Re: st: Dates displaying as SIF rather than HIF on graphs...

[Peter Pressman <pspressman@gmail.com>]

It worked wonderfully.  Thank you!

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 7:32 AM, Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com> wrote:
> It is important to keep distinct the ideas of "storage type" and
> "display format" (not "display type"). Usually Stata graphs respect
> display formats; perhaps what's happening here is that the
> superimposition of graphs is causing Stata to give up on that; it's
> not noticed that the x variable is identical across graphs.
>
> Whatever the details, -xlabel()- has a suboption -format()- so start
> with the extra option
>
> xla(, format(%td))
>
> You might then need to spell out which dates you want shown and their
> precise format.
>
> See also http://www.stata-journal.com/sjpdf.html?articlenum=gr0030
>
> Nick
> njcoxstata@gmail.com
>
>
> On 20 December 2013 15:18, Peter Pressman <pspressman@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm new to Stata, and suspect there's an easy answer to this, but can't
>> find one that's quite what I need online despite a couple hours of reading.
>>
>> Briefly, I'm trying to graph the results of a mixed effects model that
>> compares brain volumes within subjects over time.  This means that for each
>> time, each subject number (PIDN) is associated with at least two volumes of
>> interest.
>>
>> The Date variable is taken directly from an Excel sheet.  In Data Browser,
>> the dates display as, for example, 1/1/2010.  When I describe the variable,
>> it's in integer format, with display type %td.
>>
>> I run the mixed effects models as follows:
>>
>> *xtset PIDN Date*
>>
>> *xtmixed Volume1 Date|| PIDN:*
>>
>> *xtmixed Volume2 Date|| PIDN:*
>>
>> Having obtained my results, I try to get something of a graphic
>> representation.
>>
>> *tsset LinkID Date, daily*
>>
>> *label variable Date "date"*
>>
>> *graph twoway (lfitc Volume1 Date)(lfitci Volume2 Date)(connected Volume1
>> Date, connect(L))(connected Volume 2 Date, connect(L)), name
>> (FS5_combinedlong) ///*
>> *graph save "FS5_combined_long.gph", replace ///*
>>
>> I can produce graphs without using tsset, but am including it here because
>> it seems necessary to manipulate date formatting based on what I've read.
>>
>> I am using the variable LinkID in the tsset because this is a variable that
>> uniquelyidentifies each observation.  It is the only way I've found to avoid
>> the "repeated time values" error.  Perhaps this is where the trouble lies?
>>
>> In any route, subsequently trying to use the format command on dates has
>> not worked.  Every time I graph, I get ugly SIF on my x-axis, with no clear
>> way to change it.
>>
>> All I want is the opportunity to display dates in MDY format on the x-axis.
>>  How do I make this happen?   Thank you!
>> *
>> *   For searches and help try:
>> *   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
>> *   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
>> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
> *
> *   For searches and help try:
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> *   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
*
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*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/