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 PRINTERPATH= System Option in SAS System Options: Reference in SAS System Options: Reference for more information.)
  • 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 about creating a new SAS/GRAPH device, see Creating a Custom Device. For information about defining a new Universal Printer, see Define a New Printer in SAS Language Reference: Concepts 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.
Differences in Using Shortcut Devices and Universal Printers
Using a shortcut device
Using a Universal Printer directly
goptions device=PNG;
 /* procedure step */
The following two sets of code are equivalent.
ods printer printer=PNG;
 /* procedure step */
ods printer close;
options printerpath=PNG;
ods printer;
 /* procedure step */
ods printer close;
The device is set to PNG by the GOPTIONS statement.
The default output filename is controlled by the procedure (for example, sasgraph.png).
The device is set to SASPRTC because SASPRTC is the default device for the PRINTER destination.
The Universal Printer is set to PNG by the PRINTER= or PRINTERPATH= option.
The default output filename is controlled by ODS (for example, sasprt.png).
Universal Printer Shortcut Devices lists all of the Universal Printer shortcut devices that are provided by SAS.
Universal Printer Shortcut Devices
Name
Description
PCL5
PCL5 Universal Printer
PCL5C
PCL5c Universal Printer
PCL5E
PCL5e Universal Printer
PDF
PDF Version 1.3 — color
PDFA
Archive PDF - ISO-19005-1/b
PDFC
PDF Version 1.3 — color
PNG
PNG Universal Printer
PNG300
PNG Universal Printer-300 dpi
PNGT
PNG Universal Printer with Transparency
PSCOLOR
PostScript Level 1 (Color)
PSL
PostScript Level 1 (Gray Scale)
PSLEPSF
PostScript EPS (Gray Scale)
PSLEPSFC
PostScript EPS (Color)
SVG
SVG Universal Printer
SVGT
SVG Transparency Universal Printer
SVGVIEW
SVG Printer w/ Control Buttons
SVGZ
SVG Compressed Universal Printer
UEMF
EMF Universal Printer
UEPS
PostScript EPS (Gray Scale)
UEPSC
PostScript EPS (Color)
UGIF
GIF Universal Printer
UPCL5
PCL5c Universal Printer
UPCL5C
PCL5c Universal Printer
UPCL5E
PCL5e Universal Printer
UPDF
PDF Version 1.3 -- color
UPNG
PNG Universal Printer
UPNGT
PNG Universal Printer with Transparency
UPSL
PostScript Level 1 (Gray Scale)
UPSLC
PostScript Level 1 (Color)