class_docstr: String representation of the data at every tick
class_docstr_tok: ["String","representation","of","the","data","at","every","tick"]
docstr: Converts text values into `utf-8` or `ascii` strings
          
docstr_tok: ["Converts","text","values","into","`","utf-8","`","or","`","ascii","`","strings"]
code: def _text(value):
      """Converts text values into `utf-8` or `ascii` strings"""
      if LooseVersion(np.__version__) < LooseVersion("1.7.0"):
          if isinstance(value, (six.text_type, np.unicode)):
              value = value.encode("utf-8", "ignore").decode("utf-8")
      if isinstance(value, (np.bytes_, six.binary_type)):
          value = value.decode(encoding="utf-8")
      elif not isinstance(value, (np.str_, six.string_types)):
          value = str(value)
      return value
  
imports: from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
  from collections import OrderedDict
  import itertools
  import six
  import numpy
  import matplotlib.units
  import matplotlib.ticker
  from distutils.version import LooseVersion
label_desc: Use image node_id 3 for calling the StrCategoryFormatter obj's underlying member method code with example usage: obj._text(value) and returns: value