Position (origin and length) of axes in the graph output area in ODS

[Xavier_Draye]

Hi,

I am migrating from SAS/GRAPH to ODS Graphics and wonder about the equivalent of ORIGIN and LENGTH options of the SAS/GRAPH AXIS statement in ODS.

In SAS/GRAPH, one can specify that an axis starts at coordinates (20, 20)PCT of the output area and has a length of 70PCT. This is very useful to generate all kind of graphs that will align nicely in the produced documents.

Is there an equivalent in ODS Graphics? I have read the GTL literature quite in depth and could not find any such things.

Any help appreciated,

Xavier.

[Rick_SAS]

I suggest you use the REFLINE statement to place vertical and horizontal lines at the locations that you want in data coordinates. For example, the following statements place reference lines at X=0 and Y=0. You can also change the default thickness or color by using the LINEATTRS= option, as shown in the second example.

data Center;   /* center the variables */
set sashelp.class;
Height = Height - 62.3;
Weight = Weight - 100;
run;

proc sgplot data=Center;
   refline 0 / axis=x;
   refline 0 / axis=y;
   scatter x=Height y=Weight;
run;

proc sgplot data=Center;
   xaxis grid;
   yaxis grid;
   refline 0 / axis=x lineattrs=(color=darkgray);
   refline 0 / axis=y lineattrs=(color=darkgray);
   scatter x=Height y=Weight;
run;

If you really want to place a line in terms of percentage, you can use an annotation data set. There are several coordinate systems for drawing, and you can use percentages in each system, as shown in the documentation for the SG annotation data sets.

[Xavier_Draye]

Hi Rick,

Thank you for your message. May be my question is not well explained. Here is what I would like to control (the two blue arrows):

Thanx,

Xavier.

[Rick_SAS]

Sanjay already told you how to control that space:

title "My Title";
proc sgplot data= sashelp.class pad=(left=20pct bottom=20pct);
   scatter x=Height y=Weight;
run;

[Xavier_Draye]

Thanx Rick, but I am afraid this is not right. The PAD option controls the space around the whole [graph + label + ticks] area. See the example below: it adds the extra blue space. It does not allow me to set the distance between the axis and the border of the graphic output.

[Jay54]

To control the white space outside the axes, you can use the PAD option.

  proc sgplot data=data pad=(bottom=15pct).

See doc for full details.

[Xavier_Draye]

Thank you for this answer. From my tests, it seems that the PAD option creates empty space around the whole area (including axis label and tick values). This will not prevent SAS to adjust the position of the axis line to accomodate for the needed space for ticks and label.

[ballardw]

---

@Xavier_Draye wrote:
Thank you for this answer. From my tests, it seems that the PAD option creates empty space around the whole area (including axis label and tick values). This will not prevent SAS to adjust the position of the axis line to accomodate for the needed space for ticks and label.

---

Please share the code and example data that you are using to test this.

You may need to provide the version of SAS you are running and ODS destination(s) as well. The graphics have been one of the fastest changing elements in the past few releases and specific version info may be needed to diagnose options.

[Xavier_Draye]

Hi, 

I am using SAS 9.4 (TS1M4), Win10, 64.

Here is an examle of SAS code :

data sample (drop = i);
  do i = 1 to 50;
    x = rannor(-1);
	ysmall = rannor(-1);
	ylarge = ysmall * 1e3;
	output;
  end;
run;

ods graphics on / reset = all width = 9cm height = 6cm;

proc sgplot data = sample pad = (left = 2cm);
  scatter x = x y = ysmall;
  inset "pad = (left = 2cm)" "Small y values";
  xaxis label = "X axis label";
  yaxis label = "Y axis label";
run;

proc sgplot data = sample pad = (left = 2cm);
  scatter x = x y = ylarge;
  inset "pad = (left = 2cm)" "Large y values";
  xaxis label = "X axis label";
  yaxis label = "Y axis label";
run;

I have annotated the output below. The red line shows what the PAD is doing (same value for the two graphs). I would like the two blue lines to be aligned (which is what the ORIGIN option of AXIS does in SAS/GRAPH).

 

[Jay54 · Accepted solution]

If you want the axis lines vertically aligned despite having vastly different tick values, you will need to use the features of the SGPANEL procedure, putting all the graphs that need to be aligned in one multi-cell graph.  This will be a CLASS panel, so you get column of cells, one cell per group value.

For true alignment of varied cells (but still in one graph), you will need to use GTL (SGRENDER) with the LAYOUT LATTICE structure.  See the example at the bottom of this linked page of a BarChart and ScatterPlot where the Y axes are aligned despite the different tick values:

https://documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=pgmsascdc&cdcVersion=9.4_3.5&docsetId=grstatug&docsetTarget=n11...

You may be able to force individual graphs per cell by setting ROWS=1 and COLUMNS=1.

[Xavier_Draye]

Thanx Jay. I was hoping to be able to achieve this alignement for independent graphs, as I used to do with SAS/GRAPH. I understand from your answer that this way of working is not supported by ODS Graphics. I'll therefore adopt the SGPANEL (I think SGSCATTER will do it as well) or LAYOUT LATTICE.
Have a nice day (midnight for me)...
Xavier.