TOPIC: MACRO
Restrictions on SAS libraries when macro catalogs are used
8th June 2007When you open up a SAS macro catalogue so that its entries for use by other programs, it has a major impact on the ability to change the library reference used to access the catalogue after it has apparently been unlocked.
options mstored sasmstore=bld_v001;
Using the line above will open the catalogue for reading, but there is no way to close it to change the library reference or unassign it until the SAS session is shut down. Even this line will not do the trick:
options nomstored sasmstore='';
What it means in practice is that if you have a standard macro setting up access to a number of standard macro libraries, then that setup macro needs to check for any library references used and not try to reassign them, causing errors in the process.
Using alternative editors for SAS programming
5th June 2007When it comes to writing SAS programs, most use the tools that SAS gives us, be it Enterprise Guide, the Enhanced Editor or the Program Editor. While Enterprise Guide can work with UNIX SAS as the processing engine, it is very much a Windows tool and the Enhanced Editor functionality is provided through Windows-only programming (ActiveX, I seem to recall). However, that means that creature comforts are left behind you if you turn to writing SAS code using UNIX SAS; you have only got the good old-fashioned Program Editor supplied by SAS itself. However, there is a trick that you can use to make life more comfortable: SAS does allow you to submit the contents of your paste buffer (or clipboard) using the command SUBMIT BUFFER=DEFAULT and this can be assigned to a function key for ease of use (I use the same key to clear the log and output screens at the same time). In the Windows, you may need to explicitly copy the code to do this but, in UNIX, merely highlighting a section of code with an editor like NEdit will do the trick and, given that NEdit is reasonably pleasant tool for code cutting (the ability to define its macros with a spot of scripting is a definite plus point), this makes life more comfortable again.