ca (correspondence analysis) reports error when plot under Stata 16

[Chen Samulsion]

Dear Stata users,

I use Stata 16 now. When I run ca command (correpondence analysis), Stata reports an error that option span not allowed. Below are details. I set trace on and find a piece of bug code which I posted behind.

. webuse ca_smoking

. ca rank smoking, plot

Correspondence analysis                       Number of obs      =        193
                                              Pearson chi2(12)   =      16.44
                                              Prob > chi2        =     0.1718
                                              Total inertia      =     0.0852
    5 active rows                             Number of dim.     =          2
    4 active columns                          Expl. inertia (%)  =      99.51

                |   singular    principal                             cumul  
      Dimension |    value       inertia           chi2    percent   percent 
    ------------+------------------------------------------------------------
          dim 1 |   .2734211    .0747591          14.43      87.76     87.76
          dim 2 |   .1000859    .0100172           1.93      11.76     99.51
          dim 3 |   .0203365    .0004136           0.08       0.49    100.00
    ------------+------------------------------------------------------------
          total |               .0851899          16.44     100

Statistics for row and column categories in symmetric normalization

                 |          overall          |        dimension_1        |        dimension_2        
      Categories |    mass  quality   %inert |   coord   sqcorr  contrib |   coord   sqcorr  contrib 
    -------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------
    rank         |                           |                           |                           
     senior mngr |   0.057    0.893    0.031 |   0.126    0.092    0.003 |   0.612    0.800    0.214 
     junior mngr |   0.093    0.991    0.139 |  -0.495    0.526    0.084 |   0.769    0.465    0.551 
     senior empl |   0.264    1.000    0.450 |   0.728    0.999    0.512 |   0.034    0.001    0.003 
     junior empl |   0.456    1.000    0.308 |  -0.446    0.942    0.331 |  -0.183    0.058    0.152 
       secretary |   0.130    0.999    0.071 |   0.385    0.865    0.070 |  -0.249    0.133    0.081 
    -------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------
    smoking      |                           |                           |                           
            none |   0.316    1.000    0.577 |   0.752    0.994    0.654 |   0.096    0.006    0.029 
           light |   0.233    0.984    0.083 |  -0.190    0.327    0.031 |  -0.446    0.657    0.463 
          medium |   0.321    0.983    0.148 |  -0.375    0.982    0.166 |  -0.023    0.001    0.002 
           heavy |   0.130    0.995    0.192 |  -0.562    0.684    0.150 |   0.625    0.310    0.506 
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
option span not allowed
r(198);

                  -------------------------------------------------------------------- end grid._declare_view ---
                - local view `r(name)'
                = local view legend
                - .`cell'.minrow = `row'
                = .cells.legend.minrow = 2
                - .`cell'.maxrow = `row'
                = .cells.legend.maxrow = 2
                - .`cell'.mincol = `col'
                = .cells.legend.mincol = 2
                - .`cell'.maxcol = `col'
                = .cells.legend.maxcol = 2
                - .`cell'._prse_set_span `view' `.maxrow' `.maxcol' `"`options'"'
                = .cells.legend._prse_set_span legend 3 3 `" , ring(0) span"'
                  ----------------------------------------------------------------- begin cell._prse_set_span ---
                  - version 8
                  - args view maxrow maxcol options
                  - local 0 `options'
                  = local 0  , ring(0) span
                  - syntax [ , RING(real -1) SPANRows(string) SPANCols(string) SPANFit(string) ]
option span not allowed
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------- end cell._prse_set_span ---
                -------------------------------------------------------------------------- end grid._add_view ---
                exit
                }

[Chen Samulsion]

I check the cabiplot.ado and guess the problem is caused by the legend option. I delete the "span" in the sentence I marked in red, and now the command works.

// row and column points

    if "`row'" != "norow" & "`column'" != "nocolumn" {
        local ij = 1
        local legend label(`ij++' `rn')
        if `nr_supp' {
            local legend `legend' label(`ij++' Supplementary `rn')
        }

        local legend `legend' label(`ij++' `cn')
        if `nc_supp' {
            local legend `legend' label(`ij++' Supplementary `cn')
        }

        local legend legend(`legend' span) //delete "span" and now the cabiplot command works.
        twoway `Rscatter' `Cscatter',         ///
            `s(scales)' `aspect' `legend' `titles' `gopt' `origin'
    }

[Nick Cox]

Just to report that these commands work fine under Stata 18.