What's New in SAS 9.3 ODS Graphics Designer

Overview

The ODS Graphics Designer has the following changes and enhancements:

inclusion with Base SAS
ODS style changes
ability to start the designer from the SAS menu bar
more options for saving a graph
enhanced data assignment options
enhanced plot properties

Designer Included with Base SAS

ODS Graphics Designer is now available with Base SAS software. SAS/GRAPH software is not required in order to use the designer.

Note: If you customized preferences, styles, or Graph Gallery files in the previous production release (the third maintenance release of 9.2) of ODS Graphics Designer, you must migrate your custom files to the designer's new 9.3 location. If you do not perform this one-time task, the 9.3 designer can not use your customized preferences, styles, or Graph Gallery files.

Note: ODS Graphics Designer does not support SGD files that were created before the third maintenance release of 9.2.

ODS Style Enhancements and Changes

The designer supports a new ODS style: HTMLBlueCML (Color, Marker, Line). The default style is still Listing, although you can change that in the Preferences.

Note: SGD graphs that are rendered using the SGDESIGN procedure continue to honor the active style of the open ODS destination. In the SAS Windowing environment, HTML is now the default ODS destination, and HTMLBlue is the default style. Graphs that are output to the default ODS destination in SAS will look different from those that were created using the designer's default style.

Enhanced Way to Start the Designer

In addition to using a SAS macro to start the designer, you can start the designer from the SAS menu bar.

More Options for Saving a Graph

The Save As dialog box has the following changes and enhancements:

ability to save a graph as a PDF file or an Enhanced Metafile (EMF)
option to specify a resolution for graphs that are saved as JPG or PNG files
option to specify a target for bar charts that are saved as HTML files when the chart has a URL role specified
option to specify a name for the graph’s template (you can also specify the name in the Graph Properties dialog box)

Enhanced Data Assignment Options

The Assign Data dialog box has the following changes and enhancements:

For some plots, group display options enable you to specify whether grouped plot elements are clustered, overlaid, or stacked (bar charts). Scatter plots, series plots, step plots, needle plots, box plots, and bar charts support this feature.
The Discrete Offset option enables you to specify an amount to offset all plot elements from the discrete tick marks.
You can specify the width of plot elements for box plots and bar charts. (This feature is also available as a plot property. You can also click and drag a plot element to change the width.)

Enhanced Plot Properties

The following changes and enhancements apply to plot properties:

enhanced bar skin options for bar charts
scatter plot enhancements:
- ability to select a position for the data label with respect to the marker
- ability to hide markers by selecting 0 for the marker size