topic fancy, polished reports in ODS and Base Reporting

fancy, polished reports

deleted_user — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:17:47 GMT

Hi. Does anyone know if SAS is capable or the right tool to produce a fancy, polished .pdf report? The report will consist of a multi-colored chart and a multi-colored table on one page with formatted text. We've been pulling the data from sas into excel then into word but I'm trying to limit some handling time. Thanks for any advice.

Re: fancy, polished reports

Cynthia_sas — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:20:03 GMT

Hi:
Look at the Exhibits at the end of this SUGI paper by Pete Lund -- Exhibits 6 and 7 seem to be what you're describing.
http://www2.sas.com/proceedings/sugi31/092-31.pdf

SAS and ODS can produce very polished PDF reports directly from your procedure output (instead of following the path that you outline). You may find yourself exploring the world of STYLE= overrides, ODS ESCAPECHAR and Style templates, but the results will be worth the effort!

Good luck,
cynthia

Re: fancy, polished reports

deleted_user — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:31:29 GMT

Thank you. The paper does make it look possible to do what I need to, if I can just figure it out!! I'm kind of a SAS newbie so it's a challenge, but at least I know it is possible. Thanks for your quick response.

Re: fancy, polished reports

Cynthia_sas — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:45:25 GMT

SAS is pretty simple. And, ODS is just a method of directing your output to different destinations. My advice is:
1) have a working program/analysis/report for one section/piece of what you need to do
2) direct the output from that report to PDF
3) learn how to tweak your code to get that report looking the way you want
4) move on and repeat steps 1-3 for other sections of the report
5) after you have successfully generated each piece of the report, work to get ALL the pieces together in one output.

While you're testing, remember this model: [pre]
ods pdf file='piece1.pdf';
...code for piece 1...
ods pdf close;

ods pdf file='piece2.pdf';
...code for piece 2...
ods pdf close;[/pre]
That way, the pieces of your report can be developed and working separate from each other.

THEN, when you're all done and at step 5, then do THIS to get all the pieces into ONE PDF file:[pre]
ods pdf file='piece1.pdf';
...code for piece 1...
...code for piece 2...
...code for piece 3...
ods pdf close;[/pre]
Of course, if you are going to need to produce output as shown in Pete's Exhibit 7, then you will need to get into a study of ODS LAYOUT/ODS REGION -- which is still experimental for SAS 9.1.3 -- so Tech Support will be a big help to you there. But I suggest you get all the individual pieces working before you dive into ODS LAYOUT.

There are many resources that can help you:
SUPPORT.SAS.COM has many ODS and report procedure FAQs and we offer both classroom and Live Web classes on reporting and ODS. In addition, there are many SUGI and user group papers on using the techniques described in Pete's paper.

This forum is a great place to ask questions, too. And, Tech Support is always available to help you with more complex, data-related or destination-related questions.

Good luck!
cynthia

Re: fancy, polished reports

deleted_user — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:03:33 GMT

Thanks for all your help, Cynthia!