topic Re: PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle in ODS and Base Reporting

PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle

sm4 — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:45:45 GMT

Hello,

I switched to using proc odstext from 'ods rtf text=' statements because the latter did not allow page breaks to work. But proc odstext is giving me some issues with my text justification. Specifically, it will not center-justify text that does not exceed a certain length.

For example, the output of the following is centered:

proc odstext;

p "^S={font_size= 9pt font_style= italic just= c}xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.";

run;

But the output of the following stays left-justified:

proc odstext;

p "^S={font_size= 9pt font_style= italic just= c}xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.";

run;

I have tried to find the exact threshold, but it's a little difficult to tell when the line is exactly the length of the page whether the text is definitely centered or not.

Am I missing something obvious here?

Thanks!

Re: PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle

Cynthia_sas — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 21:56:17 GMT

Hi:

Here's the tip sheet:https://support.sas.com/rnd/base/ods/Tipsheet_ListTextBlks.pdf

The techniques shown on the tip sheet worked for me without needing ESCAPECHAR.

Hope this helps,

cynthia

Re: PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle

sm4 — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 21:59:20 GMT

Nevermind - turns out you have to include 'just=' separately:

		p "^S={font_style= italic just= c}hello"/style=[just=c];

Re: PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle

sm4 — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 22:02:07 GMT

I saw this right after I posted myself, thank you!

Re: PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle

ballardw — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 22:04:41 GMT

Perhaps you need to look at the examples for Proc ODSTEXT a bit more. For style elements affecting an entire P statement the syntax should look a bit more like:

proc odstext;
p "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx." /
  style=[font_size= 9pt font_style= italic just= c];
run;
proc odstext;
p "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx." /
  style=[font_size= 9pt font_style= italic just= c];
run;

Or perhaps:

proc odstext;
p "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx." /
  style=[font_size= 9pt font_style= italic just= c];
p "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx." /
  style=[font_size= 9pt font_style= italic just= c];
run;

Also which ODS destination are you using? For destinations that will honor the Papersize option that may help.

I note in my html results that resizing the window can make the text appear not centered relative to the other line of text when the window is reduced in width.

Re: PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle

Cynthia_sas — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 22:06:56 GMT

Hi:
I agree with @ballardw. There is no need to use ODS ESCAPECHAR when there is syntax that will do everything you want by adapting to the style override method shown in our examples and the tip sheet.

cynthia

Re: PROC ODSTEXT text justification is fickle

sm4 — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 15:51:11 GMT

I see, thank you!

I am using RTF. Mostly formatting varies within my statements, but I will switch to that when it doesn't.