rcPlots a line chart, the values of the variable ordered according to their order in the data frame. Usually this ordering would be an ordering according to time, which yields a run chart. The default run chart provides the index, that is, sequential position, of each value of the variable from 1 to the last value. Optionally dates can be provided so that a time-series plot is produced.
For data of one variable exhibiting little trend, the center line is provided for the generation of a run chart, plotting the values of a variable in order of occurrence over time. When the center line, the median by default, is plotted, the analyses of the number and composition of the individual runs, number of consecutive values above or below the center line, is also displayed. Also, the defaults change for each of the types of plots. The intent is to rely on the default values for a relatively sophisticated plot, particularly when compared to the default values of the standard R plot function called with a single variable.
LineChart(y, dframe=mydata, type=NULL, col.line=NULL, col.area=NULL, col.box="black",
col.pts=NULL, col.fill=NULL, trans.pts=getOption("trans.pts"),
shape.pts=21, col.grid=NULL, col.bg=NULL,
colors=c("blue", "gray", "rose", "green", "gold", "red"),
cex.axis=.85, col.axis="gray30",
col.ticks="gray30", xy.ticks=TRUE,
xlab=NULL, ylab=NULL, main=NULL, cex=NULL,
x.start=NULL, x.end=NULL, y.start=NULL, y.end=NULL,
time.start=NULL, time.by=NULL, time.reverse=FALSE,
center.line=c("default", "mean", "median", "off"), text.out=TRUE,
pdf.file=NULL, pdf.width=5, pdf.height=5, ...)
lc(...)
mydata."p" for
points, "l" for line, or "b" for both. If x and y are provided and
x is sorted so that a function is plotted, the default is ""darkblue"."transparent". If the values exhibit a trend and dates
"black".col.pts.col.pts and col.fill. For a scatterplot, col.fill"grey90".xlab not
specified, then the label becomes the name of the corresponding variable. If
xy.ticks is FALSE, then no label is displayed. If no y vxy.ticks is FALSE, then no label displayed.mylabels, then the title is set by default from the corresponding
variable labels.x.reverse, the first date is after
the data are reverse sorted. Not needed if data are a time series with
time.start specification, the interval to increment the
date for each sequential data value. A character string, containing one of "day",
"week", "month" or "year"TRUE, reverse the ordering of the dates, particularly when the
data are listed such that first row of data is the newest. Accompanies the time.start
specification."mean" and "median". Provides a centerline
for the "median" by default when the values randomly vary aboutTRUE, then display text output in console.par.plot when called with only a single variable.The values on the horizontal axis of the line chart are automatically generated. The default is the index variable, the ordinal position of each data value, in which case this version of the line chart is a run chart. Or, dates on the horizontal axis can be specified from the specified starting date given by x.start and the accompanying increment as given by x.by, in which case the line chart is typically referred to as a time series chart.
If the data values randomly vary about the mean, the default is to plot the mean as the center line of the graph, otherwise the default is to ignore the center line. The default plot type for the line chart is type="b", for both points and the corresponding connected line segments. The size of the points is automatically reduced according to the number of points of points plotted, and the cex option can override the computed default. If the area below the plotted values is specified to be filled in with color, then the default line type changes to type="l".
DATA
If the variable is in a data frame, the input data frame has the assumed name of mydata. If this data frame is named something different, then specify the name with the dframe option. Regardless of its name, the data frame need not be attached to reference the variable directly by its name, that is, no need to invoke the mydata$name notation.
COLOR THEME
Individual colors in the plot can be manipulated with options such as col.pts for the color of the plotted points. A color theme for all the colors can be chosen for a specific plot with the colors option. Or, the color theme can be changed for all subsequent graphical analysis with the lessR function set. The default color theme is blue, but a gray scale is available with "gray", and other themes are available as explained in set.
VARIABLE LABELS
Although standard R does not provide for variable labels, lessR can store the labels in a data frame called mylabels, obtained from the Read function. If this labels data frame exists, then the corresponding variable label is by default listed as the label for the horizontal axis and on the text output. For more information, see Read.
PDF OUTPUT
Because of the customized graphic windowing system that maintains a unique graphic window for the Help function, the standard graphic output functions such as pdf do not work with the lessR graphics functions. Instead, to obtain pdf output, use the pdf.file option, perhaps with the optional pdf.width and pdf.height options. These files are written to the default working directory, which can be explicitly specified with the R setwd function.
ONLY VARIABLES ARE REFERENCED
The referenced variable in a lessR function can only be a variable name. This referenced variable must exist in either the referenced data frame, mydata by default, or in the user's workspace, more formally called the global environment. That is, expressions cannot be directly evaluated. For example:
> LineChart(rnorm(50)) # does NOT work}
Instead, do the following: > Y <- rnorm(50) # create vector Y in user workspace > LineChart(Y) # directly reference Y
[object Object],[object Object]
# default run chart LineChart(y) # short name lc(y) # compare to standard R plot plot(y, type="l")
# save run chart to a pdf file LineChart(y, pdf.file="MyLineChart.pdf")
# LineChart in gray scale LineChart(y, colors="gray") # customize run chart, pch=24: filled triangle point-up, LineChart(y, lwd=2, col.pts="sienna3", shape.pts=24, col.bg="mintcream", ylim=c(-3.5,3.5), center.line="median") # generate steadily increasing values y <- sort(rexp(50)) # default line chart LineChart(y) # line chart with border around plotted values LineChart(y, col.area="transparent") # time series chart, i.e., with dates, and filled area # with option label for the x-axis LineChart(y, time.start="2005/09/01", time.by="month") # time series chart from a time series object y.ts <- ts(y, start=c(2005, 9), frequency=12) LineChart(y.ts)
# LineChart with built-in data set
LineChart(breaks, dframe=warpbreaks)