TEMPLATE Procedure: Creating Crosstabulation Table Templates

Concepts: Crosstabulation Output and the TEMPLATE Procedure

Working with the CrossTabFreqs Crosstabulation Table Template

When creating your own crosstabulation table template, you always define the new table with the same name as the existing table, which is Base.Freq.CrossTabFreqs. By default, the existing crosstabulation table that PROC FREQ creates is stored in the SASHELP.TMPLMST template store.

With PROC TEMPLATE, you can create a modified version of Base.Freq.CrossTabFreqs that you can save in a different template store by using the ODS PATH statement. All crosstabulation templates must have the same name. If you want to have multiple crosstabulation templates, put each one in a different template store. Then you can use the ODS PATH statement to add the template store that contains the version of the crosstabulation template you want to use.

For example, suppose that you have a crosstabulation template in the template store Corporat.Template and another crosstabulation template in Govment.Templat. In the following code, the first ODS PATH statement adds the template store Corporat.Templat. The first PROC FREQ code is then formatted using the crosstabulation table template from Corporat.Templat. The second ODS PATH statement removes Corporat.Templat, and the third ODS PATH statement adds Govment.Templat. The last PROC FREQ step then uses the crosstabulation template from Corporat.Templat.

ods path(prepend) corporat.templat(read);
... proc freq code ... 
ods path(remove) corporat.templat; 
ods path(prepend) govment.templat; 
... proc freq code ...

For more information about the ODS PATH statement, see ODS PATH Statement.

What Makes the Crosstabulation Table Unique?

Crosstabulation tables produced by PROC FREQ are different from other tables that SAS produces. Most other tables are composed of rows and columns with one value for each row-column combination. However, the crosstabulation table has these distinctive characteristics:

multiple values per cell: The crosstabulation table can have up to nine values for each row-column combination, depending on the options specified by the TABLES statement. Most other tables that SAS creates have only one value for each row-column combination.
legend: Crosstabulation tables have a separate box, which is called a legend, to contain the labels for the cellvalues. No other table that SAS produces has a legend.
row variable column: The far left column contains the row variable values. Each value in this column provides a label for the row in the same way that the column variable values provide labels for the columns.
column variable headers: Each value in these headers provides a label for the columns of the table.
row and column totals: The far right column contains the row totals. The bottom row contains the column totals.
grand total cell: The grand total cell is the last cell of the row and column totals.

Comparison Between Table Templates and Crosstabulation Table Templates

Because the crosstabulation table is unique, the syntax used to create crosstabulation templates differs significantly from other table templates.

The crosstabulation template has no parent template, and it cannot serve as a parent to another template.
Most of the attributes, such as CENTER and PANELS=, that are defined for classic table templates are not defined in the crosstabulation table template.
Crosstabulation table templates use DEFINE CELLVALUE blocks instead of the DEFINE COLUMN blocks that are used in other table templates.
Crosstabulation table templates use the CELLVALUE statement instead of the COLUMN statement that is used in other table templates.
Both crosstabulation table templates and other table templates use DEFINE HEADER and DEFINE FOOTER blocks. However, the attributes that can be used in each of these blocks differ.
DEFINE HEADER and DEFINE FOOTER blocks can contain multiple TEXT statements only in crosstabulation table templates. ODS then chooses which TEXT statement to use at execution time.
A TEXT statement can specify a WHERE expression only in crosstabulation table templates. ODS uses the WHERE expression to determine whether to use (the TEXT statement) text as the header text.
The CELL_STYLE, COLS_HEADER, COL_TOTAL_STYLE, COL_VAR_STYLE, GRAND_TOTAL_STYLE, LEGEND_STYLE, ROWS_HEADER, and ROW_VAR_STYLE attributes are unique to the crosstabulation table.
The ROWS_HEADER and COLS_HEADER attributes are unique to the crosstabulation table.
The NVAR, MVAR, and TRANSLATE-INTO statements are not supported for crosstabulation templates.

Crosstabulation Table Regions and Corresponding Attributes

When creating a crosstabulation template, you can use attributes to modify individual table regions. The following figure and corresponding table identify the different parts of the crosstabulation table and the attributes that control the style of each part.

Crosstabulation Table Regions That Can Be Modified

[Crosstabulation Table Regions That Can Be Modified]

Most regions use DEFINE CROSSTABS style attributes to specify a style. The following table show the style attribute that effects each table region. For complete documentation on DEFINE CROSSTABS attributes, see DEFINE CROSSTABS Attributes. Headers and footers use the STYLE= attribute that is valid for the DEFINE HEADER and DEFINE FOOTER statements. For information on the STYLE= attribute, see DEFINE HEADER and DEFINE FOOTER Attribute Statements.

Table Region and Corresponding Style Attribute
Item	Crosstabulation Table Region	Style Attribute
	Legend	LEGEND_STYLE=
	Row variable name	ROWS_HEADER=
	Row variable value	ROW_VAR_STYLE=
	Data cell	CELL_STYLE=
	Column total	COL_TOTAL_STYLE=
	Footer	STYLE=
	Grand total	GRAND_TOTAL_STYLE=
	Row total	ROW_TOTAL_STYLE
	Column variable name	COLS_HEADER=
	Header	STYLE=
	Column variable value	COL_VAR_STYLE=

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