RE: st: number of dates in x axis

[Nick Cox <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

% sacrificial line. 

Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 


-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Cox 
Sent: 24 May 2011 19:16
To: 'statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu'
Subject: RE: st: number of dates in x axis

Please: I want to see the _exact_ code you typed. No commentary, no paraphrase, no speculation. If you want to debug your code yourself, feel free to do so. If you want me to try to debug your code, I am happy to try, but that means your code, not your thoughts about what might be wrong with your code. 

Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Maria Ana Vitorino
Sent: 24 May 2011 19:11
To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
Subject: Re: st: number of dates in x axis

I tried your code again (this time by pasting it into the do-file  
editor instead into the command window) and it worked. But my version  
is not working (I still get the invalid label specifier message).  
Could it be because my time variable has gaps? Also, how can one setup  
the "11" in your for loop without having to make mental calculations  
regarding the number of months?
Thanks for the help!
Ana


On May 24, 2011, at 1:31 PM, Nick Cox wrote:

> Yes. Show me the _exact_ code you typed.
>
> Nick
> n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu 
> ] On Behalf Of Maria Ana Vitorino
> Sent: 24 May 2011 18:29
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: st: number of dates in x axis
>
> Thanks Nick.
> I tried running your example but I got the error message "invalid
> label specifier, :  15341 15400 15461 ..."
> Any suggestions?
> Thanks!
> Ana
>
> On May 24, 2011, at 4:20 AM, Nick Cox wrote:
>
>> There is relevant material at
>>
>> Stata 7: How can I get "nice" date labels on a graph?
>>
>> http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/graphics/nicedate.html
>>
>> StataCorp have added this annotation:
>>
>> "Note: This FAQ is relevant for users of releases prior to Stata 8.
>> For Stata 8 see update from 12 September 2003."
>>
>> In fact the techniques there do remain useful for some problems.
>>
>> Here's an example with different data. Here I decide that I want
>> labels every 2 months from 1 January 2002 to 1 January 2003. I loop
>> over the dates and put them in a bag, namely a local macro.
>>
>> sysuse xtline1
>> xtset person day
>>
>> forval i = 1(2)11 {
>> 	local thisdate = mdy(`i', 1, 2002)
>> 	local mydates `mydates' `thisdate'
>> }
>>
>> local thisdate = mdy(1,1,2003)
>> local mydates `mydates' `thisdate'
>>
>> xtline calories, overlay xlabel(`mydates', format(%d_m_Y) ang(v))
>>
>> See also
>>
>> SJ-7-4  gr0030  . Stata tip 55: Better axis labeling for time points/
>> intervals
>>       . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>> N. J. Cox
>>       Q4/07   SJ 7(4):590--592                                 (no
>> commands)
>>       tip on labeling graphs for time points and time intervals
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 4:45 AM, Maria Ana Vitorino
>> <vitorino@wharton.upenn.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> I have the following data:
>>>
>>>
>>>   +------------------------+
>>>   | Person   Weight      Date    |
>>>   |------------------------|
>>> 1. |  Name1       50      17988  |
>>> 2. |  Name1       55      18110  |
>>> 3. |  Name1       50      18141  |
>>> 4. |  Name1       45      18171  |
>>> 5. |    ...        .      . |
>>>   |------------------------|
>>> 6. |  Name2       85      18110 |
>>> 7. |  Name2       88      18171 |
>>> 8. |  Name3       68      17988 |
>>> 9. |    ...        .                       . |
>>> 10. |     ..        .      .                 |
>>>   |------------------------|
>>> 11. |  NameN        .               . |
>>>   +------------------------+
>>>
>>> The labels for the date variables are the months' names (plus year)
>>> (e.g.
>>> "jan2006", "feb2007", etc)
>>>
>>> If I do something like:
>>>
>>> xtline Weight , overlay  i(Person) t(Date) xlab(, valuelabel)
>>>
>>> The month names show up on the xaxis BUT only every 6 months or so.
>>> How can
>>> I control the number of "ticks" (AND month names ) that show up on
>>> the
>>> x-axis? (suppose I want a tick every 2 months or even every month)
>>>
>
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