Re: st: bar graph axis color- frustrated

["Michael N. Mitchell" <Michael.Norman.Mitchell@gmail.com>]

Dear Michael

  I think you can use the -marker()- option...

graph dot (asis) mean*, over(var) name(reshape, replace) marker(1, msymbol(Oh)) marker(2, 
msymbol(d))

Does that do the trick?

Michael N. Mitchell
Data Management Using Stata      - http://www.stata.com/bookstore/dmus.html
A Visual Guide to Stata Graphics - http://www.stata.com/bookstore/vgsg.html
Stata tidbit of the week         - http://www.MichaelNormanMitchell.com



On 2010-06-11 4.19 PM, Michael McCulloch wrote:
> On this example code of dot plots, how would one change the dots to
> other shapes?
> Following -help graph dot-, I tried:
> graph dot (asis) mean*, over(var) name(reshape, replace) dots(msymbol(o d))
> but received the error message:
> (note: named style smcircle d not found in class symbol, default
> attributes used
>
>
>
> **** begin David's example ****
> sysuse auto,clear
> local i = 1
> foreach var of varlist mpg head turn gear {
> local l`var' : var label `var'
> local a " `a' `i' `"`l`var''"' "
> local ++i
> }
> collapse mpg head turn gear, by(fore)
> stack mpg head turn gear, into(a) clear
> label def _stack `a'
> label val _stack _stack
> bys _s: gen origin = _n -1
> reshape wide a, i(_s) j(origin)
> label var a0 "Domestic"
> label var a1 "Foreign"
> graph dot (asis) a*, over(_s) name(stack, replace)
>
> /* Dave */
> sysuse auto,clear
> collapse (mean) mpg head turn gear, by(foreign)
> foreach var of varlist mpg-gear {
> rename `var' mean`var'
> }
> gen row = _n
> reshape long mean, i(row) j(var) string
> drop row
> reshape wide mean, i(var) j(foreign)
> label var mean0 "Domestic"
> label var mean1 "Foreign"
> graph dot (asis) mean*, over(var) name(reshape, replace)
>
> **** end David's example ****
>
>
> On Jun 11, 2010, at 3:27 PM, Kieran McCaul wrote:
>
> > ...
> >
> > OK, I agree, Nick. Putting more examples into the documentation would
> > be unnecessary, but I do think that the documentation could be a little
> > clearer.
> >
> > I rarely do bar graphs, but let's say I had to do one.
> >
> > I first generate the bar graph with the minimal number of options set.
> > It looks OK, so now I start modifying it to get the final graph that I
> > want.
> >
> > One of the things I want to do is specify axes of a certain width and
> > colour. Now I know how to do this for scattergrams, line graphs, etc,
> > so this should be no big deal, so naively I add in -xscale(lw(*2)
> > lc(red))-, but this doesn't work.
> >
> > OK, so I look at the help file and I see "axis_options". Fine, I look
> > at these.
> >
> > There is nothing in there about the x-axis, other than the option
> > -xalternate-; everything else is about the y-axis.
> >
> > How do I set the options for the x-axis? Where do I look? I'm not
> > going to believe that the programmers who wrote -graph bar- didn't
> > anticipate that someone would want to tinker with the look of the
> > x-axis, so I "know" the options will be in there.
> >
> > So I go back up to the top of the help file and start reading it, line
> > by line, and eventually I find them: -axis(cat_axis_line_options)- is
> > one of the options of -yvaroptions-.
> >
> > Now this seems a tad obscure to me. If I'm looking for axis options and
> > I see a hyperlink called axis_options, then that's where I would go.
> > I'm hardly going to go looking in -yvaroptions-.
> >
> > So, I think the help file could be a bit more helpful. By all means
> > keep the x-axis options in -yvaroptions-, but I think that it would be
> > helpful to have a note in the -axis_options- that simply said something
> > like "If you want to alter the characteristics of the x-axis, go to the
> > options listed under -yvaroptions-".
> >
> > Kieran
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> > [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Cox
> > Sent: Friday, 11 June 2010 6:03 PM
> > To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> > Subject: RE: st: bar graph axis color- frustrated
> >
> > This isn't (meant to be) contentious, but the thread does underline that
> > none of half-a-dozen experienced Stata users knew the answer just like
> > that, including Michael Mitchell who has written an entire book on Stata
> > graphics.
> >
> > (I was asleep, but I wouldn't have known either.)
> >
> > But the solution is documented and the tail statement in
> >
> > "yvaroptions(over_subopts) allows you to specify over_subopts for the
> > yvars. This is seldom done."
> >
> > appears to be quite correct.
> >
> > There is a fine line between answering all possible questions and
> > bloating the documentation further. Sometimes the longer your help
> > files, the less people are inclined to read through them.
> >
> > Nick
> > n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk
> >
> > Kieran McCaul
> >
> > it's really buried away, isn't it.
> >
> > Changing the look of the category axis is really something I would
> > expect people would want to do. Perhaps the Graphics Manual could be
> > updated to show a few examples.
> >
> >
> >
> > *
> > * For searches and help try:
> > * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
> > * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> > * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
> >
> > *
> > * For searches and help try:
> > * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
> > * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> > * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Michael McCulloch, LAc MPH PhD
> Pine Street Foundation
> 124 Pine Street
> San Anselmo, CA 94960-2674
> tel: 415-407-1357
> fax: 206-338-2391
>
> *
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*
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