`stc.plot()` closes when run non-interactively

[cbrnr]

Running the following snippet non-interactively results in the figure closing almost immediately:

import mne

data_path = mne.datasets.sample.data_path()
stc_fname = data_path / "MEG" / "sample" / "sample_audvis-meg-eeg"
stc = mne.read_source_estimate(stc_fname)
stc.plot("sample", subjects_dir=data_path / "subjects")

Traceback:

Using pyvistaqt 3d backend.
Using control points [ 5.17909658  6.18448887 18.83197989]
Press Enter to close...^CError calling Python override of QWidget::eventFilter(): Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/clemens/Projects/mne-python/.venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt.py", line 265, in eventFilter
    def eventFilter(self, source, event):
    
KeyboardInterrupt
 source /Users/clemens/Projects/mne-python/.venv/bin/activate

[cbrnr]

Wait, that might have been a spurious error. The main problem, however, is that the figure does not block like e.g. raw.plot() (all interactive GUIs should block by default).

[wmvanvliet]

There's a difference though between "figures" and "interactive GUIs". The co-registration GUI is an "interactive GUI", but the brain plots are mostly figures. With figures, a common use case is to generate them as part of a running script and save them as a file or add them to an HTML report. For that, it is super helpful that stc.plot() does not block (it doesn't have a show not block parameter)

[cbrnr]

Yes, but the point is that just like raw.plot(), stc.plot() should have a block argument (default False) to support both use cases.

[Gnefil]

Interestingly, this error didn't show up for me. In case it is helpful, mne.sys_info():

Using pyvistaqt 3d backend.
Using control points [ 3.95048042  4.569413   17.72451426]
QWindowsWindow::setGeometry: Unable to set geometry 1577x1745+801+405 (frame: 1599x1801+790+360) on QWidgetWindow/"_MNEMainWindowClassWindow" on "B160QAN02.7 ". Resulting geometry: 1577x1570+801+405 (frame: 1599x1626+790+360) margins: 11, 45, 11, 11 minimum size: 309x132 MINMAXINFO(maxSize=POINT(x=0, y=0), maxpos=POINT(x=0, y=0), maxtrack=POINT(x=0, y=0), mintrack=POINT(x=486, y=254)))
Platform             Windows-11-10.0.26200-SP0
Python               3.12.7 (tags/v3.12.7:0b05ead, Oct  1 2024, 03:06:41) [MSC v.1941 64 bit (AMD64)]
Executable           D:\cloud\Projects\mne-python\.venv\Scripts\python.exe
CPU                  Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900HX (32 cores)
Memory               63.6 GiB

Core
 X mne               1.12.0.dev128+gcdbdf9200 (outdated, release 1.12.1 is available!)
 + numpy             2.4.3 (OpenBLAS 0.3.31.dev with 24 threads)
 + scipy             1.17.1
 + matplotlib        3.10.8 (backend=qtagg)

Numerical (optional)
 + scikit-learn      1.8.0
 + threadpoolctl     3.6.0
 + nibabel           5.4.2
 + dipy              1.12.0
 + pandas            3.0.1
 + h5py              3.16.0
 - unavailable       numba, nilearn, openmeeg, python-picard, cupy, h5io

Visualization (optional)
 + pyvista           0.47.1 (OpenGL 4.5.0 - Build 32.0.101.6790 via Intel(R) RaptorLake-S Mobile Graphics Controller)
 + pyvistaqt         0.11.3
 + vtk               9.6.1
 + qtpy              2.4.3 (PySide6=6.11.0)
 + pyqtgraph         0.14.0
 + mne-qt-browser    0.7.5
 - unavailable       ipympl, ipywidgets, trame, trame_client, trame_server, trame_pyvista, trame_vtk, trame_vuetify

Ecosystem (optional)
 + mne-bids          0.18.0
 + mne-connectivity  0.8
 + neo               0.14.4
 + pymef             1.4.8
 - unavailable       mne-nirs, mne-features, mne-icalabel, mne-bids-pipeline, autoreject, eeglabio, edfio, curryreader, mffpy, pybv, antio, defusedxml

[cbrnr]

Yeah, never mind the error, that was on me. @larsoner WDYT about adding a block argument?

[larsoner]

Hmmm I'd rather not add a block everywhere (I'd rather remove it if we could in favor of some function probably), but given stc.plot can be used with many interactive controls I can live with it

[cbrnr]

I agree, block should be the exception, but I think it makes sense for GUIs like the raw browser. The STC plot seems to fall in the same category, at least partially. There are probably more, but I'd say YAGNI and let's just fix this one.