Unifying Plot (XY) data providers design.

[MatthewKhouzam]

Right now we have several XY data providers:

It would be interesting to investigate the data providers and see if there's a way to have a unified code path. In doing so, it could lead to a universal customized xy tree data provider. This in turn would allow for that dataprovider to be properly customizable.

Warning: this could be API breaking, I think we need to discuss it from an Architecture level.

One thing to ask here: what would the ideal XY plot have as parameters to customize? I would love insights from more UXy people as this pertains to DX (Developer experience). @ebugden.

[ebugden]

@MatthewKhouzam Before weighing in, I'd need a better understanding of the underlying user problem that this solution proposes to address. Is the problem that XY charts cannot be "customized" at the moment? Could you clarify what "customization" refers to?

[MatthewKhouzam]

The XY chart can be customized by code. We noticed students getting paralyzed unable to pick which data provider to extend.

Customization ideas:

• title
• axes (units, formating)
• is the data cumulative or absolute
• series palette
• I need more ideas

[ebugden]

I'm still fuzzy on what's going on. Is the underlying problem is that Trace Compass contributors and extenders who want to add a new XY view are unsure about which data provider to extend? And the proposed solution is to refactor to have one general XY data provider whose code can be more easily adapted to different graphical encodings e.g. different axis units/titles?