Graphs: any way to change solid to other patterns?

[Goro Yamada]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if anybody has figured out how to change a solid pattern to others in a graph, such as polka dots, hatched marks. It seems that we cannot according to the previous post (https://www.stata.com/statalist/arch.../msg00199.html), but this was posted somewhat a long time ago.

If we cannot even with the version 15, is there anybody who was able to overcome this? For example, exporting Stata graphs in a certain format, and change the solid pattern to something else using other packages (but maintaining figure quality).

Goro

[Nick Cox]

Nothing official. The logic discussed in the thread you cite still applies at least in the sense that StataCorp do not support any such and presumably for the same reasons.

But Sergiy Radyakin did some work on this. See his home page http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/pe...ergiy-radyakin for links and

. ssc desc twoway_parea

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
package twoway_parea from http://fmwww.bc.edu/repec/bocode/t
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TITLE
      'TWOWAY_PAREA': module to generate area graph with pattern fills (Windows
        only)

DESCRIPTION/AUTHOR(S)
      
      twoway parea is a modification of standard Stata  twoway area
      command. It uses some undocumented features  of Stata to enable
      pattern fills (tested in MS Windows only).  It might be
      particularly helpful for the purpose of   creating graphs
      suitable for monochrome print.
      
      KW: graphics
      KW: area plot
      KW: patterned fills
      
      Requires: Stata version 9 for Windows
      
      Distribution-Date: 20080410
      
      Author: Sergiy Radyakin, Development Economics Research Group, World Bank
      Support: email [email protected]
      

INSTALLATION FILES                         (type net install twoway_parea)
      twoway_parea.hlp
      ../y/yxview_parea_draw.ado
      ../p/parea_g.class
      ../p/pareakey_g.class
      twoway_parea_parse.class
      ../y/yxtype-parea.style

ANCILLARY FILES                            (type net get twoway_parea)
      ../p/pareademo.do
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(type ssc install twoway_parea to install)

[Goro Yamada]

Thank you, Nick!

I tried this, but I found a difficulty to run this package. It worked with my version 14 but did not with my version 15. I communicated with the author and Stata Tech Support, but in vain. Also, I tried to figure out how to use this package for other graphs, such as bar graphs, histograms, but I could not, either. It seems that I need to use other software for this graphing task...

[Nick Cox]

I've never used it, so can't comment further.

[Goro Yamada]

Just for info. It seems that packages that manage vector graphics work. I tried Adobe Illustrator (Ai), and it worked. Although it was not a one-step procedure and it took time to understand how Ai works, the results were very satisfactory. Involved steps were: save a Stata graph as pdf (eps would work - I have not tried); import the file to Ai; make patters I want; apply created patterns to solid colors in the graph. However, this can be a painful procedure since you have to do manually. I got to know that there are free and lower-cost packages that manage vector graphics, but I have not tried them.

[William Lisowski]

In December, a workaround to allow parea to work with Stata 15 was posted by StataCorp in the topic linked below, posts #12 and 13.

https://www.statalist.org/forums/for...59#post1476359

The problem with Stata 15 compatibility is due to a change in the default graph renderer, the workaround is an undocumented way of using the previous renderer, and there are warnings about why this is not a great idea generally.