The "change the units" field has gone blank

I got confused looking at a graph I made at FRED. I think I found another glitch in their system. Could be me, though. Calls for another look.

This graph:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=oidh

Let me reset the computer and start over.


Okay. At FRED. I create a new graph showing Real GDP, and set the units to Percent Change from Year Ago.

Then I add a second line to the graph, showing TCMDO debt. The units come up as Percent Change from Year Ago (matching the previous units setting that I made) and I change them to Billions of Dollars. When the graph changes, the debt numbers are so big that the Percent Change in Real GDP line disappears from view. As expected.

I add a second data series to the second line: nominal GDP in billions. I make the formula read a / b and apply it. Both lines are now visible again.

Using the field that is low on the EDIT LINE 2 form, I change the units to "Percent Change from Year Ago". The graph changes accordingly. Here's what I have on my screen:

(click the image to see an enlargement)

Okay. I close the EDIT LINE 2 window and click Share Links: Page Short URL to save my settings. This URL comes up:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=oido

I bring up that link in a new Firefox tab, click EDIT GRAPH, and select the EDIT LINE 2 window. Here's how my screen looks now:

(ditto)

The graph appears to be unchanged. But the "change the units" field (below the formula field) has gone blank.

Earlier today when I created this graph the first time, I didn't discover the 'blank field' error until several steps later when my graph appeared to be incorrect.

It is possible that this "later" graph was not incorrect (I'm not sure yet), and the blank field error only affects the screen display of the EDIT LINE form. I didn't check this. But I think the problem is more severe, and the blank field error is compounded when the Page Short URL graph is used as the basis for another graph.

Here: I take the oido graph above, the Page Short URL link graph, and change the Graph Type from line to scatter. I make the circle marks smaller and the line width thicker. Here's what I get:

The 'oido' graph as a scatter plot

Apart from the first half dozen values, the lines that connect the dots strike me as mostly vertical. I can see that the thing gradually works itself over to the right. But most of the short-term changes appear to be vertical (or mostly vertical).

Here's the old graph I was trying to duplicate:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=bLT from 2012

Here the lines definitely do not strike me as vertical.

The difference between these two graphs is probably my doing, not a result of the blank-field glitch. I dunno. It usually takes me a couple days to see why there's a problem.

Yeah no, even when I change the modified oido to annual frequency, it looks nothing like the graph from 2012.

Now you know everything I know.

Son of a bitch!

Finished up the previous post and went back to finishing a graph for the econ blog.

Two of the series begin in the 1940s, and the third in 1960. So I added a user-defined line to bring it back to the 1940s, made the line dashed, made the color match that third line, got the start- and end-values and dates right. Then I looked at it, decided I needed a bend in the middle of that line, added another user-defined line, and made everything match up nice. Then I took a picture:

Then I got the "Page short URL" for the graph, saved the link, and looked at the link version of the graph:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=ofCm

The color, line type, and line width are all good. The start- and end-values (Y-axis values) look good. And I think the start-dates are correct; they look right. But the end-dates are wrong-wrong-wrong.

It's like a kick in the balls, you know?

On not setting the Formula

For the last month or so I've been quite happy with FRED. ("Quite" happy is as good as it gets, for me;) It looks like they actually fixed a bunch of the little things I complain about here on the blog. I can't take credit for any of the improvement. But I'm likin' what I see.

Thanks, guys, in case you read this.

I'm writing because I thought of a simple way to temporarily remove a line from a FRED graph: In the Formula line of the Edit Line window, just erase the formula, leave that field blank, and Apply the change. Only one thing wrong with my plan: It doesn't work. You get a "The formula is not set" error.

I think you could omit that error from the list of possible errors in the code, and compensate for that by adding code to "skip" the line if the Formula field is blank.

No doubt this is more complicated than I imagine, as there must be more to skip than just drawing the line on the graph. But I'd find this change useful once in a while.