Extend X axis extent - r

Question

I am using ggplot to plot a time series am running into a problem extending the extents of the x axis. I developed the following code to provide a reducible example.
#Dummy Data
Dates <- data.frame(Date = c("1992-11-21","1993-10-26","1995-05-12","1996-03-03","1999-05-22","2008-04-13"))
Volume <- data.frame(Volume = c("28947.548","29947.262","30842.333","27192.588","30209.414","24439.897"))
Errors <- data.frame(Errors = c("4118.903","1974.606","1843.382","1920.362","1905.469","1977.074"))
ID <- data.frame(ID = c("a","a","a","b","b","b"))
Merge_Data <- data.frame(Dates,Volume,Errors,ID)
#convert Dates to native format in R
Merge_Data$Date <- as.Date(Merge_Data$Date,"%Y-%m-%d")
#Convert Areas to numbers
Merge_Data$Volume <- as.numeric(as.character(Merge_Data$Volume))
Merge_Data$Errors <- as.numeric(as.character(Merge_Data$Errors))
#Plot the Data
ggplot(Merge_Data, aes(x = Date, y = Volume, color = ID)) +
scale_color_manual(values = c("#000000", "#0000BB")) +
geom_errorbar(aes(ymin=Volume-Errors,ymax=Volume+Errors), width=100,size=0.1) +
geom_point(size = 2) +
geom_line(size = 0.5)+
scale_x_date(labels = date_format("%Y"), breaks = date_breaks("2 year"))+
xlab("Date")+
ylab("Volume, in cubic meters")+
ylim(0,max(Merge_Data$Volume)+20000)+
theme(axis.line = element_line(colour = "black"),
panel.grid.major = element_blank(),
panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),
panel.border = element_blank(),
panel.background = element_rect(colour="black",fill = "white",),
axis.text = element_text(colour = "black"),
legend.background = element_rect(colour = "black"),
legend.key = element_rect(color=NA, fill="white"),
legend.title = element_blank(),
legend.position=c(0.9,0.9))
I need to extend the extents of the x axis to begin at 1990 and end at 2014. I have experimented using the limits expression in the scale_x_Date line but not had any luck.
Thanks in advance,
dubbbdan

Answer 1

I figured it out!!
You just need to change the scale_x_date line to include a lim= expression.
#Dummy Data
Dates <- data.frame(Date = c("1992-11-21","1993-10-26","1995-05-12","1996-03-03","1999-05-22","2008-04-13"))
Volume <- data.frame(Volume = c("28947.548","29947.262","30842.333","27192.588","30209.414","24439.897"))
Errors <- data.frame(Errors = c("4118.903","1974.606","1843.382","1920.362","1905.469","1977.074"))
ID <- data.frame(ID = c("a","a","a","b","b","b"))
Merge_Data <- data.frame(Dates,Volume,Errors,ID)
#convert Dates to native format in R
Merge_Data$Date <- as.Date(Merge_Data$Date,"%Y-%m-%d")
#Convert Areas to numbers
Merge_Data$Volume <- as.numeric(as.character(Merge_Data$Volume))
Merge_Data$Errors <- as.numeric(as.character(Merge_Data$Errors))
#Plot the Data
ggplot(Merge_Data, aes(x = Date, y = Volume, color = ID)) +
scale_color_manual(values = c("#000000", "#0000BB")) +
geom_errorbar(aes(ymin=Volume-Errors,ymax=Volume+Errors), width=100,size=0.1) +
geom_point(size = 2) +
geom_line(size = 0.5)+
scale_x_date(lim = c(as.Date("1990-1-1"), as.Date("2014-1-1")),labels = date_format("%Y"), breaks = date_breaks("2 year"))+
xlab("Date")+
ylab("Volume, in cubic meters")+
ylim(0,max(Merge_Data$Volume)+20000)+
theme(axis.line = element_line(colour = "black"),
panel.grid.major = element_blank(),
panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),
panel.border = element_blank(),
panel.background = element_rect(colour="black",fill = "white",),
axis.text = element_text(colour = "black"),
legend.background = element_rect(colour = "black"),
legend.key = element_rect(color=NA, fill="white"),
legend.title = element_blank(),
legend.position=c(0.9,0.9))