Using Graphics Devices

Device Categories And Modifying Default Output Attributes

There are four general categories of devices that are distributed with SAS/GRAPH. The type of device determines how you control certain aspects of your output.

Note: Controlling The Appearance of Your Graphs describes the recommended methods for controlling the attributes of your SAS/GRAPH output. Modifying device parameters should be attempted only in unusual circumstances when modifying parameters and options in the GOPTIONS statement is not sufficient. If you need to modify a device entry, consider contacting SAS Technical Support for assistance first. [cautionend]

Native SAS/GRAPH devices

produce output in the native language of the device. For example, TIFFP, PS300, SASEMF, JPEG, CGMC, and GIF are native SAS/GRAPH devices. With native SAS/GRAPH devices, you can specify default attributes for your output by customizing the device entry (the DEV catalog entry). For example, by editing the DEV catalog entry for the device, you can change the default size and resolution of your output and the default colors and fonts that are used when styles are turned off. Native SAS/GRAPH devices do not set and or use the SYSPRINT= or PRINTERPATH= system options.

Java and ActiveX devices

produce output using different technologies than the native SAS/GRAPH devices. These devices are the JAVA, JAVAIMG, ACTIVEX, and ACTXIMG devices. These devices do not use information specified in the device entry.

Universal Printer shortcut devices

use the Universal Printing system to generate output. Universal Printing is a printing system that provides printing capabilities to SAS applications and procedures on all the operating environments that are supported by SAS. It is part of Base SAS. For information on universal printing, see Printing With SAS.

Universal Printer shortcut devices can generate output in the following formats: PDF, PostScript, PCL, PNG, GIF, and SVG. For example, PNG and SVG are Universal Printer shortcut devices. Any device whose name begins with the letter U, such as UGIF or UPSL, is also a Universal Printer shortcut device. The description of a Universal Printer shortcut device generally says "Universal Printer" when you view the contents of the SASHELP.DEVICES catalog (see Viewing The List Of All Available Devices). The list of all Universal Printer shortcut devices is shown in Differences In Using Shortcut Devices And Universal Printers.

Universal Printer shortcut devices are designed to emulate a native SAS/GRAPH device, which means that these devices behave as much as possible like native SAS/GRAPH devices. For example, these devices set the value of PRINTERPATH= so that you need only specify the device name with the GOPTIONS statement. However, for these devices there are some attributes of your output, such as default resolution, that cannot be changed by modifying the DEV catalog entry. See Using Universal Printer Shortcut Devices for more information.

Interface devices

are devices that, in some operating environments, use the facilities of the operating environment, and, in other operating environments, use Universal Printing to generate output. There are three subcategories of interface devices: printer, display, and metafile.

The printer interface devices are the SASPRTC, SASPRTG, and SASPRTM devices (and the WINPRT* devices on Windows systems). In Windows operating environments, if the PRINTERPATH= system option has not been set, these devices use the setting of the SYSPRINT= system option to determine the default output device and the Windows Print Manager to control the generation of output. In Windows operating environments, the Universal Printing System is used if the PRINTERPATH= system option is specified or if the UPRINT system option has been specified at invocation. Otherwise, they use the setting of the PRINTERPATH= system option to determine the default output device and the Universal Printing system to control the generation of output.

Device Categories, GOPTIONS, and DEV Entries
Device Category		Examples	Honor GOPTIONS specifications?	Honor Device (DEV) entry specifications?
Native SAS/GRAPH devices		GIF TIFFP JPEG CGM BMP¹ SASBMP² EMF, WMF¹ SASEMF, SASWMF² JAVAMETA ZPNG IBMPCGX	Yes⁴	Yes
Java and ActiveX devices		JAVA ACTIVEX JAVAIMG ACTXIMG	Yes, except as noted in the documentation for specific graphics options. Also, resolution is controlled by the operating environment.	no
Shortcut devices		PNG UGIF SVG	Yes³, except for resolution⁵	Yes, except for size, resolution, and fonts
Interface devices	Printer⁶	SASPRTC SASPRTG SASPRTM	Yes, except for resolution⁷	Yes, except for size, resolution, and fonts
	Display	WIN XCOLOR	Yes, except for resolution⁹	Yes, except for size⁸, resolution⁹, and fonts
	Metafile	BMP¹ EMF, WMF¹	Yes	Yes, except for resolution⁹ and fonts
1 On Windows, BMP, EMF, and WMF are interface metafile devices. In all other operating environments, BMP, EMF, and WMF are native SAS/GRAPH devices. 2 In operating environments other than Windows, SASEMF, SASWMF, and SASBMP are copies of EMF, WMF, and BMP, respectively. 3 With SVG devices, the XMAX= and YMAX= graphics options set the size of the page, and the HSIZE= and VSIZE= graphics options set the size of the SVG output. With other devices, all four options set the size of the graphics output, and if all four are specified, the smaller specifications are used. 4 Some native devices have a set resolution, and others have a fixed set of supported resolutions that you can specify. 5 Shortcut devices use Universal Printers. Universal Printers have a fixed set of supported resolutions that can be selected through the Print Setup dialog box or through the PRINTDEF procedure. 6 The WINPRT* devices are identical to the SASPRT* devices. They differ in name only. 7 The interface printer devices use a mix of host printing facilities and Universal Printing, depending on the operating environment. On Windows systems, use the Windows Print Manager to change the default resolution and size. On other systems, resolution and size are set through the Print Setup dialog box or through the PRINTDEF procedure. 8 The device is queried. The size is constrained by the window. 9 Display resolution is set in the display properties for the operating environment. The device is queried, and the resolution is set according to the value returned.

Top of Page