1. Home
  2. DTABLE procedure

DTABLE procedure

Plots tables (R.W. Payne).

Options

GRAPHICS = string token Type of graph (highresolution, lineprinter); default high
METHOD = string token What to plot (points, linesandpoints, onlylines, data, barchart, splines); default poin
XFREPRESENTATION = string token How to label the x-axis (levels, labels); default labels uses the XFACTOR labels, if available
DFSPLINE = scalar Number of degrees of freedom to use when METHOD=splines
YTRANSFORM = string tokens Transformed scale for additional axis marks and labels to be plotted on the right-hand side of the y-axis (identity, log, log10, logit, probit, cloglog, square, exp, exp10, ilogit, iprobit, icloglog, root); default iden i.e. none
PENYTRANSFORM = scalar Pen to use to plot the transformed axis marks and labels; default * selects a pen, and defines its properties, automatically
KEYMETHOD = string token What to use for the key descriptions when there are GROUPS (labels, namesandlabels); default name
PLOTTITLEMETHOD = string token What to use for the titles of the plots when there are TRELLISGROUPS (labels, namesandlabels); default name
PAGETITLEMETHOD = string token What to use for the titles of the pages when there are PAGEGROUPS (labels, namesandlabels); default name
USEAXES = string token Which aspects of the current axis definitions of window 1 to use (none, limits, marks, mpositions, mlower%, mupper%, nsubticks,); default none

Parameters

TABLE = tables Tables to plot
DATA = variates Data values to plot with each table when METHOD=data
XFACTOR = factors Factor providing the x-values for the plot of each table
GROUPS = factors or pointers Factor or factors identifying the different lines from a multi-way table
TRELLISGROUPS = factors or pointers Factor or factors specifying the different plots of a trellis plot of a multi-way table
PAGEGROUPS = factors or pointers Factor or factors specifying plots to be displayed on different pages
BAR = scalars, tables or pointers Scalar defining the length of error bar to be plotted to indicate the overall (or average) variability of the values in each table, or table defining the variability of each individual table value, or pointer containing either two scalars or two tables defining the upper and lower positions of the error bar(s)
NEWXLEVELS = variates Values to be used for XFACTOR instead of its existing levels
TITLE = texts Title for the graph; default uses the identifier of the TABLE
YTITLE = texts Title for the y-axis; default ' '
XTITLE = texts Title for the x-axis; default is to use the identifier of the XFACTOR
BARDESCRIPTION = texts Descriptions for the bars
PENS = variates Defines the pen to use to plot the points and/or line for each group defined by the GROUPS factors

Description

DTABLE plots the tables specified by the TABLE parameter (each table displayed in a separate set of plots). The GRAPHICS option controls whether a high-resolution or a line-printer graph is plotted; by default, GRAPHICS=high.

The METHOD option controls how each table is plotted in high-resolution graphics, with settings:

    points to plot points at the table values;
    linesandpoints to plot points and join them by lines;
    onlylines to draw lines between the table values;
    data to draw lines between the table values, and then also plot the data values supplied (in a variate) by the DATA parameter;
    barchart to plot the table values as a barchart;
    splines to plot the points together with a smooth spline to show the trend over each group of points; the DFSPLINE specifies the degrees of freedom for the splines; if this is not set, 2 d.f. are used when there are up to 10 points, 3 if there are 11 to 20, and 4 for 21 or more.

By default METHOD=points (and this is the only display available in line-printer graphics).

The XFACTOR parameter defines the factor against whose levels the values of the table are plotted. With a multi-way table, there will be a plot of the table values against the XFACTOR levels for every combination of levels of the other factors classifying the table. The GROUPS parameter specifies factors whose levels are to be included in a single window of the graph. So, for example, if you specify

DTABLE [METHOD=line] Table; XFACTOR=A; GROUPS=B

DTABLE will plot the values of Table in a single window with factor A on the x-axis, and a line for each level of the factor B. You can set GROUPS to a pointer to specify several factors to define groups. For example

POINTER [VALUES=B,C] Groupfactors

DTABLE [METHOD=line] Table; XFACTOR=A; GROUPS=Groupfactors

to plot a line for every combination of the levels of factors B and C. Similarly, the TRELLISGROUPS option can specify one or more factors to define a trellis plot. For example,

DTABLE [METHOD=line] Table; XFACTOR=A; GROUPS=B;\
               TRELLISGROUPS=C

will produce a plot for each level of C, in a trellis arrangement; each plot will again have factor A on the x-axis, and a line for each level of the factor B. Likewise, the PAGEGROUPS parameter can specify factors whose combinations of levels are to be plotted on different pages. So

DTABLE [METHOD=line] Table; XFACTOR=A; GROUPS=B; PAGEGROUPS=C

will again produce a plot for each level of C, but now on separate pages.

If XFACTOR is unset, DTABLE will select the XFACTOR according to the following criteria (in decreasing order of importance): that the factor has no labels, that it has levels that are not the default integers 1 upwards, or that it has more levels than the other factors. If GROUPS is unset, it will be set to all the factors except the XFACTOR. (So, if you want to use either TRELLISGROUPS or PAGEGROUPS, you must also specify XFACTOR and GROUPS.)

The BAR parameter can be set to a scalar to specify an overall (or average) error bar, such as a standard error for differences between any pair of table values. Alternatively, it can be set to a table to specify a different error value, such as an effective standard error, for every table value; DTABLE then plots a bar of the defined size above and below each table value. Finally, it can be set to a pointer containing either two scalars or two tables, specifying the upper and lower positions of the error bar(s). Note, however, that the table setting may be unsuitable for plots other than barcharts when there are GROUPS, as the error bars may overlap each other.

The NEWXLEVELS parameter enables different levels to be supplied for XFACTOR if the existing levels are unsuitable. If XFACTOR has labels, these are used to label the x-axis unless you set option XFREPRESENTATION=levels.

The TITLE, YTITLE and XTITLE parameters can supply titles for the graph, the y-axis and the x-axis, respectively. The symbols, colours and line styles that are used in a high-resolution plot are usually set up by DTABLE automatically. If you want to control these yourself, you should use the PEN directive to define a pen with your preferred symbol, colour and line style, for each of the groups defined by combinations of the GROUPS factors. The pen numbers should then be supplied to DTABLE, in a variate with a value for each group, using the PENS parameter.

The YTRANSFORM option allows you to include additional axis markings, transformed onto another scale, on the right-hand side of the y-axis. Suppose, for example, the table contains means from an analysis of a variate of percentages that had been transformed to logits. You might then set YTRANSFORM=ilogit (the inverse-logit transformation) to include markings in percentages alongside the logits. The settings are the same as those of the TRANSFORM parameter of AXIS (which is used to add the markings). You can control the colours of the transformed marks and labels, by defining a pen with the required properties, and specifying it with the PENYTRANSFORM option. Otherwise, the default is to plot them in blue.

When there are GROUPS, the KEYMETHOD controls whether to use the factor names with their labels (or levels for factors with no labels) or just the labels (or levels) in the key descriptions. The default is to use the names and the labels (or levels). Similarly, the PLOTTITLEMETHOD specifies what to use for the titles of the plots when there are TRELLISGROUPS, and the PAGETITLEMETHOD specifies what to use for the titles of the plots when there are PAGEGROUPS. You can set KEYMETHOD=* to have no key at all.

The USEAXES option allows you to control various aspects of the axes. First you need to use the XAXIS and YAXIS directives to define them for window 1. Then specify which of the aspects of the axes in window 1 are to be used by DTABLE, by specifying USEAXES with the following settings:

limits y- and x-axis limits (LOWER and UPPER parameters);
marks location and labelling of the tick marks (MARKS, LABELS, LDIRECTION, LROTATION, DECIMALS, DREPRESENTATION, and VREPRESENTATION parameters);
mpositions positions of the tick marks (MPOSITION parameter);
mlower% how large a margin to set between the lowest x and y values and the lower values of their axes, expressed as a percentage of the range of their values, if not set explicitly by the axis limits (MLOWER% parameter);
mupper% how large a margin to set between the highest x and y values and the upper values of their axes, expressed as a percentage of the range of their values, if not set explicitly by the axis limits (MUPPER% parameter); and
nsubticks  number of subticks per interval (NSUBTICKS parameter).

By default none are used.

Options: GRAPHICS, METHOD, XFREPRESENTATION, DFSPLINE, YTRANSFORM, PENYTRANSFORM, KEYMETHOD, PLOTTITLEMETHOD, PAGETITLEMETHOD, USEAXES.
Parameters: TABLE, DATA, XFACTOR, GROUPS, TRELLISGROUPS, PAGEGROUPS, BAR, NEWXLEVELS, TITLE, YTITLE, XTITLE, BARDESCRIPTION, PENS.

See also

Directives: TABLE, TABULATE, PREDICT, VPREDICT.
Procedures: AGRAPH, AUGRAPH, DMOSAIC, MTABULATE. SVTABULATE, VGRAPH.
Commands for: Graphics.

Example

CAPTION  'DTABLE example',\
         'Data from Guide to Genstat Part 1, Section 4.11.';\
         STYLE=meta,plain
VARIATE  [NVALUES=15] Quantity
FACTOR   [NVALUES=15; LABELS=!T(A,B)] Type
&        [LABELS=!T(London,Manchester,Birmingham,Bristol)] Town
READ     [PRINT=errors] Town,Quantity,Type; FREPRESENTATION=labels
    London 10 A  Manchester   5 B  Birmingham  10 B     Bristol 25 A  
Manchester 10 *  Birmingham 100 B      London 200 B  Manchester 25 A  
   Bristol 50 A  Birmingham  25 A     Bristol  25 B      London 25 A 
    London 50 B  Manchester  25 B      London  50 A  :
TABLE    [CLASSIFICATION=Town,Type] Totdisp; UNKNOWN=Udisp
TABULATE Quantity; TOTALS=Totdisp
PRINT    Totdisp; DECIMALS=0
DTABLE   Totdisp; XFACTOR=Town; GROUPS=Type
Updated on February 7, 2023

Was this article helpful?