topic SGPLOT: fetch colours from another variable in SAS Programming

SGPLOT: fetch colours from another variable

RedBishop — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 13:34:52 GMT

Dear community,

The below code successfully draws 4 polygons of fill colours red, blue, green, and yellow, respectively.

proc sgplot data=MyData aspect=1 noborder nowall noautolegend sganno=MyData subpixel;
  styleattrs datacolors=(red blue green yellow);
  polygon x=x y=y id=id / fill nooutline group=id;
  xaxis display=none;
  yaxis display=none;
run;

I am trying to replace the hardcoded colours by a variable of a different dataset, like so:

  styleattrs datacolors=(OtherDataSet.colours);

(where OtherDataSet.colours neatly has 4 observations being: red blue green yellow)

However, it fails with the error: "Syntax error, expecting one of the following: a name, a quoted string."

Is there something obvious I am missing?

Thanks so much for your help!

Re: SGPLOT: fetch colours from another variable

FreelanceReinh — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 14:41:54 GMT

Hello @RedBishop,

The DATACOLORS= option requires a space-separated list of colors. So, the solution is to create such a list from OtherDataSet.colours, store it in a macro variable and refer to this macro variable in the PROC SGPLOT step:

proc sql noprint;
select colourname into :mycolours separated by ' ' /* replace "colourname" with the appropriate variable name */
from OtherDataSet.colours;
quit;

styleattrs datacolors=(&mycolours);

Re: SGPLOT: fetch colours from another variable

RedBishop — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 15:37:25 GMT

Fantastic, thank you @FreelanceReinhard