Creating Interactive Output for ActiveX

When to Use the ACTIVEX Device

If your Web users are using the Windows operating environment and the Internet Explorer Web browser, the SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control might be preferable over a Java applet from a performance standpoint. In general, the interactive features of the SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control are comparable to those that are provided in Java through the Java applets. Some features differ, as you can see in the comparison table that is presented in the Parameter Reference for Java and ActiveX. Also, the JAVA device does not display output that is generated with the GAREABAR, GBARLINE, or GRADAR procedures.

Unlike the JAVA device, you can use the ACTIVEX device to embed interactive graphics in Microsoft Word documents by using the ODS RTF statement, as shown in Generating an ActiveX Graph for a Microsoft Word Document and in Importing Your Graphs into Microsoft Office. You can also copy the ActiveX window out of Internet Explorer and paste it into a Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document.

If you have created a graph with the ACTIVEX device but you do not need the interactivity that it provides, then use the ACTXIMG device, as described in Developing Web Presentations with the JAVAIMG and ACTXIMG Devices. The ACTXIMG device creates a static snapshot of the graph in a PNG file. The graph has the same look as the graph that is produced with the ACTIVEX device, but the graph does not support interactivity. You can use the ACTXIMG device only on Windows systems. Although you do not need the SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control when you are viewing the ACTXIMG output, to produce the output file, you must install the SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control on your computer. See Installing the SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control.

You can generate output for the SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control even if you are not working in the Windows operating environment. For example, you can generate HTML output for ActiveX in the UNIX operating environment, even though you cannot run Internet Explorer in that environment. Displaying the HTML in Internet Explorer on Windows will display the output as if it was generated in that operating environment. You can also run your SAS jobs in a stored process on UNIX and display the output in the Internet Exporer browser on Windows.

When you use the ACTIVEX device with an ODS destination that does not support the ACTIVEX device, SAS/GRAPH switches to the ACTXIMG device, which generates a PNG image. For example, the ODS PDF statement generates output for the Adobe Reader in a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. This format does not support embedded ActiveX applications. Specifying the ACTIVEX device with the ODS PDF statement generates a PDF output file that contains a static image of the graphics output that is embedded in the PDF file. The ODS RTF destination creates an RTF file that contains a PNG image. The ODS PRINTER destinations use their native format.

The ACTXIMG device can produce an image map in the HTML output file to enable data tips and drill-down functionality from the image. See Enhancing Web Presentations with Chart Descriptions, Data Tips, and Drill-Down Functionality.

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