Prior to SAS 9.1, creating graphics with statistical procedures generally required additional programming. SAS 9.1 introduced an experimental extension to the Output Delivery System (ODS), which was used by over two dozen SAS/STAT and SAS/ETS procedures to create statistical graphics as automatically as they create tables. This new functionality, referred to as ODS Statistical Graphics (or ODS Graphics for short), requires minimal additional syntax, and it provides displays commonly needed for data analysis and statistical modeling, including scatter plots, histograms, and box-and-whisker plots.

In SAS 9.2, ODS Graphics is production, and over 50 procedures in SAS/STAT, SAS/ETS, SAS/QC, and Base SAS have been modified to use it. Many new plots are now produced by these procedures, either by default or with the specification of procedure options.

The functionality of ODS Graphics has been extended with the addition of new graph types, ODS styles designed for statistical work, and a point-and-click editor for enhancing titles, labels, and other graph features. You can also modify graphs by changing their underlying templates, which are supplied by SAS and are written in the Graph Template Language (GTL). The LISTING destination is now supported by ODS Graphics. A new family of SAS/GRAPH procedures uses ODS Graphics to create standalone plots, such as scatterplots overlaid with smoothers, which are particularly useful for exploratory data analysis. The new SGRENDER procedure provides a way to create customized displays by writing your own templates with the GTL.

See Chapter 21, Statistical Graphics Using ODS, for an introduction to ODS Graphics and general information about ODS Graphics. The syntax for requesting plots with statistical procedures is described in the procedure chapters.

Note that a SAS/GRAPH license is now required to use ODS Graphics.