SAS Author's Tip: Using SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control

contributed by SAS Publishing's Shelly Goodin

Saving Time and Money Using SAS Book — Saving Time and Money Using SAS

For me, SAS Global Forum wouldn't be the same without getting a chance to catch up with SAS Press author Phil Holland. Besides being extremely knowledgeable about SAS (he's been using it since 1981), he is as enterprising and approachable as his popular book Saving Time and Money Using SAS. Although Phil is currently busy writing a new book PROC TEMPLATE Made Easy: A Guide for SAS Users with coauthor Kevin D. Smith, he always finds time to engage with SAS users. So if you have any questions about Phil's books or the following tip, I'm sure he'd be delighted to hear from you. And stay tuned for all of the ways you can reach him!

The following excerpt is from SAS Press author Philip R. Holland's book Saving Time and Money Using SAS, Copyright © 2007, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (please note that results may vary depending on your version of SAS software)

SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control

The ActiveX control that displays the graphical data can be embedded in Web pages (as described previously), Object Linked Embedded (OLE) documents, and applications written in Visual Basic, C++, HTML, and JavaScript. There are a number of features incorporated into the control, including graph reorganization, saving graphs to user files, and drill-down actions, which can be accessed from a floating toolbar. The control is installed in a standard SAS software installation in the folder
C:Program FilesSAS InstituteShared FilesGraph.

The ActiveX control can be installed automatically on a Web client’s system by adding the location of the SASGraph.exe file on the Web server to the report generated by the ACTIVEX device driver. For example:

ODS HTML FILE="c:web_serverwwwrootsaswebACTIVEX.html"
ATTRIBUTES=("codebase"=
"http://web_server/controls/SASGraph.exe");
GOPTIONS RESET=ALL DEVICE=ACTIVEX;

This CODEBASE= attribute enables the HTML file to start the installation program if the SAS/GRAPH ActiveX control is not yet installed on the web client’s system. It should be noted that the installation will take place only when the user accepts the licensing agreement that is displayed at the beginning of the installation process.

To read a free chapter from Saving Time and Money Using SAS and to learn more about Phil Holland's upcoming book PROC TEMPLATE Made Easy: A Guide for SAS Users, visit his author page. If you're a member of LinkedIn, be sure to join Phil's own group and also follow him on Twitter at @hollandnumerics.