topic Re: How to save lastpage in a macro variable? in SAS Programming

How to save lastpage in a macro variable?

ellouho1 — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 12:48:57 GMT

Dear members,

I am producing a report and I was asked to display the page numbering in the footnote as 'Page X of Y', I found a solution thanks to you in this forum but the Y (lastpage) was not correct as I have only 5 pages but it shows 6 pages. maybe because of a not shown blank page at the end.

So I was wondering if this ^{lastpage} can be saved in a macro variable?

Best regards,

Re: How to save lastpage in a macro variable?

Cynthia_sas — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 16:26:24 GMT

Hi:
You must be creating either PDF or RTF output. You cannot save the ESCAPECHAR {lastpage} value in a macro variable, it is created dynamically based on the data that is being routed to either the PDF file or the RTF file.

I have never seen a "not shown" blank page in ODS output. I have seen instances in both PDF and RTF, where an actual blank page is created, typically because the margins need to be adjusted.

My suggestion is that you alter the papersize option and the margin options and the orientation in order to see whether you can get the correct value for ESCAPECHAR {lastpage} in your final output.

If altering the margins don't work for you, then you might want to open a track with Tech Support. They can look at your actual data and ALL your code and try to replicate the issue. Then, they can help you with the solution.
Cynthia

Re: How to save lastpage in a macro variable?

ellouho1 — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 17:52:31 GMT

Hi Cynthia,

I tried to change PAGESIZE,LINESIZE,MARGINS but no solution.

However, this issue comes only when I add the step to create 'Table of contents' by adding "contents=yes notoc_data" to the ODS.

Without those ODS options I get the real Last page number.

Best regards

Re: How to save lastpage in a macro variable?

Cynthia_sas — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 19:40:12 GMT

Hi:
Does that mean that your page count is off by 1? My guess is that the table of contents page is getting counted by Word as a page. I don't know whether this is how Word is designed or not. This would be a question for Tech Support. They will need to look at your code to test.
Cynthia