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Meet our SAS Press Author of the Month — Jane Eslinger

Book, books, ebook, ods, PROC REPORT, reporting, sas books, sas press, Tech, webinar No Responses »

10月 032022

We publish a lot of books by SAS experts at SAS Press, but how does someone become an expert in the first place? Becoming certified is one step, but who develops the certifications in the first place? Those are the true experts. They have to have a deep understanding of SAS, an ability to explain difficult concepts, and a passion for sharing their knowledge. Our SAS Press Author of the Month for October is Jane Eslinger, also known around the office as the PROC REPORT expert.

Jane has written two books on PROC REPORT that are the go-to reference for anyone who wants to understand all of the capabilities of the REPORT procedure. I asked her a few questions about how she became the PROC REPORT expert and what advice she has for SAS novices.

Q: What made you decide to write a book about PROC REPORT?

At the time I was in SAS Technical Support and answering customer questions on PROC REPORT. I tell people that PROC REPORT has a large learning curve. I knew PROC REPORT but discovered that information about it was spread across a wide variety of places – SAS notes, conference papers, and SAS Communities posts. I decided that I wanted to put all of the information in one place, so I wrote the first book.

Q: Have you noticed any new trends in reporting in the last few years?

Good question. I would say that programmers are more interested in making drill-down or cascading reports. People want to click from one report to the next, more refined report.

Q: What do you think is the most misunderstood feature of PROC REPORT?

Two things, actually. First, is the compute block. Programmers know that they can assign or change values within the compute block. They also know it can be used to affect styling. But it takes practice to get all of it right. And lots of programmers use compute blocks for the bare essentials but it can do so much more.

Second, is the COLUMN statement. Programmers want to control what is in the header section of the report but do not understand how do use spanning headers and null headers to get what they want.

Q: How did you first learn SAS?

I had to use it in my regression statistics course in college, as well as take a basic programming class for my degree.

Q: As an instructor, how do you encourage students who get frustrated when learning SAS?

I tell them that they are learning a new language or a new skill. You aren’t going to get it right the first time! I also tell them that programmers with 20 years of experience still have to look up syntax.

Q: What is your best advice for someone who wants to learn SAS?

Practice. But really the best way to practice is to have a project (school or at work) that requires you to use SAS. Learning SAS is much easier when you can connect programming concepts to your own project instead of arbitrary data.

Q: Just for fun, what is the last non-technical book you read that you enjoyed?

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult.

Thanks for talking to me, Jane! Visit Jane’s author page to find an exclusive discount code that you can use to purchase her e-books in the month of October.

You can also find her at SESUG 2022 where she will be giving a hands-on training session on how to create PROC REPORT code for multiple report types. And check out Jane's "Ask the Expert" webinars anytime to learn more about PROC REPORT:

Meet our SAS Press Author of the Month -- Jane Eslinger was published on SAS Users.

Automating Excel workbooks creation using SAS

ods, ODS Excel destination, Programming Tips, sas programming, Tech, tips & techniques No Responses »

6月 162022

No matter which powerful analytical tools data professionals use for their data processing, MS Excel remains the output of choice for many users and whole industries.

In banking and finance, for example, I have seen many SAS users create quite sophisticated data queries and data analysis projects in SAS Enterprise Guide. Yet, at the end, when the final datasets have been produced and validated, comes the manual part when users export those tables into Excel, and then combine and rearrange them by copying-pasting into a desired workbook for storing and distributing.

However, this heavily manual process can be not just fully automated, but also enhanced compared with the point-and-click “export to Excel” and “copy-paste” interactive process. Here is how.

Creating a single simple Excel sheet

Suppose, we want to convert SASHELP.CLASS data table to Excel. Here is a bare-bone solution using SAS Output Delivery System:

ods excel file='C:\Projects\SAS_to_Excel\Single_sheet.xlsx';
 
proc print data=SASHELP.CLASS noobs;
run;
 
ods excel close;

This code is pretty much self-explanatory. It will produce Single_sheet.xlsx Excel workbook file in the folder C:\Projects\SAS_to_Excel. When opened in Excel, it will look as follows:

If you browse through the ODS EXCEL documentation you will find a variety of options that allow you to customize Excel output. Let’s get a little fancy by utilizing some of them.

Creating several customized sheets in Excel workbook

The following code example creates two sheets (tabs) in a single workbook. In addition, it demonstrates some other features to enhance data visualization.

/* -------------------------------------------- */
/* Two sheets workbook with enhanced appearance */
/* -------------------------------------------- */
 
/* Formats for background & foreground coloring */
proc format;
   value hbg 
      50 <- 60   = #66FF99
      60 <- 70   = #FFFF99
      70 <- high = #FF6666
      ;
   value hfg
      low -< 50, 70 <- high = white;
run;
 
/* Define custom font style for ODS TEXT */
proc template;
   define style styles.MyStyle;
   parent=styles.htmlblue;
   style usertext from usertext /
      foreground  = #FF33CC
      font_weight = bold
      ;
   end;
run;
 
/* ODS Excel output file destination */
ods excel file = 'C:\Projects\SAS_to_Excel\Two_sheets_fancy.xlsx';
 
   /* Excel options for 1st sheet (tab) */
   ods excel options
      ( sheet_name      = 'SASHELP.CLASS'
        frozen_headers  = 'on'
        embedded_titles = 'on' )
      style = styles.MyStyle;
 
   title justify=left color='#4D7EBF' 'This is TITLE for SASHELP.CLASS';
 
   ods text='This is TEXT for SASHELP.CLASS';
 
   proc print data=SASHELP.CLASS noobs;
      var NAME;
      var SEX AGE / style = {just=C};
      var HEIGHT  / style = {background=hbg. foreground=hfg.};
      var WEIGHT;
   run;
 
   /* Excel options for 2nd sheet (tab) */
   ods excel options
      ( sheet_name      = 'SASHELP.CARS'
        frozen_headers  = 'on'
        embedded_titles = 'on' );
 
   title 'This is TITLE for SASHELP.CARS';
 
   proc print data=SASHELP.CARS noobs;
   run;
 
ods excel close;

Here are the code highlights:

PROC FORMAT creates two formats, HBG and HFG, which are used in the first PROC PRINT to illustrate cell text and background coloring.

NOTE: In SAS, colors are specified as hexadecimal RGB values (cxRRGGBB). However, I found (although it seems undocumented) that in PROC FORMAT and PROC TEMPLATE these colors can be written as quoted (double or single) or unquoted values, as well as prefixed with either ‘#’ or ‘cx’ (for hexadecimal). For example, the following are all valid values: #FFAADD, '#FFAADD', cxFFAADD, 'cxFFAADD'.
PROC TEMPLATE defines usertext custom font style for ODS TEXT, which used in ODS EXCEL along with and as alternative to the TITLE statement.
ODS EXCEL FILE=file-specification statement opens the EXCEL destination and specifies the output file for ODS EXCEL. The output file-specification can be either a physical file name (must be in quotes) or a fileref (without quotes) assigned with FILENAME statement. It can point to a location on the machine where SAS is run (SAS server), or a network drive accessible from the SAS server.

This statement follows by two separate ODS EXCEL OPTIONS statements – one per corresponding sheet (tab).
ODS EXCEL OPTIONS statement specifies destination-specific suboptions with space-delimited name='value' pairs. In particular, we use the following options:
- SHEET_NAME= specifies the name for the next worksheet (worksheet names can be up to 28 characters long).
- FROZEN_HEADERS='ON' specifies that headers are not scrolled when table is vertically scrolled (default is OFF). It is very convenient feature that keeps the title(s) and column names in view while user scrolls through the table rows.
- EMBEDDED_TITLES='ON' specifies whether titles should appear in the worksheet (default is OFF).
There is a variety of other useful ODS EXCEL options allowing further customization of your Excel workbook appearance and functionality.
TITLE statement is highly customizable with Output Delivery System as shown in this custom TITLE with ODS example.
ODS TEXT= statement inserts text into your ODS output. Unlike TITLE for which ODS EXCEL merges several cells, ODS TEXT places its text in a single cell (see screenshot below). The UserText style element that we modified using PROC TEMPLATE controls the font style, font color, and other attributes of the text that the ODS TEXT= statement produces.
In PROC PRINT, we use multiple VAR statements to select variables, determine their order and apply styles (text and background colors) to the printed values. There are much more ODS styles with PROC PRINT available for further customizations.
The next section of the code ( /* Excel options for 2nd sheet (tab) */ ) creates the second sheet in the same Excel workbook. Similarly, you can create as many sheets/tabs as you wish.
The last statement ods excel close; closes the ODS Excel destination so nothing more is written to the output file.

The following are the two screenshots illustrating the two sheets in the produced Excel workbook:

SAS creates Excel workbook with several sheets/tabs

Questions

Do you find this post useful? Do you have questions, comments, suggestions, other tips or tricks about creating MS Excel workbooks in SAS? Please share with us below.

Additional Resources

Exchanging Data From SAS® to Excel: The ODS Excel Destination (book by William E. Benjamin Jr., 2017)
Insights from a SAS Technical Support Guy: A Deep Dive into the SAS® ODS Excel Destination (SESUG paper by Chevell Parker, 2018)
Power Up Your Reporting Using the SAS® Output Delivery System (SGF paper by Chevell Parker, 2019)
Using SAS® ODS EXCEL Destination "Print Features" to Format Your Excel Worksheets for Printing as You Create Them (PharmaSUG paper by William E Benjamin Jr., 2019)

TUNE IN NOW | LEARN HOW TO READ AND WRITE EXCEL FILES WITH SAS

Automating Excel workbooks creation using SAS was published on SAS Users.

A comparison of the ODS destinations for writing to Microsoft Word

Microsoft, ods, ODS Tagsets, Problem Solvers, Tech No Responses »

6月 102022

There are several alternatives to writing to a Microsoft Word file when you use the SAS® Output Delivery System (ODS). The RTF, TAGSETS.RTF and TAGSETS.RTF_SAMPLE destinations create an RTF formatted file. The WORD destination, which is still considered preproduction, creates a DOCX formatted file. The destinations provide many of the same functions, although some features are unique to each one. The destination that you choose might vary depending on your desired final output.

Both the Tagsets and the Word destination enable you to specify suboptions using the OPTIONS option. These suboptions are described in the documentation. For the Tagsets destinations, you can also see a list of the available suboptions and their values in the log by using the DOC='HELP' suboption as follows:

Ods tagsets.rtf file='test.rtf'
 options(doc='help');

View more Problem Solvers posts

What is common across destinations

There are some often-used features that are common across all ODS destinations that write to Microsoft Word. All ODS statements support the following options:

SASDATE – This option uses the date and time that the SAS session started if the DATE system option is turned on. Otherwise, the date and time listed are when the file is created. This is the default setting for the Tagsets destinations.
COLUMNS= – This option allows for multi-column output.
None of the destinations support the Report Writing Interface or the ODS LAYOUT ABSOLUTE option.
All destinations can create a table of contents, although the options for this task vary. To show the Table of Contents once the file is created, right-click in the page and select Update Field:
- Ods rtf file='file.rtf' contents toc_data;
- Ods tagsets.rtf file='file.rtf' options(contents='yes' toc_data='on');
- Ods word file='file.docx' options(contents='yes' toc_data='on);
- The TOC_LEVEL='n' suboption in the Tagsets and Word destinations controls the level of expansion of the table of contents.

Unique features, strengths and limitations for each destination

ODS RTF

The RTF destination was introduced in SAS® 8.1. The style template inherits from Styles.Printer. By default, title and footnote text is placed in the header and footer sections of the document. The BODYTITLE option in the ODS statement places the title and footnote text in the body of the document. The KEEPN option controls where tables are split on the page and the NOTRKEEP option controls whether table rows can be split by a page break.

A significant limitation of the RTF destination is that paging can be difficult because there is no vertical measurement. SAS allows Word to determine paging. In addition, the RTF destination does not support the UNIFORM option.

Here is an example:

ods _all_ close;
ods rtf file='paging_rtf.rtf' ;
 
proc print data=sashelp.cars(obs=15) noobs;
title 'Shows paging difficulties where columns wrap on the same page';
run;
 
ods _all_ close;

ODS Tagsets.RTF

The Tagsets.RTF destination was introduced in SAS® 9.2, partly to provide more control over paging. The style template inherits from Styles.Printer. Bodytitle is the default behavior, which means that the title and footnote text is placed in the body of the document. This destination supports the UNIFORM option. Another useful option is TABLEROWS=n, which specifies the number of rows in each table before ODS inserts a page break. Suboptions that are often used include the following:

CONTINUE_TAG= controls whether the “(Continued)” text is displayed at the end of a page when a table crosses a page boundary.
VSPACE= controls vertical space in the document.
WATERMARK= adds a diagonal text string as an argument.

Here is an example:

ods tagsets.rtf file='watermark_vspace_tagsets_rtf.rtf'
 options(doc='help' watermark="Draft" vspace='off') ;
 
proc print data=sashelp.class noobs;
title 'Shows watermark and no space between title and table';
run;
 
ods _all_ close;

ODS Tagsets.RTF_Sample

The Tagsets.RTF_Sample destination was also introduced in SAS 9.2. The style template inherits from Styles.Printer. The main distinction between this tagset and Tagsets.RTF is that this tagset places the title and footnote text in the header and footer of the Word document. This behavior makes it similar to the RTF destination without the BODYTITLE option. It includes the same suboptions listed in the ODS Tagsets.RTF section.

Here is an example:

ods tagsets.rtf_sample file='title_header_tagsets_rtf_sample.rtf'
 options(doc='help');
 
proc print data=sashelp.class noobs;
title 'Shows title in Header section of document';
run;
 
ods _all_ close;

ODS WORD

The ODS WORD destination is still considered preproduction in the current release of SAS. It produces Microsoft Word output that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2010 and later. The style template inherits from Styles.Word and uses the SCHEME statement in the TEMPLATE procedure to define its style.

Some strengths of the ODS WORD destination are that it creates a native DOCX file and the file size can be smaller than that of a file created by the RTF destinations. The following file created with ODS WORD is 12 KB. The same file that is created with ODS RTF is 22 KB. There are several suboptions that help control where text splits on a page, including KEEP_LINES and KEEP_NEXT. The ODS WORD destination also supports accessibility and SVG output.

The ODS WORD destination currently does not support watermarks.

Here is an example:

ods word file='word_output.docx' sasdate;
 
proc print data=sashelp.class noobs;
title 'ODS WORD output';
run;
 
ods _all_ close;
ods listing;

Conclusion

Multiple ODS destinations can create a Microsoft Word file. Any method that you choose can create presentation-quality output for Microsoft Word. Thank you for reading and please check out the documentation links below.

Learn more

A comparison of the ODS destinations for writing to Microsoft Word was published on SAS Users.

How to Add Sticky Headers with ODS HTML

CSS, HTML, ods, ODS HTML, Problem Solvers, SAS Problem Solvers, sticky headers, Tech No Responses »

5月 152020

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This blog demonstrates how to modify your ODS HTML code to make your column headers “sticky,” or fixed in position. Using sticky headers is most beneficial when you have long tables on your web page and you want the column headers to stay in view while scrolling through the rest of the page. The ability to add sticky headers was added with CSS 2.1, with the cascading style sheet (CSS) position property and its sticky value. You might have seen this capability before CSS 2.1 because it was supported by WebKit, which is a browser engine that Apple developed and is used primarily in the Safari browser (In Safari, you use the position property with the value -webkit-sticky.) The position: sticky style property is supported in the latest versions of the major browsers, except for Internet Explorer. The FROZEN_HEADERS= option can be used with the TableEditor tagset; see the TableEditor tagset method below.

Before you start

Here is a brief explanation about the task that this blog helps you accomplish. Since the position: sticky style property is supported with the <TH> HTML tags within tables, it is very easy for you to add the position: sticky style for HTML tables that ODS HTML generates. When this CSS style attribute is added for the headers, the headers are fixed within the viewport, which is the viewable area. The content in the viewport is scrollable, as seen in the example output below.

In the past, JavaScript was the main tool for generating fixed headers that are compatible across browsers and devices. However, the position: sticky property has also made it easier to fix various other elements, such as footers, within the viewport on the web page. This blog demonstrates how to make the <TH> tag or .header class sticky but enable the rest of the web page to be scrolled. The techniques here work for both desktop and mobile applications. There are multiple ways to add this style. Choose the method that is most convenient for you.

Method 1: Use the HEADTEXT= option

This example uses the position: sticky style property for the .header class, which is added to the HEADTEXT= option in the ODS HTML statement. The .header class is added along with the position style property between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags, which is the header section of the web page. This method is very convenient. However, you are limited to 256 characters and you might want to add other CSS style properties. The position style property is added using the .header class name, which is used by ODS HTML to add style attributes to the column headers. As the name suggests, cascading elements cascade and enable elements with like names to be combined. In the following code example, the HEADTEXT= option uses a CSS rule with the .header class and the position: sticky property for the header section of the web page.

ods html path="c:\temp" file="sticky.html"
headtext="<style> .header {position: sticky;top:0}</style>";
 
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run;
 
ods html close;

Here is what the output looks like:

Method 2: Use the STYLESHEET= option

You can also add the position: sticky property to the .header class from an external CSS file, which can be referenced in ODS HTML code by using the STYLESHEET= option with the (URL=) suboption. This method uses a CSS file as a basis for the formatting, unlike the first method above, which had applied the default HTMLBLUE style for the destination.

Another item worth mentioning in this second example is the grouping of the CSS class selectors, which match the style element names used with ODS and the TEMPLATE procedure. For example, the .body, .systemtitle, .header, .rowheader, and .data class selectors are added and grouped into the font-family style property. This method is also used for several of the other style properties below. The .data class adds some additional functionality worth discussing, such as the use of a pseudo style selector, which applies a different background color for even alternating rows. In the example below, the .class names and the template element names are the same. You should place the CSS style rules that are shown here in a file that is named sticky.css.

.body, .systemtitle, .header, .rowheader, .data { 
font-family: arial, sans-serif; 
}  
.systemtitle, .header, .rowheader { 
font-weight: bold
} 
.table, .header, .rowheader, .data { 
border-spacing: 0; 
border-collapse: collapse; 
border: 1px solid #606060;
} 
.table tbody tr:nth-child(even) td { 
background-color: #e0e0e0; 
color: black;
}
.header { 
background-color: #e0e0e0;
position: -webkit-sticky;
position: sticky;
top:0;
} 
.header, .rowheader, .data { 
padding: 5px 10px;
}

After you create that CSS file, you can use the ODS HTML statement with the STYLESHEET= option. In that option, the (URL=) suboption uses the sticky.css file as the basis for the formatting. Forgetting to add the (URL=) suboption re-creates a CSS file with the current template style that is being used.

ods html path="c:\temp" file="sticky.html"
   stylesheet=(url="sticky.css");
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run; 
ods html close;

Here is what the output looks like:

The pseudo class selector in the CSS file indicated that even alternating rows for all <TD> tags would be colored with the background color gray. Also, the position: sticky property in the .header class fixed the position of the header within the viewport.

Method 3: Use the TableEditor tagset

A third method uses the TableEditor tagset, which enables sticky headers to be added by using options. Options are also applied to modify the style for the alternating even and odd rows as well as to have sortable headers.

/* Reference the TableEditor tagset from support.sas.com. */
filename tpl url "http://support.sas.com/rnd/base/ods/odsmarkup/tableeditor/tableeditor.tpl";
/* Insert the tagset into the search path for ODS templates. */
ods path(Prepend) work.templat(update);
%include tpl;
ods tagsets.tableeditor file="c:\output\temp.html" 
options(sticky_headers="yes"
sort="yes"
banner_color_even="#e0e0e0") style=htmlblue;
 
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run;
 
ods tagsets.tableeditor close;

Here is what the output looks like:

In summary, this article describes how easy it is to add sticky headers to tables that are generated by using the ODS HTML destination. Adding fixed headers to any table allows the output to dynamically preserve the headers in the viewable area while scrolling through the table, allowing a much richer experience. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Learn More

How to Add Sticky Headers with ODS HTML was published on SAS Users.

How to Add Sticky Headers with ODS HTML

CSS, HTML, ods, ODS HTML, Problem Solvers, SAS Problem Solvers, sticky headers, Tech No Responses »

5月 152020

View more Problem Solvers posts

Before you start

Method 1: Use the HEADTEXT= option

ods html path="c:\temp" file="sticky.html"
headtext="<style> .header {position: sticky;top:0}</style>";
 
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run;
 
ods html close;

Here is what the output looks like:

Method 2: Use the STYLESHEET= option

.body, .systemtitle, .header, .rowheader, .data { 
font-family: arial, sans-serif; 
}  
.systemtitle, .header, .rowheader { 
font-weight: bold
} 
.table, .header, .rowheader, .data { 
border-spacing: 0; 
border-collapse: collapse; 
border: 1px solid #606060;
} 
.table tbody tr:nth-child(even) td { 
background-color: #e0e0e0; 
color: black;
}
.header { 
background-color: #e0e0e0;
position: -webkit-sticky;
position: sticky;
top:0;
} 
.header, .rowheader, .data { 
padding: 5px 10px;
}

ods html path="c:\temp" file="sticky.html"
   stylesheet=(url="sticky.css");
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run; 
ods html close;

Here is what the output looks like:

Method 3: Use the TableEditor tagset

/* Reference the TableEditor tagset from support.sas.com. */
filename tpl url "http://support.sas.com/rnd/base/ods/odsmarkup/tableeditor/tableeditor.tpl";
/* Insert the tagset into the search path for ODS templates. */
ods path(Prepend) work.templat(update);
%include tpl;
ods tagsets.tableeditor file="c:\output\temp.html" 
options(sticky_headers="yes"
sort="yes"
banner_color_even="#e0e0e0") style=htmlblue;
 
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run;
 
ods tagsets.tableeditor close;

Here is what the output looks like:

Learn More

How to Add Sticky Headers with ODS HTML was published on SAS Users.

How to Add Sticky Headers with ODS HTML

CSS, HTML, ods, ODS HTML, Problem Solvers, SAS Problem Solvers, sticky headers, Tech No Responses »

5月 152020

View more Problem Solvers posts

Before you start

Method 1: Use the HEADTEXT= option

ods html path="c:\temp" file="sticky.html"
headtext="<style> .header {position: sticky;top:0}</style>";
 
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run;
 
ods html close;

Here is what the output looks like:

Method 2: Use the STYLESHEET= option

.body, .systemtitle, .header, .rowheader, .data { 
font-family: arial, sans-serif; 
}  
.systemtitle, .header, .rowheader { 
font-weight: bold
} 
.table, .header, .rowheader, .data { 
border-spacing: 0; 
border-collapse: collapse; 
border: 1px solid #606060;
} 
.table tbody tr:nth-child(even) td { 
background-color: #e0e0e0; 
color: black;
}
.header { 
background-color: #e0e0e0;
position: -webkit-sticky;
position: sticky;
top:0;
} 
.header, .rowheader, .data { 
padding: 5px 10px;
}

ods html path="c:\temp" file="sticky.html"
   stylesheet=(url="sticky.css");
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run; 
ods html close;

Here is what the output looks like:

Method 3: Use the TableEditor tagset

/* Reference the TableEditor tagset from support.sas.com. */
filename tpl url "http://support.sas.com/rnd/base/ods/odsmarkup/tableeditor/tableeditor.tpl";
/* Insert the tagset into the search path for ODS templates. */
ods path(Prepend) work.templat(update);
%include tpl;
ods tagsets.tableeditor file="c:\output\temp.html" 
options(sticky_headers="yes"
sort="yes"
banner_color_even="#e0e0e0") style=htmlblue;
 
proc print data=sashelp.cars;
run;
 
ods tagsets.tableeditor close;

Here is what the output looks like:

Learn More

How to Add Sticky Headers with ODS HTML was published on SAS Users.

How to view or create ODS output without causing SAS® to stop responding or run slowly

Data Visualization, ods, Problem Solvers, Tech No Responses »

3月 152019

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SAS makes it easy for you to create a large amount of procedure output with very few statements. However, when you create a large amount of procedure output with the Output Delivery System (ODS), your SAS session might stop responding or run slowly. In some cases, SAS generates a “Not Responding” message. Beginning with SAS® 9.3, the SAS windowing environment creates HTML output by default and enables ODS Graphics by default. If your code creates a large amount of either HTML output or ODS Graphics output, you can experience performance issues in SAS. This blog article discusses how to work around this issue.

Option 1: Enable the Output window instead of the Results Viewer window

By default, the SAS windowing environment with SAS 9.3 and SAS® 9.4 creates procedure output in HTML format and displays that HTML output in the Results Viewer window. However, when a large amount of HTML output is displayed in the Results Viewer window, performance might suffer. To display HTML output in the Results Viewer window, SAS uses an embedded version of Internet Explorer within the SAS environment. And because Internet Explorer does not process large amounts of HTML output well, it can slow down your results.

If you do not need to create HTML output, you can display procedure output in the Output window instead. To do so, add the following statements to the top of your code before the procedure step:

   ods _all_ close; 
   ods listing;

The Output window can show results faster than HTML output that is displayed in the Results Viewer window.

If you want to enable the Output window via the SAS windowing environment, take these steps:

A large amount of output in the Output window, which typically does not cause a performance issue, might still generate an “Output window is full” message. In that case, you can route your LISTING output to a disk file. Use either the PRINTTO procedure or the ODS LISTING statement with the FILE= option. Here is an example:

   ods _all_ close; 
   ods listing file="sasoutput.lst";

Option 2: Disable ODS Graphics

Beginning with SAS 9.3, the SAS windowing environment enables ODS Graphics by default. Therefore, most SAS/STAT® procedures now create graphics output automatically. Naturally, graphics output can take longer to create than regular text output. If you are running a SAS/STAT procedure but you do not need to create graphics output, add the following statement to the code before the procedure step:

   ods graphics off;

If you want to set this option via the SAS windowing environment, take these steps:

For maximum efficiency, you can combine the ODS GRAPHICS OFF statement with the statements listed in the previous section, as shown here:

   ods _all_ close;
   ods listing;
   ods graphics off;

Option 3: Write ODS output to disk

You can ask SAS to write ODS output to disk but not to create output in the Results Viewer window. To do so, add the following statement to your code before your procedure step:

   ods results off;

Later in your SAS session, if you decide that you want to see output in the Results Viewer window, submit this statement:

   ods results on;

If you want to disable the Results Viewer window via the SAS windowing environment, take these steps:

The ODS RESULTS OFF statement is a valuable debugging tool because it enables you to write ODS output to disk without viewing it in the Results Viewer window. You can then inspect the ODS output file on disk to check the size of it (before you open it).

Option 4: Suppress specific procedure output from the ODS results

In certain situations, you might use multiple procedure steps to send output to ODS. However, if you want to exclude certain procedure output from being written to ODS, use the following statement:

   ods exclude all;

Ensure that you place the statement right before the procedure step that contains the output that you want to suppress.

If necessary, use the following statement when you want to resume sending subsequent procedure output to ODS:

   ods exclude none;

Five reasons to use ODS EXCLUDE to suppress SAS output discusses the ODS EXCLUDE statement in more detail.

Conclusion

Certain web browsers display large HTML files better than others. When you use SAS to create large HTML files, you might try using a web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or Edge instead of Internet Explorer. However, even browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge might run slowly when processing a very large HTML file.

Instead, as a substitute for HTML, you might consider creating PDF output (with the ODS PDF destination) or RTF output (with the ODS RTF destination). However, if you end up creating a very large PDF or RTF file, then Adobe (for PDF output) and Microsoft Word (for RTF output) might also experience performance issues.

The information in this blog mainly pertains to the SAS windowing environment. For information about how to resolve ODS issues in SAS® Enterprise Guide®, refer to Take control of ODS results in SAS Enterprise Guide.

How to view or create ODS output without causing SAS® to stop responding or run slowly was published on SAS Users.

Embed scalable graphics using the ODS HTML5 destination

Data Visualization, ods, Problem Solvers, Tech No Responses »

2月 152019

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Beginning with SAS® 9.4, you can embed graphics output within HTML output using the ODS HTML5 destination. This technique works with SAS/GRAPH® procedures (such as GPLOT and GCHART), SG procedures (such as SGPLOT and SGRENDER), and when you create graphics output with ODS Graphics enabled. Most (if not all) existing web browsers support graphics output embedded in HTML5 output.

Note: The default graphics output format for the ODS HTML5 destination is Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). SVG documents display clearly at any size in any viewer or browser that supports SVG. So, SVG files are ideal for display on a computer monitor, PDA, or cell phone; or printed documents. Because it's a vector graphic, a single SVG document can be transformed to any screen resolution without compromising the clarity of the document. Here's an example:

The same SVG graph, scaled at 90% and then at 200%. But 100% crisp!

SAS/GRAPH procedures

When you use the ODS HTML5 destination with a SAS/GRAPH procedure, specify a value of SVG, PNG, or JPEG for the DEVICE option in the GOPTIONS statement. The following sample PROC GPLOT code embeds SVG graphics inside the resulting HTML output:

goptions device=svg;
ods _all_ close;  
ods html5 path="c:\temp" file="svg_graph.html"; 
symbol1 i=none v=squarefilled; 
proc gplot data=sashelp.cars; 
  plot mpg_city * horsepower;   
  where make="Honda"; 
run;
quit;  
ods html5 close; 
ods preferences;

Note that the ODS PREFERENCES statement above resets the ODS environment back to its default settings when you use the SAS windowing environment.

When you use the PNG or JPEG device driver with the ODS HTML5 destination, add the BITMAP_MODE="INLINE" option to the ODS HTML5 statement. Here is an example:

goptions device=png;
ods _all_ close; 
ods html5 path="c:\temp" file="png_graph.html"     options(bitmap_mode="inline");
symbol1 i=none v=squarefilled; 
proc gplot data=sashelp.cars; 
  plot mpg_city * horsepower;   
  where make="Honda"; 
run;
quit;  
ods html5 close; 
ods preferences;

ODS Graphics and SG procedures

When you use SG procedures and ODS Graphics, specify a value of SVG, PNG, or JPEG for the OUTPUTFMT option in the ODS GRAPHICS statement. The following sample code uses PROC SGPLOT to embed SVG graphics inside the HTML output with the ODS HTML5 destination:

ods _all_ close; 
ods html5 path="c:\temp" file="svg_graph.html"; 
ods graphics on / reset=all outputfmt=svg;
proc sgplot data=sashelp.cars; 
  scatter y=mpg_city x=horsepower / markerattrs=(size=9PT symbol=squarefilled);   
  where make="Honda"; 
run;
ods html5 close; 
ods preferences;

The following sample code uses PROC SGPLOT to embed PNG graphics inside the HTML output with the ODS HTML5 destination:

ods _all_ close; 
ods html5 path="c:\temp" file="png_graph.html" options(bitmap_mode="inline");   
      ods graphics on / reset=all outputfmt=png;
proc sgplot data=sashelp.cars; 
  scatter y=mpg_city x=horsepower / markerattrs=(size=9PT symbol=squarefilled);   
  where make="Honda"; 
run;
      ods html5 close; 
      ods preferences;

The technique above also works when you use the ODS GRAPHICS ON statement with other procedures that produce graphics output (such as the LIFETEST procedure).

Note that the ODS HTML5 destination supports the SAS Graphics Accelerator. The SAS Graphics Accelerator enables users with visual impairments or blindness to create, explore, and share data visualizations. It supports alternative presentations of data visualizations that include enhanced visual rendering, text descriptions, tabular data, and interactive sonification. Sonification uses non-speech audio to convey important information about the graph.

You can use the ODS HTML5 destination in most situations where you need to embed all of your output into a single HTML output location. For example, when you email HTML output as an attachment or when you create graphics output via a SAS stored process. If you currently use the ODS HTML destination, you might want to experiment with the ODS HTML5 destination to see whether it meets your needs even if you cannot completely switch to it yet.

Embed scalable graphics using the ODS HTML5 destination was published on SAS Users.

Custom Style Templates: Start Small

ods, proc template, SAS Author's Tip, sas books No Responses »

5月 232018

SAS author Jane Eslinger shows give you tips for working with PROC TEMPLATE when diving into the Output Delivery System (ODS) world. Learn how to create a custom style template to get the stylized output you want.

The post Custom Style Templates: Start Small appeared first on SAS Learning Post.

Background images and the ODS destination for PowerPoint

ods, ods graphics, ODS powerpoint, SAS Author's Tip No Responses »

4月 242018

The ODS destination for PowerPoint uses table templates and style templates to display the tables, graphs, and other output produced by SAS procedures. You can customize the look of your presentation in a number of ways, including using custom style templates and images. Here we'll learn about using background images.

The post Background images and the ODS destination for PowerPoint appeared first on SAS Learning Post.