How can I give labels to variables in Stata from macro

Question

I would like to create variables with a plugin, wich imports a database table. I am using the following code to do this:

SF_macro_save("_vars", "var1 var2...");
SF_macro_save("_types", "type1 type2...");
SF_macro_save("_formats", "format1 format2...");
SF_macro_save("_obs", "obs1 obs2...");

This creates the variables well, but I don't know how to give labels to variables, or to values.

Which C++ function do I need to use to create labels? Or how can I call Stata functions from C++? (I am using Visual Studio 10 if it counts)

I would like to call this Stata functions from the plugin:

label variable var1 label1

and

label define var1_label 1 "label1" 2 "label2" label values var1 var1_label

Thanks

Documentation at stata.com/plugins doesn't mention value or variable label assignment. I'd suggest contacting Stata technical support. A wild guess is that you can't do it this way. — Nick Cox
Thanks, I couldn't find this topic there either. But maybe someone know this trick :) Anyway, I will try the support. — pega

smoore4 smoore4 · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-06T11:35:16

This is possible but it is not easy. Basically, you create a .do file in your code (C# example below) then execute the .do file. Here is an example that runs the .do file then puts the results in a SQL Server database using ODBC. You can do something similar with Stat/Transfer to load the data and variable labels into a database.

            string m_stcmd_valuelabels = Server.MapPath("~/Data/Cmd/Stata/") + m_filename_noex + "_valuelables.do";

            using (StreamWriter m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels = new StreamWriter(m_stcmd_valuelabels, false))
            {

                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("clear");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("set mem 500m");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("set more off");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("use  \"" + m_fullpath.Replace(".zip", ".dta") + "\"");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("valtovar _all, dis");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("uselabel");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("ren lname varname");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("drop trunc");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("odbc insert, dsn(\"MyData\") table(\"" + m_filename_noex + "_valuelabels\") create " + m_statadsn_conn);
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine("exit");
                m_sw_stcmd_valuelabels.WriteLine();
            }

            string str_PathValueLabels = Server.MapPath("~/Data/Stata12/StataMP-64.exe");

            ProcessStartInfo processInfoValueLabels = new ProcessStartInfo("\"" + str_PathValueLabels + "\"");
            processInfoValueLabels.Arguments = " /e do \"" + m_stcmd_valuelabels + "\"";
            processInfoValueLabels.UseShellExecute = false;
            processInfoValueLabels.ErrorDialog = false;

            Process batchProcessValueLabels = new Process();
            batchProcessValueLabels.StartInfo = processInfoValueLabels;
            batchProcessValueLabels.Start();

How can I give labels to variables in Stata from macro

2 Answers