SAS Enterprise Guide 8.4: Accessibility Features

Overview

SAS Enterprise Guide 8.4 has been tested against the accessibility standards for electronic information technology that were adopted by the U.S. Government under Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It was also tested against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 levels A and AA, part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C). For detailed information about the accessibility of this product, email accessibility@sas.com or call SAS Technical Support.

We recommend using the latest version of JAWS for a better experience using our products with assistive technologies.

Documentation Format

If you need this documentation in an alternative format, email accessibility@sas.com.

User Interface Layout

There are two main areas of the SAS Enterprise Guide application that are always displayed by default:

Navigation Area

contains several panes. You can choose the panes to be displayed. You can display multiple panes in the navigation area at one time. By default, the Project pane is displayed in the upper left corner of the SAS Enterprise Guide application. The Servers pane is displayed in the lower left corner of the application. You can customize the location of these panes.

The Project pane displays the active project and its associated data, code, and results. You can use the Project pane to open items in the work area.
The Open Items pane enables you to quickly view and access all the files that you have opened in your current SAS Enterprise Guide session.
The Servers pane lists the servers that are known to SAS Enterprise Guide. You can use this list to access the servers and navigate their file structures.
The SAS Folders pane displays a list of SAS folders that you can access.
The Tasks pane lists the SAS tasks that you can run on your data. The list of tasks includes any tasks that are shipped with SAS Enterprise Guide, any custom tasks, and any tasks that are shipped with SAS Studio.
From the Prompt Manager pane, you can create, edit, and delete prompts. Prompts enable you to request input from the user when code is run.

Work Area

displays your data, code, logs, task and query results, and process flows as tabs. The work area contains a context-sensitive toolbar that changes depending on what you are viewing in the work area.

Using Themes

In SAS Enterprise Guide, you can select the color theme that you want to use. If you have selected a high contrast theme for your operating system environment, this theme overrides the SAS Enterprise Guide theme. If the theme from the operating environment is overriding the application theme, you cannot change the theme colors in SAS Enterprise Guide.

Tips for Screen Readers

Recommended Configuration

Use JAWS with SAS Enterprise Guide 8.4.

Preferences

You can customize SAS Enterprise Guide by using the Options window. To open this window, press Tab until you move focus to the Tools menu. Press Spacebar to open the menu, and then select Options.

The Options window contains many tabs, including Start Up, General, and Project and Process Flows. These preferences are recommended for screen reader users:

On the SAS Programs page, click Editor Options to open the Enhanced Editor Options window.
- Click the Appearance tab to select the scheme for the code editor.
  Note: Schemes are not fully supported in SAS Enterprise Guide 8.1.
- Click the Autocomplete tab and deselect the Enable Autocomplete check box. Autocomplete can interfere with the proper function of the code editor.
On the Results > Graph page, select the Create accessible graphs when possible check box.

Keyboard Shortcuts

SAS Enterprise Guide conforms to the accessibility standards for the Windows platform. In addition, SAS Enterprise Guide has keyboard shortcuts for these areas.

General Shortcuts

Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Maximize or restore the workspace	F11 or Ctrl+M
Create a SAS program	Ctrl+N
Display online help for keyboard shortcuts	Ctrl+F9
Manage connection profiles	F9
Show or hide Search pane	Alt+S
Show or hide Submission Status pane	Alt+U
Change color theme	Ctrl+F2
Run the selected code	F3
Run all code	F8

Tab Navigation

Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Close the active primary tab	Alt+W or Ctrl+F4
Open landmarks	Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Set focus to the toolbar	Ctrl+Shift+1 or Ctrl+F10
Set focus to the tab	Ctrl+Shift+2 or Alt+F10
Move focus between any active panes and tabs	F6 or Shift+F6
Set focus on next secondary tab	Ctrl+F6 or Ctrl+Shift+F6
Set focus on next primary tab	Alt+3
Set focus on the previous primary tab.	Shift+Alt+3

SAS Program Editor Shortcuts

Code Editor Actions
Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Run the selected code	F3
Run all the code	F8
Automatically format code	Ctrl+Shift+B
Clean up white space	Ctrl+Shift+T
Turn on commenting	Ctrl+/
Turn off commenting	Ctrl+Shift+/

Code Folding
Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Collapse a section	Alt+numeric keypad –
Expand a section	Alt+numeric keypad +
Collapse all sections	Ctrl+Alt+numeric keypad –
Expand all sections	Ctrl+Alt+numeric keypad +
Expand or collapse the current line	Alt+numeric keypad *
Go to next marked line	F2
Go to previous marked line	Shift+F2
Toggle marker on the current line in the code editor	Ctrl+F2

Autocompletion Shortcuts
Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Open the autocompletion window for the keyword on which the cursor is currently positioned. In a blank program, this shortcut displays a list of global statements.	Ctrl+Spacebar
Open the syntax Help for the appropriate argument in a SAS function when the cursor is positioned in the function argument list.	Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar
Show word tip.	Alt+F1 or Ctrl+Space
Open the function Help.	Ctrl+Shift+Space
Close the autocompletion window.	Esc
Open the autocompletion window with a list of SAS functions.	Ctrl+Shift+F1
Open the autocompletion window with a list of macro functions.	Ctrl+Shift+F2
Open the autocompletion window with a list of the SAS libraries that are available with the current server connection.	Ctrl+L
Open the autocompletion window with a list of SAS informats.	Ctrl+Shift+I
Open the autocompletion window with a list of SAS formats.	Ctrl+Shift+F
Open the autocompletion window with a list of SAS colors.	Ctrl+Shift+C
Open the autocompletion window with a list of statistics keywords.	Ctrl+Shift+K
Open the autocompletion window with a list of style elements.	Ctrl+Shift+F3
Open the autocompletion window with a list of style attributes.	Ctrl+Shift+F4
Open the autocompletion window with a list of data sets that were created by using the DATA statement.	Ctrl+D
Open the autocompletion window with a list of data set column names.	Ctrl+Shift+V

Help Window Shortcuts
Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Search the online syntax Help for the selected keyword	Ctrl+Shift+H
Search SAS Technical Papers for the selected keyword	Ctrl+Shift+P
Search SAS Product Documentation for the selected keyword	Ctrl+Shift+D
Search SAS Samples and Notes for the selected keyword	Ctrl+Shift+N

Shortcuts for DATA Step Debugger

Action	Keyboard Shortcut or Mnemonic
Open the currently selected DATA step in the DATA Step Debugger.	F5
Start or continue execution of the program.	F5
Execute the statement starting at the point at which execution was suspended. Only one statement is executed at a time.	F10
Turn breakpoint on and off on the current line.	F9
Clear all breakpoints.	Shift+F9

Shortcuts for Log Summary in Program Editor

Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Cycle between the Log tab and the Code tab. Open the Program window with the affected code highlighted. Open the Log window with the affected line highlighted. This option is not available for Notes.	Ctrl+Shift+3
Show previous warning or error block in log.	Shift+Ctrl+E

Action

Keyboard Shortcut

Cycle between the Log tab and the Code tab.

Open the Program window with the affected code highlighted.
Open the Log window with the affected line highlighted.

This option is not available for Notes.

Ctrl+Shift+3

Show previous warning or error block in log.

Shift+Ctrl+E

Macro Shortcuts

Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Play a command or macro	Alt+F8
Start or complete a macro	Alt+Shift+R or Alt+Shift+F8
Execute the last recorded macro	Ctrl+F1
Manage snippets and macros	Alt+Shift+M or Ctrl+Shift+M

Snippets Shortcuts

Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Add a new abbreviation	Alt+Shift+A or Ctrl+Shift+A
Insert a snippet	Type the name of the snippet and it appears in the autocomplete list.
Expand a snippet	Enter

Project Shortcuts

Action	Keyboard Shortcut or Mnemonic
Expand items under the current selection	Numeric keypad *
Expand the current selection	Numeric keypad +
Collapse the current selection	Numeric keypad –
Expand the current selection if it is collapsed; otherwise, selects the first child	Right arrow
Collapse the current selection if it is expanded; otherwise, returns to the parent item	Left arrow
Run selected nodes	F3
Run the entire project	F8

Process Flow Shortcuts

Action	Keyboard Shortcut or Mnemonic
Display the selected process flow	F4
Run the code for the currently selected node	F3
Run the entire process flow	F8

Import Data Wizard

If you select Fixed Width as the text format for the Import Data wizard, the field widths window appears. In this window, you can set and adjust your own field breaks.

There are several keyboard shortcuts available for use in this window:

Action	Keyboard Shortcut or Mnemonic
Select the location of the break line that you want to add	Right and left arrows
Insert a break line at the current location	Insert
Delete the selected break line	Delete
Move the cursor position one break line to the left	Ctrl+Left arrow
Move the cursor position one break line to the right	Ctrl+Right arrow
Move the currently selected break line to the left	Shift+Left arrow
Move the currently selected break line to the right	Shift+Right arrow

Data Explorer Shortcuts

Action	Keyboard Shortcut or Mnemonic
Refresh data in the Data Explorer	F5
Apply updates to the current view of the data	F6

Shortcuts for Project Log

Action	Keyboard Shortcut or Mnemonic
Clear the project log	Ctrl+l

Properties Shortcuts

Action	Keyboard Shortcut or Mnemonic
Open the properties for the selected item	Alt+Enter

Manage Keyboard Shortcuts

You can customize the keyboard shortcuts for some commands. To manage these shortcuts, select ToolsManage keyboard shortcuts.

To change a shortcut, select the command and then enter the new keyboard shortcut in the Primary or Secondary column.

To import a data file with your customized shortcuts or to export your keyboard shortcuts to a file, click More options .

Exceptions to Accessibility Standards

Known Accessibility Limitations
Accessibility Issue	Workaround
Changing the screen resolution could result in text being truncated.	Use the built-in magnifier (rather than increasing the screen resolution) to increase the text size of objects on the screen.
JAWS cannot read results that are generated in the SAS Report format.	To change the results format to HTML, select ToolsOptions. The Options dialog box appears. In the navigation pane, select Results General. For the result format, clear the SAS Report check box and select the HTML check box. Click OK to save your changes.
In the Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Analysis task, JAWS reads items that do not have focus.	None
There are tab traps in many panes of the application, including the process flow, Project pane, and Server List.	To navigate to another pane, press F6.
Many trees and panes are unlabeled, including the stored processes tree and Server List.	None
Screen readers do not read progress announcements while code is running. As a result, screen reader users do not know when code is running or when a code submission completes.	None
JAWS users cannot specify column breaks in the Import Data Wizard when importing fixed-width text files.	None
In the Import Data Wizard, JAWS incorrectly announces that there are eight possible choices for the Text format option.	The valid values for this option are Delimited fields and Fixed columns.
In the Data Explorer, JAWS cannot read the toolbar.	Here are the names of these buttons in order: Open Data, Add to Process Flow, Status of Jobs for the Data Explorer, and Properties.
JAWS cannot read the contents of an input data table in the data grid.	Use the Data Explorer to read these input data tables.
In many dialog boxes, the title of the dialog box and any associated text is not announced by screen readers.	Press Insert+B to read all the contents of the window that currently has focus.
In the Specify Appearance step of the Bar Chart Wizard, you might have trouble verifying the bar color because JAWS announces that all radio buttons are not selected.	Press Enter or the Spacebar to select a color.
In the Insert Text dialog box that is available when you are creating a report, the controls are not labeled.	Here are the names of the buttons in order that are on the toolbar: Font type, Font size, Bold, Italics, Underline, Justify text to the left, Center text, Justify text to the right, Hyperlink text, and text color. The buttons at the bottom of the dialog box are OK, Cancel, and Help.
In the Check for Updates window, focus is initially on the Close and install button, but this is not announced by the screen reader.	Press Tab to cycle through the options in the window.
In the Options window, these keyboard shortcuts do not work. On the General page, pressing Alt+S does not put focus on the Reset All Warnings button. On the Results > SAS Report page, pressing Alt+O does not put focus on the Additional options for ODS SASREPORT statement option. On the Data > General page: Pressing Alt+B does not put focus on the Default number of rows option. Pressing Alt+V does not put focus on the Extended variable names (ANY) option. Pressing Alt+M does not put focus on the Extended member names (EXTEND) option.	Press Tab to access these options.
Because of the default browser in SAS Enterprise Guide 8.4, the SAS Studio tasks might not be displayed correctly and screen readers might encounter limitations and issues.	None

Last updated: February 23, 2024