sorting bar graph

[Ivica Rubil]

Dear all,

here is my issue:

I have three variables, call them x, y and z, with x + y = z, for thirty observations (countries).
I would like to draw a bar graph which would show the structure of z, that is, I need stacked bars showing the respective percentages (shares) of x and y, and each bar's height is 100. x, y and z can all be negative.
Now, I would like the bars to be sorted from the leftmost to the rightmost by the numerical value of x - not its share (percentage), but its exact numerical value - from the lowest to the highest.
The problem is, when I submit

graph bar (asis) x y, over(countryname, sort(1)) stack percentages

the bars get sorted by the percentage of x, and not its value.

Thank you.

Best,
Ivica

[Nick Cox]

Let's re-create an example (ideally you should do this for us!) and give a solution:

. clear 

. set obs 3
obs was 0, now 3

. gen name = word("Gondor Rohan Mordor", _n)

. gen x = real(word("10 20 30", _n))

. gen y = real(word("90 80 70", _n))

. l

     +------------------+
     |   name    x    y |
     |------------------|
  1. | Gondor   10   90 |
  2. |  Rohan   20   80 |
  3. | Mordor   30   70 |
     +------------------+

. graph bar (asis) x y, over(name) stack percent

. sort x

. gen axis = _n

. labmask axis, values(name)

. graph bar (asis) x y, over(axis) stack percent

In words: create a variable specifying the exact order you want with value labels showing what you want to see.

labmask is from SJ. A search labmask will reveal download location and a paper discussing it.

[Ivica Rubil]

Thank you, Nick.