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Using the Print Dialog Box

When you are using the SAS windowing environment, you can use the Print dialog box to print the contents of the active window using either host printing or forms.

If you use host printing, the Print dialog box sends the window contents to your default host printer device (see Specifying Your Default Printer Device). You can define host printer devices to be either a Postscript (or PCL) printer or an external file, so you can use the Print dialog box to send output to either a printer or an external file. See Setting Up Host Printing for information on defining host printer devices.

If you use forms, the Print dialog box sends the window contents to the system printer that you specify.

Printing from Text Windows

To print part or all of the contents of a window, click in the window to make it the active window. If you want to mark and print only selected lines of text, mark the text before you open the Print dialog box. To open the Print dialog box, issue the DLGPRT command or select

File

Print...

Print Dialog Box

To use forms for printing, select Use forms. SAS prompts you to enter a spool command and the name of your system printer. When you select [Print], SAS prints the contents of the active window using the command and printer name that you specified and additional information from your default form. See Defining Forms for more information.

To use host printing, select Use host printing. The dialog box displays the default printer name you specified through the Printer Setup dialog box. To select a different printer device, select [Setup...] to open the Printer Setup dialog box, select the printer device that you want to use, and then select [OK].

To send output to a file, select Print to File and then select [Print]. SAS displays the File Selection dialog box, which allows you to select an existing file or enter a new filename. If you print to the same filename again, the contents of the file will be overwritten. Each print request replaces the contents of this file; you cannot append output to a file when you are using host printing. (APPEND is not valid for XPRINTER devices. See Routing Output to an XPRINTER Device.)

By default, SAS prints the entire contents of the selected window ( All pages). To print only the page currently displayed in the window, select Current page. If you marked text before you invoked the Print dialog box, choose Selected text to print only the marked text. To print a range of pages or other individual pages, select Pages: and enter the page numbers in the field immediately below. Separate individual page numbers and page ranges with either a comma (,) or a blank. You can enter page ranges in any of these formats:

n-m	prints all pages from n to m, inclusive.
-n	prints all pages from page 1 to page n.
n-	prints all pages from page n to the last page.

For example, -4,8,12-15,18- will print pages 1 through 4, page 8, pages 12 through 15, and pages 18 through the last page.

To print more than one copy of the output, enter a specific number into the Copies: field or select the up and down arrows to change the number of copies. The Copies: field has no effect when you are printing to a file.

When you print multiple copies, each page is printed the specified number of times before the next page is printed. In other words, SAS prints multiple copies of page 1, then multiple copies of page 2, and so on, rather than collating the copies.

To send output to the default printer or file, select [Print]. If SAS displays a clock icon for a long time and you are sending output to a network printer, your printer server might be down. If so, you will eventually see a message in the shell where you invoked your SAS session saying that indicates that the server is down.

Printing from GRAPH Windows

If you have host printing turned on, then you can use the Print dialog box to print the contents of a GRAPH window. Click in the window to make it the active window, and then issue the DLGPRT command or select

File

Print...

SAS displays the Print dialog box.

Print Dialog Box for Graph Windows

Note:   Fonts and margins set through the host printing dialog boxes have no effect when you print from GRAPH windows. Make sure that you specify the correct options on a GOPTIONS statement.  

To print output using a SAS/GRAPH driver, select Use SAS/GRAPH Drivers. Select the down arrow beside the SAS/GRAPH Driver: field to display the available drivers. Make sure that your printer destination has been set inside the device using the GDEVICE procedure or the GOPTIONS statement. For complete information about printing from GRAPH windows, refer to SAS/GRAPH Software: Reference and the online help for SAS/GRAPH.

To use host printing, select Use Host Drivers. Select the down arrow beside the Host Driver: field to display the available host drivers:

• XPRINTC produces color output.

• XPRINTG produces grayscale output.

• XPRINTM produces black and white output.

The Default Printer field displays the default printer name that you specified through the Printer Setup dialog box. To select a different printer device, select [Setup...].

To send your output to the printer or file that you have specified, select [Print]. If SAS displays a clock icon for a long time and you are sending output to a network printer, your printer server might be down. If so, you will eventually see a message in the shell where you invoked your SAS session that indicates that the server is down.

When you print graphics using the host drivers, SAS prints notes in the SAS LOG similar to the following:

Note: The window system or device has set the
      XMAX value of the device XPRINTG to 
      7.99 inches.
Note: The window system or device has set the 
      YMAX value of the device XPRINTG to 
      10.61 inches

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Copyright 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.