Currently the state of the MPL toolbar is not publicly available and must be accessed via fig.canvas.manager.toolbar._active. Accessing via _active is dangerous as it is private and could potentially be altered without notice [link].(http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20711148/ignore-matplotlib-cursor-widget-when-toolbar-widget-selected/20712813#20712813.)

Is it possible to provide public access to the toolbar state so that widgets can 'fire' only when a toolbar item is not selected. As an example, if a cursor widget is used to generate subplots, it currently generates a subplot based on the point of an initial pan or zoom request (toolbar item).

@tacaswell