TIMEPLOT Procedure

Example 3: Using a Variable for a Plotting Symbol

Features:

ID statement

PLOT statement arguments: :: using a variable as the plotting symbol; JOINREF; NPP; REF=; REFCHAR=

Data set:

SALES

Format:

MONTHFMT.

Details

This example demonstrates the following:

Specify a variable to use as the plotting symbol to distinguish between points for each of two sales representatives
Suppress the printing of the values of the plot variable in the listing
Draw a reference line to a specified value on the axis and specifies the character to use to draw the line
Connect the leftmost and rightmost symbols on each line of the plot

Program

libname proclib
'SAS-library';

options formchar="|----|+|---+=|-/\<>*" fmtsearch=(proclib);

proc timeplot data=sales;
   plot stove=seller /

npp

                       ref=1500 refchar=':'

                       joinref

                       axis=100 to 3000 by 50;

   id month week;

   format month monthfmt.;

   title 'Weekly Sales of Stoves';
   title2 'Compared to Target Sales of $1500';
   title3 'K for Kreitz; L for LeGrange';
run;

Program Description

Declare the PROCLIB SAS library.

libname proclib
'SAS-library';

Set the SAS system options.Setting FORMCHAR to this exact string renders better HTML output when it is viewed outside of the SAS environment where SAS Monospace fonts are not available. FMTSEARCH= adds the SAS library PROCLIB to the search path that is used to locate formats.

options formchar="|----|+|---+=|-/\<>*" fmtsearch=(proclib);

Plot sales of stoves. The PLOT statement specifies both the plotting variable, Stove, and a symbol variable, Seller. The plotting symbol is the first letter of the formatted value of the Seller (in this case, L or K).

proc timeplot data=sales;
   plot stove=seller /

Suppress the appearance of the plotting variable in the listing. The values of the Stove variable will not appear in the listing.

npp

Create a reference line on the plot. REF= and REFCHAR= draw a line of colons at the sales target of $1500.

                       ref=1500 refchar=':'

Draw a line between the symbols on each line of the plot. In this plot, JOINREF connects each plotting symbol to the reference line.

                       joinref

Customize the horizontal axis. AXIS= sets the minimum value of the horizontal axis to 100 and the maximum value to 3000. BY 50 specifies that each print position on the axis represents 50 units (in this case, dollars).

                       axis=100 to 3000 by 50;

Label the rows in the listing. The values of the ID variables, Month and Week, are used to identify each row of the listing.

   id month week;

Apply the MONTHFMT. format to the Month variable. The FORMAT statement assigns a format to use for Month in the report.

   format month monthfmt.;

Specify the titles.

   title 'Weekly Sales of Stoves';
   title2 'Compared to Target Sales of $1500';
   title3 'K for Kreitz; L for LeGrange';
run;

Output

The plot uses the first letter of the value of Seller as the plotting symbol.

Plot with Variable for Plotting Symbol

Weekly Sales of Stoves Compared to Target Sales of $1500