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Base SAS

New ODS PRINTER features for SAS 9.1

Escape Sequence

The new (*ESC*) sequence will act as an escape character even when ODS ESCAPECHAR is not set. Thus, it acts like '03'x in being always available. The advantage over '03'x is that it works in any context, not just in string-expression contexts, so it is supported in style attributes. See example code under Generate Contents List.

Justified Page Numbers and Dates

You can now move page numbers and dates by setting the JUST= and VJUST= attributes in the style elements that control them; for example: 
   style PageNo from TitleAndFooters /
         Font = fonts("strongfont")
         pretext = "--"  posttext = "--"
         cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0
         just=c vjust=b
         ;
   style BodyDate from Date /
         just=l vjust=t
         ;

Page i of n

All in-line formatting continues to be preproduction in SAS 9.1. The development team is adding new functions while they work toward a production-level product.

New for SAS 9.1 is the preproduction in-line formatting function {LASTPAGE}, which provides the page count in PRINTER destinations when output does not contain images. Here is an example: 

   ods escapechar='^';
   proc template;
      define style styles.pageof; parent = styles.printer;
      Style PageNo from TitlesAndFooters /
            font = fonts("strongFont")
            cellpadding = 0 cellspacing = 0
            pretext = "Page "
            posttext = " of ^{lastpage}"
            ;
      end;
   run;

Improved Color/Background Options

The original COLOR/NOCOLOR options were confusing. COLOR controlled both the default SAS/GRAPH device and the printing of background colors in cells and pages and such. For the sake of compatibility these will still be honored, but we are breaking them up into more specific options:
COLOR=FULL
Full-color graphs (default).
COLOR=GRAY
Grayscale graphs.
Alias: COLOR=GREY.
COLOR=MONO
Monocolor graphs.
Alias: COLOR=BW.
NOBACKGROUND
Suppress the printing of background colors in text.
The old NOCOLOR option is equivalent to COLOR=GRAY NOBACKGROUND and now COLOR is COLOR=FULL BACKGROUND.

Improved Table of Contents Options

CONTENTS
Generate a printable table of contents, like one you'd get in a book. This is a new feature.
Alias: CONTENTS=YES/ON.
NOCONTENTS
Do not generate a printable table of contents. Default.
Alias: CONTENTS=NO/OFF.
BOOKMARKLIST=
Control whether or not to generate and/or display the list of bookmarks for the PDF file. This option can only be set when initializing the destination; it cannot be reset later. It has three possible values:
BOOKMARKLIST=SHOW/YES/ON
Generate a list of bookmarks for PDF. Automatically displays the bookmarks when bringing up the PDF file. Default.
Alias: BOOKMARKLIST
BOOKMARKLIST=NONE/NO/OFF
Do not generate the list of bookmarks for PDF. The generation of the bookmarks themselves (the "anchors") is not affected by the setting of this option, but is rather controlled by BOOKMARKGEN.
Alias: NOBOOKMARKLIST
BOOKMARKLIST=HIDE
Go ahead and generate the bookmark list but do not display it by default. Normally, when ODS PRINTER generates the bookmark list it also sets a flag to tell Adobe Acrobat Reader to display the bookmarks when it initially displays the file. Whether you use BOOKMARKLIST=HIDE or BOOKMARKLIST=SHOW, the list is still generated and can be displayed or hidden using icons in Adobe Acrobat reader; the difference between HIDE and SHOW is just whether it is initially displayed.
BOOKMARKGEN
Generate the bookmarks themselves. This is the default state, and since there is no registry entry to alter that default, only the negative form of this option serves any useful purpose. We had once hoped to be able to turn the generation on and off during the lifetime of the document, but that feature was dropped when it turned out to be harder to implement than we thought, since the perceived benefit of such a feature seems marginal in the first place.
Alias: BOOKMARKGEN=YES/ON
NOBOOKMARKGEN
Do not generate the default bookmark entries, thus omitting them from the bookmark list, among other places. This option automatically turns off BOOKMARKLIST since the list would otherwise be empty when this option was used.
Alias: BOOKMARKGEN=NO/OFF
Caution: Bookmarks are used not only for the bookmark list, but also for the CONTENTS list and for external entries (such as URL=), so be careful with the use of this option.
The existing NOTOC command means NOCONTENTS NOBOOKMARKS.

Also note that I am adding the BOOKMARK= alias for the ANCHOR= option. This should make more sense to everybody since Acrobat calls these things "bookmarks." The previous alias (which we are not discarding) was NAMED_DEST, which is the internal PDF name but is not known to most users.

Generate Contents List

The table of contents is produced with the new CONTENTS= option (see above). To control the appearance of the table of contents, use the following style elements:
ContentTitle
PreText is used for the title; other attributes control the appearance of the title.
PrintedContentsLabel
PreText and PostText supply the indention and leaders for the table of contents. Effectively wrapped "around" the following:
ContentItem, ContentFolder, ContentProcName, ContentProcLabel
formatting of the contents strings themselves.
And these in-line functions can be used only in content lists:
^{tocentryindent <len>}
Tells the amount to indent per level.
^{tocentrypage}
Page number of the current TOC entry.
Typical usage: 
   Replace PrintedContentsLabel  "Wrapper for the CONTENTS" /
           PreText = "(*ESC*){tocentryindent 2em}"
           PostText = " (*ESC*){leaders .  }(*ESC*){tocentrypage}"
           ;

Leader Function

^{leaders <string>}
Produces leaders; that is, it repeats the string so as to fill up the remainder of the line between the leader and the text following it. Typically used in tables of contents.

Compression

ODS PDF output is now compressed by default, addressing one of our biggest complaints about PDF in SAS 8.2. You can also use the COMPRESS= option on the ODS PDF statement to change the compression level. COMPRESS=0 gives the uncompressed output as in SAS 8.2. COMPRESS=9 is the maximum, and COMPRESS=6 is the default. (If the system option GENERIC is set, then COMPRESS=0 is the default.)

This feature is production in SAS 9.1 and later, and preproduction in SAS 9.0.

NEWFILE= Option

ODS PRINTER now supports the NEWFILE= option just like the other ODS destinations. This feature is production in SAS 9.2, and preproduction in SAS 9.1.

Suppress Borders on PDF Links

You can now suppress borders on PDF links. For example code, see SAS Note 24182. This feature was added in SAS 9.0.

COLUMNS= and TEXT= Go Production

The existing TEXT= and COLUMNS= options are production in SAS 9.0 and later. Here is some example code: 
title;
/* close the OUTPUT window */
ods listing close;
ods pdf file="file.pdf" COLUMNS=2 NOTOC;

ods pdf TEXT="This will appear as a paragraph in my output";

proc print data=sashelp.shoes(obs=100) noobs;
var region product sales;
run;

/* close PDF and re-open the OUTPUT window */
ods pdf close;
ods listing;

Decimal Alignment

This feature is production in SAS 9.0 and later. For more information, see the ODS DECIMAL_ALIGN statement in the SAS online documentation.

More Support for PRE/POST/BACKGROUND IMAGE/TEXT

In SAS 8.2, PRETEXT, POSTTEXT, PREIMAGE, POSTIMAGE, and BACKGROUNDIMAGE are supported only on table cells and paragraphs, and the PRE/POST IMAGE style attributes are supported only on tables.

In SAS 9.0 and later, they are supported more broadly. All of the PRE/POST attributes are now supported on tables, cells, paragraphs, and the body (the whole document).

BACKGROUNDIMAGE is supported in SAS 9.1.3. For example code, see SAS Note 24319.