TEMPLATE Procedure: Creating Crosstabulation Table Templates

Overview: ODS Crosstabulation Table Templates

Using the TEMPLATE Procedure to Create a Customized Crosstabulation Table

The TEMPLATE procedure enables you to customize the appearance of crosstabulation (contingency) tables that are created with the FREQ procedure.

By default, crosstabulation tables are formatted according to the CrossTabFreqs template that SAS provides. However, you can create a customized CrossTabFreqs table template by using the TEMPLATE procedure with the statements in the following table.

PROC TEMPLATE Statements

Task	Statement
Create a crosstabulation table template	DEFINE CROSSTABS
Define a value that appears in the crosstabulation cells	DEFINE CELLVALUE
Specify the order in which the cellvalues are stacked in the cells	CELLVALUE
Create a template for a footer	DEFINE FOOTER
Create a template for a header	DEFINE HEADER
End a crosstabulation table template	END

What Can You Do with a Crosstabulation Template?

The CrossTabFreqs crosstabulation template describes how to display PROC FREQ's crosstabulation table. You can create a customized CrossTabFreqs crosstabulation template to do the following:

use custom formats for cellvalues
specify a style for each value in a cell
change the stacking order of values in a cell
change and style headers and footers
use variable labels in headers and footers
style table regions independently
change or remove the legend

The following display shows a crosstabulation table that has been created with the default crosstabulation table template:

Crosstabulation Table Created with Default Crosstabulation Table Template

The following display shows PROC FREQ output that has been created with a modified CrossTabFreqs template:

Crosstabulation Table Created with Modified Crosstabulation Table Template

The following are some of the customizations that were made to the preceding crosstabulation table:

The legend text has been italicized and made smaller than the rest of the header text.
The header text now uses the variable label “Gender of Patient” instead of the variable name.
Row variable labels and column variable labels are used now instead of row variable names and column variable names.
The background color of the non-summary rows alternates.
The values in the grand total cell are now bold and italic.
The Deviation cellvalues are now red when the deviation exceeds abs (2.0).
The TotalPercent cellvalue has been moved from the middle of the other cellvalues to the bottom of the cellvalues.