• HTML Formatting Tools
  • - HTML Data Set Formatter
  • - HTML Output Formatter
  • - HTML Tabulate Formatter
  • - Constellation HTML Generator
  • - Graph Applet HTML Generator
  • - Metaview HTML Generator
  • - Rangeview HTML Generator
  • - Treeview HTML Generator
• Availability and Requirements
• Using the HTML
• Formatting Your Results
  • - Using Property Lists
  • - Using Style Sheets
  • - Using Tag Descriptions
  • - Using Page Formats
• Character Transcoding
• Reserved Names
• Tips and Techniques
• Troubleshooting
• What's New
• Examples

Tips and Techniques for Using HTML Formatting Tools

This page includes tips and hints that other users have found useful. If you have tips that you think others could use, please let us know.

Using the Macro Syntax

• Include a comma at the end of each argument, except for the last one. Do not include a comma after the last argument in the macro call.
• Include a semicolon at the end of the macro call.
• When referring to files, use a fully-qualified path and filename (or URL). Although the entire path may be unnecessary in some cases, it ensures successful file retrieval.
• If you want to include special characters (for example, % , & ) in WHERE clauses, captions, and titles, be sure to include %NRSTR when specifying the value of the argument. %NRSTR ensures that these characters are processed correctly. For example, when using the Tabulate formatter, you may want to include %Return in your browser window title. The following is how the BRTITLE argument should be used:

     brtitle=%NRSTR(%Return on Investment)
  

Invoking the Formatters Interactively

• You cannot supply values for some macro arguments using the FRAME interface. For some values that are not included in the FRAME interface, you can submit them using the syntax arguments when you invoke the macro. For a list of arguments that can be supplied on the macro invocation (with RUNMODE=I), see the sections on invoking the formatters interactively.
• If you are using SAS software, Release 6.12 on a PC, you can invoke the interactive FRAMEs using the Utility Application option from the Help pull-down. However, if you use this method to invoke the FRAME interface, you cannot supply any additional syntax arguments with the invocation. This means that you will not be able to utilize many features of the HTML Formatting Tools, such as style sheet support.

Creating Custom Property Lists

• You cannot modify the default property lists that are provided with the formatters. If you want to change the property lists, you must create custom lists.
• You can create a custom property list that is used by default. To create a default property list, save the list using the following naming convention:

     SASUSER.HTMLGEN.toolname.SLIST
  

  where toolname is either
  • DSPROP (used with the Data Set Formatter)
  • OUTPROP (used with the Output Formatter)
  • TABPROP (used with the Tabulate Formatter).
• Use the PROPLOC argument to ensure that the correct property list is being used. All formatters use the following rules to locate a property list:
  • look first in the location specified by the PROPLOC argument.
  • if PROPLOC is not specified or is incorrect, look next for the list named SASUSER.HTMLGEN.toolname.SLIST.
  • if the property list is not found in SASUSER, use the entry SASHELP.HTMLGEN.toolname.SLIST.
• If you are using the FRAME interface to customize a property list, remember these rules:
  • Use the Save As push button if you are changing the name of the property list.
  • Use the Revert push button to return to the last saved setting for the current property list.
  • Use the PROPLOC argument when you invoke the interface so that the list you want to modify is opened when the interface comes up.

  Advanced Formatting Techniques

  • Modifying Tags
    Rather than using the predefined tags included with the HTML Formatting Tools, you can customize the tags to display text as you want. For information about how to create custom tags, see Using Tag Descriptions.
  • Output Formatter
    • To prevent the results from writing outside your browser window, include NOCENTER and set the line size (LS) to less than or equal to 80 in the OPTIONS statement in your SAS code. Note: You may need to experiment with the line size value to find what works best with your output and window size.
    • To line up characters in one row of text with another row, use the PRE tag. If you use other tags, the characters may not line up as you want.
    • The SAS FORMCHAR system option specifies the formatting characters displayed in your output. Formatting characters are used to construct tabular output outlines. If you do not use this option in your SAS code, the characters that delineate the table may look unusual, depending on your browser and the operating system or platform used. For example, the output generated using the default formatting characters in the PC version of SAS software may look unusual unless the SAS Monospace font is used by the browser. To avoid this and to specify exactly which characters to use, set the following SAS system option prior to capturing any output with Output Formatter:

                  OPTIONS FORMCHAR='|----|+|---+=|-/\<>*'; 

      You can also use character transcoding to avoid this behavior. See transcoding example 4 for details on how to incorporate this fix into your SAS program.

  Troubleshooting and Known Problems

  • Output and Tabulate Formatters Running in Version 7
    If you use either the Output or the Tabulate Formatter and the resulting HTML file does not contain any SAS output, verify that the ODS listing output destination is on. For more information about the output destination, refer to documentation for the Output Delivery System in Version 7 SAS software documentation.
  • All Formatters Running on z/OS
    • You should not use the HTMLFILE= argument to write your output file to an existing partitioned data set (PDS). If the filename you reference using HTMLFILE= is a member of an existing PDS, other members may be rendered unreadable. To avoid this problem, use the HTMLFREF= argument instead of the HTMLFILE= argument when running on z/OS. This problem exists in all HTML Formatting Tools delivered with Release 6.09E (TS455) of SAS software for z/OS. This problem has been fixed in Version 1.1, which is available with the December 1997 SAS Notes.
    • z/OS does not allow appending information to an existing PDS. For this reason, you cannot specify OPENMODE=APPEND when you are writing results to an existing PDS. You also cannot use BY-group processing with the Data Set Formatter when writing the resulting HTML to a PDS. For more details, see Appending to an Existing PDS.
  • Data Set Formatter
    • Do not use the FIRSTOBS or OBS SAS system options, which indicate where to start and stop reading a data set, in your SAS program when using the HTML Data Set Formatter.
    • When accessing a data set that has READ or PW protection, you must use the Data Set Formatter in batch mode. You must also provide a valid password using the PW argument.
  • Output Formatter
    • You cannot run your program through SAS/ASSIST software and immediately use the HTML Output Formatter to capture the results. Instead, run your program through SAS ASSIST, recall and resubmit the program in the Program Editor, then capture the results using the Output Formatter as described in this product documentation.
    • For 6.09E hosts only Do not use the OVERPRINT option on the PUT statement in your SAS program when capturing output. The OVERPRINT option causes the Output Formatter to stop processing.
  • Tabulate Formatter
    The HTML Tabulate Formatter produces a static HTML page containing PROC TABULATE output. If your TABULATE procedure uses the ROW or INDENT option, the formatter may produce undesirable results. The only way to improve the results is to remove these options from your TABULATE procedure.

  Using the FTP and URL Access Methods

  • FTP Access: You can produce and distribute HTML output on the Web by using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access method provided with Release 6.11 and higher of SAS software. The following code will cause the resulting HTML file to be transferred from one machine to another using FTP.

Syntax:

FILENAME fileref FTP 'external-file' ftp-options;

where

fileref

is a valid fileref.

FTP

is the access method.

'external-file'

is the name of the file to read from or write to on the remote host machine.

ftp-options

can be any of the following:

USER='username'

where username is used to login to the FTP server.

HOST='host'

where host is the network name of the remote host with an FTP server running. You can specify either the name of the host or the IP address of the machine.

PASS='password'

where password is the password to use with the user name specified in the USER option.

RCMD='command'

where command is the command to send to the FTP server.

Here's an example of using the FTP access method used with the Tabulate formatter:

  filename myfile ftp "/u/myfile.html"
     user="your-userid" pass="your-pswd" host="your-domain" 
     rcmd="ascii" rcmd="site umask 002";
     .
     .
     .
  %tab2htm(capture=off,
           htmlfref=myfile,
           ...);

where

umask 002

provides read access to others. You may need to specify a different UMASK setting for your FTP server. Contact your site administrator for information about your particular UMASK setting.

URL Access:
Do not use the following URL access method for HTML output, as the URL access method does not allow write access:

  filename myfile url 'http://mydomain/myfile.html';
           .
           .
           .
  %tab2htm(htmlfref=myfile,
           ...);

Note: z/OS is the successor to the OS/390 and MVS operating systems. SAS/IntrNet 9.1 for z/OS is supported on the MVS, OS/390, and z/OS operating systems and, throughout this document, any reference to z/OS also applies to OS/390 and MVS, unless otherwise stated.