Each of
the DYNAMIC, MVAR, and NMVAR statements can define multiple variables
and an optional text-string denoting its purpose or usage. For example:
DYNAMIC YVAR "required" YLABEL "optional";
MVAR LOCATE "INSIDE or OUTSIDE" SYSDATE;
NMVAR TRANS "transparency factor";
Note: For template
readability, it is helpful to adopt a naming convention for these
variables to distinguish them from actual option values or column
names. Common conventions include capitalization, or adding leading
or trailing underscores to their names.
Dynamics
and macro variables can be referenced within the template definition
as
-
argument or option values. For
example:
seriesplot x=date y=YVAR / curvelabel=YLABEL
curvelabellocation=LOCATE datatransparency=TRANS;
-
parts of some text strings. For
example:
entrytitle "Time Series for " YLABEL;
entryfootnote "Created on " SYSDATE;
Dynamics
and run-time macro variable references cannot resolve to statement
or option keywords.
Note that
macro variable references should not be prefaced with an ampersand
(&) if you want them to resolve at run time.
Macro
variables defined by MVAR are strings when they resolve, as with SYMGET()
in the DATA step.
Macro
variables defined by NMVAR are converted to numeric tokens when they
resolve, as with SYMGETN() in the DATA step.