[R] x-axis (categorial variable) ordering with xyplot function (lattice package)

[Arnaud Blaser]

Dear Duncan,

"If you want to make a plot of the style of xyplot a numerical index of 
the country is needed and then use the scales argument to annote the 
labels with the country."

I think you were right. It worked and I does seem to be the simplest 
option. Many thanks !

Regards,
Arnaud

Le 25.07.2013 00:41, Duncan Mackay a écrit :
> forgot to cc to list
>
> Hi
>
> For an xyplot you have not got the proper coding for the x value which 
> should be numeric.
>
> If you want to make a plot of the style of xyplot a numerical index of 
> the country is needed and then use the scales argument to annote the 
> labels with the country.
> Do you want multiple panels ?
>
> A self contained dataset via dput would help elicit further information.
>
> Have a look at the outer and related arguments as well as the group 
> arguments. A combined index for regions with countries may be necessary.
>
> Regards
>
> Duncan
>
> Duncan Mackay
> Department of Agronomy and Soil Science
> University of New England
> Armidale NSW 2351
> Email: home: mackay at northnet.com.au
>
>
> At 00:17 25/07/2013, you wrote:
>> Content-Type: text/plain
>> Content-Disposition: inline
>> Content-length: 2322
>>
>> Dear R mailing list readers,
>>
>> I am facing the following problem; for simplicity imagine I am 
>> working on a data frame of, say, 5 columns. The first column is a 
>> list of European countries, the other four are an index (continuous 
>> variable) of climate change impact under 4 different scenarios.
>>
>> Country
>>
>> 2050B2
>>
>> 2050A2
>>
>> 2080B2
>>
>> 2080A2
>>
>> Austria
>>
>> -0.2
>>
>> -0.6
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
>> Belgium
>>
>> -0.2
>>
>> -0.6
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Bulgaria
>>
>> -0.5
>>
>> -0.8
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Czech republic
>>
>> -0.5
>>
>> -0.8
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> United kingdom
>>
>> -0.2
>>
>> -0.6
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I am using the package lattice to make a nice plot of the dots from 
>> the different scenario using the following code;
>>
>> my.plot <- xyplot(2050B2+2050A2+2080B2+2080A2~country, data=my.dat,
>> scales=list(x=list(rot=45)))
>>
>> note: the part "scales=list(x=list(rot=45))" is pure aesthetic here.
>>
>> So far, so good. However, I wish to order the x-axis (countries) by 
>> grouping them by European region; i.e Austria, Belgium and United 
>> kingdom are western Europe, while Bulgaria and Czech republic are 
>> eastern Europe. In excel I added a new "region) variable (i.e 1 for 
>> Western Europe, 2 for eastern Europe) and I re-ordered my data frame 
>> according to this "region" variable.
>>
>> I then imported this updated data frame in R, and checked how it 
>> looked with the usual code;
>>
>> pot_dat <-read.csv(file.choose(),header=TRUE, sep=";",dec=".")
>> pot_dat
>>
>> Again, so far so good; my second column ("country") is now ordered 
>> according to the values of the first column ("region").
>>
>> Region
>>
>> Country
>>
>> 2050B2
>>
>> 2050A2
>>
>> 2080B2
>>
>> 2080A2
>>
>> 1
>>
>> Austria
>>
>> -0.2
>>
>> -0.6
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
>> 1
>>
>> Belgium
>>
>> -0.2
>>
>> -0.6
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 1
>>
>> United Kingdom
>>
>> -0.2
>>
>> -0.6
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 2
>>
>> Bulgaria
>>
>> -0.5
>>
>> -0.8
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 2
>>
>> Czech republic
>>
>> -0.5
>>
>> -0.8
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> However, when I try to use the code as above, R automatically 
>> re-order the x-axis (country) in alphabetical order. This was not 
>> unexpected, but I have spent the day (unsuccessfully) looking for a 
>> way to simply tell R not to do that and to keep the variable 
>> "country" as it is now ordered in the data frame to construct the 
>> x-axis of my plot. Is there any way to force it to keep the order as 
>> it is in the data frame ?
>>
>> Any help would be really welcomed !
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Arnaud Blaser
>> PhD candidate
>> University of Neuchâtel
>> Institute of Economic Research (IRENE)
>> Pierre-à-Mazel 7
>> CH-2000 Neuchâtel
>>
>>
>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________
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>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide 
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.


-- 
--------------
Arnaud Blaser
PhD candidate
University of Neuchâtel
Institute of Economic Research (IRENE)
Pierre-à-Mazel 7
CH-2000 Neuchâtel