In the past, the term “output”
has generally referred to the outcome of a SAS procedure and DATA
step. With the advent of the Output Delivery System, output takes
on a much broader meaning. ODS optimizes output from SAS procedures
and the DATA step. ODS provides a wide range of formatting options
and greater flexibility in generating, storing, and reproducing SAS
output.
Important features of
ODS include the following:
-
ODS combines raw data with one
or more table templates to produce one or more
output
objects. An output object tells ODS how to format the
results of a procedure or DATA step.
-
ODS provides table templates that
define the structure of the output from SAS procedures and from the
DATA step. You can modify these templates or create your own templates
to customize your output.
-
ODS provides a way for you to choose
individual output objects to send to ODS destinations.
-
ODS stores a link to each output
object in the Results folder for easy retrieval and access.
-
As future destinations are added
to ODS, these destinations automatically become available to the DATA
step and all procedures that support ODS.
One of the main goals
of ODS is to enable you to produce output for numerous destinations
from a single source, without requiring separate sources for each
destination. ODS supports many destinations:
enables you to capture
output objects from a single run of the analysis and to produce multiple
reports in various formats whenever you want without rerunning your
SAS programs.
produces output that
looks the same as the traditional SAS output.
produces output for
online viewing.
produces output for
markup language tagsets.
produces output for
page-oriented markup languages.
produces SAS output
data sets, thereby eliminating the need to parse PROC PRINTTO output.
produces presentation-ready
printed reports.
produces output suitable
for Microsoft Word reports.
By default, ODS output
is formatted according to instructions that the procedure or DATA
step defines. However, ODS provides ways for you to customize the
presentation of your output. You can customize the presentation of
your SAS output, or you can customize the look of a single output
object. ODS gives you greater flexibility in generating, storing,
and reproducing SAS procedure and DATA step output with a wide range
of formatting options.