st: Re: Arbitrary limits on number of data series for line plots

["Michael Blasnik" <michael.blasnik@verizon.net>]

Based on your example graph commands (identical line styles and symbols for 
all lines), wouldn't it work to reshape long and then use the connect(L) 
option after sorting by panel and date?  Also, -xtline- may be worth 
checking out, although I'm not sure what it's limitations may be with more 
than 100 panels.

Michael Blasnik
michael.blasnik@verizon.net

----- Original Message ----- 
"Allan Reese (Cefas)" <allan.reese@cefas.co.uk> wrote:


> Hi Stata plotters
> I have data in which numerous individuals were each observed for a short 
> time.  It makes sense to plot each individual against time, so the data 
> have been restructured with observations for each date and a response 
> variable for each individual:
>
>  day      y1   y2   y3 ...
>   1        v    .    .
>   2        v    .    .
>   3        v    v    v
>   4        v    v    v
>   5        v    .    v
>   6        v    .    v
>   7        .    .    v
>
> (v where there was an observation, and the days extend over several 
> years.)
>
>
> > From such data it is easy to plot several lines on one plot:
> scatter  y1-y3 day, c(l l l l) ms(i i i i)
>
> The extra items in the connect and symbol lists are ignored, which is 
> fortunate as I might use "y1-y20" where some individuals have been dropped 
> so the actual number of variables is not obvious.
>
> The first limit was hit at 20 y series.  I can't find in the documentation 
> a limit for the varlist in a scatter command.  I recall it used to be 
> about 29 y variables.  The command
> scatter  y1-y25 day, legend(off) pcycle(1)
> appears to work.  The options are only to avoid a multicolored plot 
> squashed by a huge legend.
> More points appear on each plot of y1-y15, y1-y20, y1-y25 so it appears 
> all series are plotted.
>
> However
> scatter y1-y21 day, c(l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l )
>                    ms(i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i ) 
> legend(off) pcycle(1)
> does NOT work.  Having more than 20 items in the option lists appears to 
> crash some buffer, and the plot reverts to default markers.
>
> BUG?  It appears the varlist can have more than 20 y variables, but the 
> connect list can have only 20 items.  (The style list recycles after 15 
> but I haven't tried extending that.)
>
> Since I had more than 20 individuals, the next step was to overlay 
> scatterplots:
> scatter y1-y20 datevar, c(L L L L L   L L L L L   L L L L L   L L L L 
>   )
>      ms(i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  )
>      || scatter y21-y40 datevar, c(L L L L L   L L L L L   L L L L L   L L 
> L L L   )
>      ms(i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  )
>      || scatter y41-y60 datevar, c(L L L L L   L L L L L   L L L L L   L L 
> L L L   )
>      ms(i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  )
>      || scatter y61-y80 datevar, c(L L L L L   L L L L L   L L L L L   L L 
> L L L   )
>      ms(i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  )
>      || scatter y81-y100 datevar, c(L L L L L   L L L L L   L L L L L   L 
> L L L L   )
>      ms(i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  i i i i i  )  pcycle(1) 
> legend(off) xlab(,angle(20)) ylab(,angle(0))
>
> And that (copied from the log) works.  But add one more "|| scatter y101 
> datevar" and get the error message "Too many variables specified".  100 
> variables may have seemed a generous limit when programmed, but can anyone 
> suggest a method to draw more lines on the same graph?
>
> Allan
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/