topic Colors coding usage in proc template in Graphics Programming

Colors coding usage in proc template

sassy7 — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 07:40:50 GMT

Hello,

My question involves colors definition in a proc template for producting a clustered bars chart.
Bars represent products while clusters represent years: each product has its own color and the graph shows the sales of some products across several years.

In the past, I used HEX colors coding for several SAS graphs using proc sgplot with excellent results.
Some examples of HEX color coding used in the past are: "#C95117" (red) or "#FAD500" (yellow).

When I tried to use the hex color coding scheme in proc template I received an error message,
while using the SAS color scheme the procedure runs fine.

The client has a company color coding and wants the graphs to be aligned with that, so here is my question:
which color coding should be used with proc template: SAS , HEX, RGB or others?
Also, in the proc template I defined colors in the following way:

proc template ...;
......
begingraph/ datacolors=(green yellow red) datacontrastcolors=(green yellow red);
....
run;

Is there another way to define colors used by a bar chart in proc template?

Greeting,

Re: Colors coding usage in proc template

DanH_sas — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 13:36:16 GMT

Use "cx" Instead of using "#" as the RGB indicator (e.g. "#C95117" (red) or "#FAD500" (yellow) becomes "cxC95117" (red) or "cxFAD500" (yellow). The "cx" indicator is standard in SAS for specifying RGB color values.

Hope this helps!

Dan

Re: Colors coding usage in proc template

ballardw — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 15:08:26 GMT

SAS will accept several different color schemes and the method for the codes varies by the prefix as well as the color scheme. I haven't run into an instance where mixing the schemes in a single use causes problems as long as the code is correct.

From the documentation:

Overview of Color-Naming Schemes
The valid color-naming schemes in SAS are as follows:

RGB (red green blue)

RGBA (red green blue transparency)

CMYK (cyan magenta yellow black)

HLS (hue lightness saturation)

HSV (hue saturation brightness), also called HSB

Gray scale

SAS color names (from the SAS Registry)

SAS Color Naming System (CNS)

Examples of SAS Color-Naming Schemes shows examples of each color-naming scheme.
Examples of SAS Color-Naming Schemes
Color-Naming Scheme

Example
RGB
COLORS=(CX98FB98 CXDDA0DD CXFFDAB9 CXDB7093 CXB0E0E6)
RGBA
COLORS=(A98FB9833 ADDA0DD66 AFFDAB999 ADB7093CC AB0E0E6FF)
Note: The RGBA color mode is not supported by Java devices. The RGBA color mode is supported by ActiveX devices when the output is used in Microsoft applications.
CMYK
COLORS=("FF00FF00" "00FFFF00" "FFFFFF00")
HLS
COLORS=(H14055FF H0F060FF H0B485FF H07880FF)
HSV
COLORS=(V0F055FF V010FFFF V03BFFFF V12C55E8)
Gray Scale
COLORS=(GRAY4F GRAY6D GRAY8A GRAYC3)
SAS Registry Colors
COLORS=(palegreen plum peachpuff palevioletred powderblue)
CNS Color Names
COLORS=("very light purplish blue" 
"light vivid green" "medium strong yellow" 
"dark grayish green")

Examples of SAS Color-Naming Schemes
Color-Naming Scheme	Example
RGB	COLORS=(CX98FB98 CXDDA0DD CXFFDAB9 CXDB7093 CXB0E0E6)
RGBA	COLORS=(A98FB9833 ADDA0DD66 AFFDAB999 ADB7093CC AB0E0E6FF) Note: The RGBA color mode is not supported by Java devices. The RGBA color mode is supported by ActiveX devices when the output is used in Microsoft applications.
CMYK	COLORS=("FF00FF00" "00FFFF00" "FFFFFF00")
HLS	COLORS=(H14055FF H0F060FF H0B485FF H07880FF)
HSV	COLORS=(V0F055FF V010FFFF V03BFFFF V12C55E8)
Gray Scale	COLORS=(GRAY4F GRAY6D GRAY8A GRAYC3)
SAS Registry Colors	COLORS=(palegreen plum peachpuff palevioletred powderblue)
CNS Color Names	COLORS=("very light purplish blue" "light vivid green" "medium strong yellow" "dark grayish green")

Also if you have the value of one scheme and need the equivalent in another SAS provides some macros to help if you have SAS/Graph:

conversions that are possible using these macros.

From Color Value

To Color Value

Conversion Macro

CMY

RGB

%CMY

CNS

HLS

%CNS

RGB

HLS

%RGB2HLS

HLS

RGB

%HLS2RGB