Bug report

Bug summary

This is basically the same issue as #6103, but I have found that the "correct" approach selectively fails on the macosx backend. I decided to open a separate issue because there's a lot going on in the original thread.

(BTW I do support the suggestion in the original thread that get_{x/y}ticklabels should implicitly draw so that it always returns a sensible result).

Code for reproduction

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
ax = plt.figure().subplots()
ax.plot(["a", "b", "c"], [1, 2, 3])
ax.figure.canvas.draw()
print(ax.get_xticklabels())

Actual outcome

Using the MacOSX backend:

[Text(0, 0, ''), Text(0, 0, ''), Text(0, 0, '')]

Expected outcome

Using an agg-based backend:

[Text(0, 0, 'a'), Text(1, 0, 'b'), Text(2, 0, 'c')]

Matplotlib version

• Operating system:
• Matplotlib version: (import matplotlib; print(matplotlib.__version__)) 3.3.3
• Matplotlib backend (print(matplotlib.get_backend())): macosx
• Python version: 3.8
• Jupyter version (if applicable): n/a
• Other libraries: n/a