Using Universal Printer Shortcut Devices

Universal Printer shortcut devices enable you to generate SAS/GRAPH output using the Universal Printing system without specifying ODS statements or an OPTIONS PRINTERPATH= statement. The shortcut devices were created primarily for use with the LISTING and HTML destinations. They perform two functions:

• set the PRINTERPATH= system option. These options determine which Universal Printer is used to generate your final output. See Using Universal Printer Shortcut Devices.

• convert SAS/GRAPH GRSEG output into instructions understood by Universal Printers.

Using a Universal Printer shortcut device requires that there is a Universal Printer with the same name in the SAS registry. Universal printers have already been defined for all of the shortcut devices that are shipped with SAS. However, if you create your own device by copying one of the Universal Printer shortcut device entries, then you must make sure that you define a Universal Printer with the same name as your new device entry. For information on creating a new SAS/GRAPH device, see Creating a Custom Device. For information on defining a new Universal Printer, see Define a New Printer in SAS Language Reference: Concepts.

An example of the differences in specifying a shortcut device and in specifying a Universal Printer directly (without going through the shortcut device) is shown in Differences In Using Shortcut Devices And Universal Printers.

goptions device=PNG;
 /* procedure step */

ods printer printer=PNG;
 /* procedure step */
ods printer close;

options printerpath=PNG;
ods printer;
 /* procedure step */
ods printer close;

Universal Printer Shortcut Devices lists all of the Universal Printer shortcut devices that are provided by SAS.

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