_Coyote]

TAxis::SetLimits changes (modifies) the “xmin” and “xmax” of a “fix bin size” axis.

To change the “viewing range”, you can use: TAxis::SetRange or: TAxis::SetRangeUser or: TH1::SetAxisRange

You can have better control if you use TPad::DrawFrame (needs user defined axes limits), e.g.:

TCanvas *c = new TCanvas("c", "c");
TH1F *hframe = c->DrawFrame(100., 0., 1300., 70., ";m_{4l} [GeV];Yield");
hs->Draw("HIST SAME");

[Wile_E_Coyote]

I haven’t really tested it myself well, but … maybe you can try a very brutal fix … after drawing the THStack, redefine (reinitialize) the x-axis with “fix bins”, e.g.:

hs->Draw("HIST");
hs->GetXaxis()->Set(50, 100., 1300.); // 50 bins from 100. to 1300.
gPad->Modifed(); gPad->Update(); // make sure it's really (re)drawn 

[Alex.Marantis]

The only problem here is that the distributions cover the axes tick marks.

[Alex.Marantis]

That solved my problem.
Thanks for your help!

[Wile_E_Coyote]

Try to add a final: gPad->RedrawAxis();