Usage Note 23414: On the ODS PRINTER statement, what exactly do the PRINTER= and FILE= options represent?
PRINTER=
ODS PRINTER is a bifurcated destination; it talks to two totally
different sets of drivers:
- PC host drivers
-
- are in effect under Windows without the
PCL, PDF, PDFMARK, POSTSCRIPT (alias PS),
or SAS options.
- Think of this as client mode.
In PC host mode, ODS PRINTER acts like
a Windows application; it prints to your currently selected Microsoft
Windows printer. If you specify PRINTER=, the value must be
listed in the Printers or Printers and Faxes window under the Control Panel.
If the printer there is a PostScript device, the output is
PostScript, but Microsoft did not design this PostScript for
generalized use; they designed it to be optimized for the specific
printer hardware. Thus, even if the output is PostScript, it
typically can not be viewed with online viewers such as
Ghostview; nor can it be converted to other formats such as PDF.
To produce distillable PostScript under Windows, use the PS option,
which puts you in SAS mode (described below). To
produce PCL in PC host mode, simply pick an HP LaserJet printer.
- SAS drivers (also called Universal Printing)
-
- are in effect under
any host other than Windows regardless
of options.
- are in effect
under Windows combined with any of the PCL,
PDF, PDFMARK, POSTSCRIPT (alias PS),
or SAS options.
- Think of this as server mode.
In SAS
mode, the printers are defined in the SAS (not Windows)
registry; the available printers are in CORE -> PRINTING -> PRINTERS.
Two types of printers are listed in a correctly installed SAS
configuration: actual physical printers, like "chpljr14," and
generic printers, like "PostScript Level I." A physical printer definition
is simply a generic printer definition combined with a printer
destination.
As SAS originally ships to customers, we don't know what
printers you have configured in which rooms in which buildings on which
servers. Therefore, only the generic printers are installed.
If you see only the
generic printers, then you may have an image in which no configuration has
been done. This is No Big Deal;
it just means that ODS PRINTER generally
prints only to files (the only way to print to generic printers).
See the documentation in SAS System Help for information about
setting up new printers for Universal Printing.
FILE=
The FILE= option
just supplies a filename to write to. As in the rest of SAS (and
the vast majority of operating systems), the extension
provides a hint to the humans but does not control the behavior
of the software, so for readability you generally want to specify a
filename that corresponds in some way to the printer being used. If
you want a particular output format, you must specify that PRINTER
option (or one of the shortcuts) that creates that format; just having a
particular filename does not accomplish this end.
The Bottom Line
The PRINTER= option overrides the first component of the
SYSPRINT= option (native PC mode) or PRINTERPATH= option (SAS mode), and
the FILE= option overrides the second component of the
SYSPRINT= or PRINTERPATH= option. Under the covers, in fact, that is
exactly and precisely all that they do. Nothing more, nothing less.
Operating System and Release Information
*
For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed
Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be
fixed.
| Type: | Usage Note |
| Priority: | low |
| Topic: | SAS Reference ==> ODS (Output Delivery System) System Administration ==> Printing
|
| Date Modified: | 2005-03-14 15:52:17 |
| Date Created: | 2003-09-29 11:37:33 |