Re: st: RE: percent symbols in catplot

[Eric Booth <ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu>]

>
> " The only way -sum- should report a missing r(max) is if all the data in
> the variable were missing"

Before posting this statement, I had tried first testing this idea by storing the r(max) of an all missing variable in a local and displaying that local, and I did get a missing value for r(max), but the reason is that I used "r(max)", not "`r(max)'" (the latter of which is called in the example Martin & I have been passing back and forth).  I've always used these interchangeably, but this is an example of why that's not a good idea.
For instance,  if you change the if/else loop in Martin's last example to:
**
if mi(r(max)) {
	di in r "MISSING!!!"
} 
else{
	di in r "NOT MISSING!!!"
}
**
You get the MISSING!!! result.  
I've never noticed this difference between r(max) and `r(max)' after -sum-, but it looks like it's just the difference between how Stata stores an empty local macro (`r(max)') versus an empty scalar (r(max)).   E.g.,  

	di `r(nada)'

displays nothing at all, just like the `r(max)' for a variable that is all missing, and for

	di r(nada)

Stata displays a sysmiss or .

And because I'm not  sure whether "di r(nothing)" actually does store a sysmiss or if it's just the way Stata displays an empty scalar, this example shows the difference:

**
webuse auto, clear
sum mpg

local x: di r(max)
di "The value is `x'"
	*displays 41

local y: di r(nada)
di "The values is `y'"
	*displays sysmiss
**

~ Eric
__
Eric A. Booth
Public Policy Research Institute
Texas A&M University
ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu
Office: +979.845.6754
Fax: +979.845.0249
http://ppri.tamu.edu



On Feb 26, 2010, at 5:02 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:

> 
> <>
> 
> " The only way -sum- should report a missing r(max) is if all the data in
> the variable were missing"
> 
> 
> 
> I am not sure about that. It would appear from the example that "r(max)" is
> not returned at all in this case:
> 
> 
> *******
> clear*
> 
> set obs 100
> gen x=.
> ins x
> su x
> ret li
> 
> if mi(`r(max)') {
> 	di in r "MISSING!!!"
> } 
> else{
> 	di in r "NOT MISSING!!!"
> }
> 
> *******
> 
> 
> HTH
> Martin
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Eric Booth
> Sent: Freitag, 26. Februar 2010 23:37
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: st: RE: percent symbols in catplot
> 
>> 
> 
> On Feb 26, 2010, at 4:18 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:
> 
>> BTW Eric, is there a conceivable case that would require one to check for
> a
>> missing "r(max)"? Anyway, the instinct to check for missings whenever
>> "greater than" is employed is a healthy one :-)
> 
> No, it's just habit.  The only way -sum- should report a missing r(max) is
> if all the data in the variable were missing--which wouldn't lend its self
> to a useful graph.  
> 
> Thanks for updating this to address my second example.  In applying this to
> my real data, I used -graph combine- but this is faster than waiting on
> -graph combine-.  Also, there is an advantage in using the "by" option, in
> lieu of -graph combine-, in that it leaves out the extra set of yaxis
> labels, which looks much nicer, and it places the "by" group labels at the
> top of the graphs automatically.  
> 
> Best,
> 
> Eric
> __
> Eric A. Booth
> Public Policy Research Institute
> Texas A&M University
> ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu
> Office: +979.845.6754
> 
> On Feb 26, 2010, at 4:18 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:
> 
>> 
>> <>
>> 
>> The second graph requested in Eric`s initial post requires some
>> modification:
>> 
>> 
>> *******
>> sysuse auto, clear
>> contract rep78 foreign, percent(perc)
>>  *-----added
>> 	qui sum perc
>> 	local x = round(`r(min)', 10)
>> 	local y = round(`r(max)', 10)+10
>> 	local t 10
>> if `r(max)'>75 & !mi(`r(max)') {
>> 		local t  25
>> 	 }
>> 	mylabels `x'(`t')`y', local(labels) myscale(@) suffix("%")
>>  *------
>> gen strpercent=string(perc, "%4.1fc")+ " %"    /*chg. to 1 dec place*/
>> twoway (bar perc rep78)  /* 
>> */ (scatter perc rep78, mlabcolor(black) msymbol(none)  /* 
>> */ mlabsize(medium) mlabel(strpercent)  /* 
>> */ mlabposition(12)), by(foreign, legend(off)  note(""))  /* 
>> */ yla(`labels')   // <-- changed to use local created by -mylabels-
>> *******
>> 
>> BTW Eric, is there a conceivable case that would require one to check for
> a
>> missing "r(max)"? Anyway, the instinct to check for missings whenever
>> "greater than" is employed is a healthy one :-)
>> 
>> 
>> HTH
>> Martin
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Eric Booth
>> Sent: Freitag, 26. Februar 2010 22:33
>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> Subject: Re: st: RE: percent symbols in catplot
>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> Thanks, Martin.  
>> This is a great workaround for my situation (& it's much better than my
> idea
>> of tinkering with the .grec file output).  
>> 
>> 
>>> I failed to bring this up at the last wishes & grumbles in Florence. A
>>> -format- that adds the percentage sign, just like in spreadsheet
>> software...
>> 
>> Yes I agree, hopefully Stata will implement a percentage format someday.
>> 
>> ___
>> Just FYI for anyone else who needs something like this:  
>> I slightly modified Martin's example to use NJC's -mylabels- (from SSC &
>> referenced in the 2008 thread Martin referred me to)  so that I could
> easily
>> shift the yaxis with the range of the data in a way that makes sense for
> the
>> way I need to display results--so, something like:
>> 
>> *******begin
>> sysuse auto, clear
>> contract rep78, percent(perc)
>>  *-----added
>> 	qui sum perc
>> 	local x = round(`r(min)', 10)
>> 	local y = round(`r(max)', 10)+10
>> 	local t 10
>> 	if `r(max)'>75 & !mi(`r(max)') {
>> 		local t  25
>> 	 }
>> 	mylabels `x'(`t')`y', local(labels) myscale(@) suffix("%")
>>  *------
>> gen strpercent=string(perc, "%4.1fc")+ " %"    /*chg. to 1 dec place*/
>> twoway (bar perc rep78)  /* 
>> */ (scatter perc rep78, mlabcolor(black) msymbol(none)  /* 
>> */ mlabsize(medium) mlabel(strpercent)  /* 
>> */ mlabposition(12)), legend(off)  /* 
>> */ yla(`labels')   // <-- changed to use local created by -mylabels-
>> *******end
>> (note that the ylab changes from increasing by 10 to increasing by 25 if
> the
>> r(max) > 75)
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks again, 
>> 
>> Eric
>> __
>> Eric A. Booth
>> Public Policy Research Institute
>> Texas A&M University
>> ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu
>> Office: +979.845.6754
>> 
>> 
>> On Feb 26, 2010, at 2:47 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> <>
>>> 
>>> You can always go for a kludge:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> *******
>>> sysuse auto, clear
>>> contract rep78, percent(perc)
>>> gen strpercent=string(perc, "%4.2fc")+ " %"
>>> twoway (bar perc rep78)  /* 
>>> */ (scatter perc rep78, mlabcolor(black) msymbol(none)  /* 
>>> */ mlabsize(medium) mlabel(strpercent)  /* 
>>> */ mlabposition(12)), legend(off)  /* 
>>> */ yla(0 "0%" 10 "10%" 20 "20%" 30 "30%" 40 "40%" 50 "50%")
>>> *******
>>> 
>>> 
>>> HTH
>>> Martin
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>>> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Eric Booth
>>> Sent: Freitag, 26. Februar 2010 21:12
>>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>>> Subject: st: percent symbols in catplot
>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> I am using -catplot- (from SSC) on Stata 11 MP for Mac OSX.  I'd like to
>>> show the percent sign in the label for each of the category bars when
>> using
>>> the "percent" option.
>>> 
>>> For example, 
>>> ****
>>> webuse auto, clear
>>> catplot bar rep78,  percent blabel(bar, position(outside) format(%9.1f)) 
>>> **or**
>>> catplot bar rep78,  by( for)  percent blabel(bar, position(outside)
>>> format(%9.1f))
>>> ****
>>> shows the percent of each rep78 category out of 100, but I can't get it
> to
>>> show the % sign, so it could say "43.5%", etc.
>>> 
>>> Using graph editor, I found that I can add a % sign to the bar label text
>>> manually (though I'd rather not have to do that for many graphs), but
>> after
>>> looking through the barlabel options help documentation, I couldn't
> figure
>>> out how to change the bar label automatically.  (I had the idea that if I
>>> could override the bar labels like you can the text for a key in a legend
>>> then I could calculate and substitute these values into the -catplot-
>>> command in a loop, but I haven't found a way to do this using the
> barlabel
>>> option)
>>> 
>>> Another option might be to write something that automates those graph
>>> recorder grec file changes (ex:  when I add the "%" by hand, it issues
> the
>>> command:
>>> 
>>> .plotregion1.barlabels[3].text.Arrpush 43.5%
>>> 
>>> in the recording), but this is a pain.  Any suggestions?
>>> 
>>> Thanks, 
>>> 
>>> Eric
>>> __
>>> Eric A. Booth
>>> Public Policy Research Institute
>>> Texas A&M University
>>> ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu
>>> Office: +979.845.6754
>>> 
>>> *
> 
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