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.
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 were 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.