SAS Platform

SAS Functions

Feb
16

SAS functions enable you to add powerful logic to your SAS code.

According to the SAS Online Documentation, SAS functions are defined as:

“A SAS function performs a computation or system manipulation on arguments and returns a value. Most functions use arguments supplied by the user, but a few obtain their arguments from the operating environment.”

You can see details on what SAS functions are and how they can be used at SAS Functions and Call Routines overview online documentation page.

You can also see a complete list of the functions available at the SAS Functions and Call Routines Dictionary online documentation page.

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Definition of Metadata

Feb
15

Great post by Mike Ferguson called Data Management Needs A Solid Foundation – The World of Metadata over on the Dataflux Blog

I agree with him when he says that he struggled with the definition of Metadata as “data about data”, so I really like his version of:

“When it comes to data, does the user know what it means?”

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What is Dataflux?

Feb
14

With a hat tip to Joyce Norris-Montanari there is a great blog post over at Victor Fehlberg’s Tech Postings called What is DataFlux?

Victor takes us through a walk through of cleaning up address data using Dataflux, with screenshots and all!

I am always amazed at how many companies recognise they have a data quality issue, and then relegate it to a ‘spare time’ project, rather than a priority.

As they say “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” just as important is my own “any decision based on crap data is likely to be a crap decision”

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Support announced for Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7

Feb
08

SAS has announced support for SAS Enterprise BI Server and SAS BI Server (SAS 9.1.3 SP4) using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) on Windows XP Professional SP2.

You will need to apply hotfixes to your environment to get it to work.

Details here

They also announced support for Foundation SAS components on Microsoft Windows Vista.

I await 9.2 and full support for Vista and Firefox with baited breath.

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The Value of SAS Enterprise Guide

Feb
07

A great post from Stephen Daniel about the value of SAS Enterprise Guide over at his blog.

I have to agree with all his points, the only negative I would add is that its integration with the SAS Metadata Server is not where it should be, but it gets better every release, bring on EG 4.2!

EG is a no brainer for any user who has never coded in SAS and a must have for any data analysts worth their salt.

However I have always struggled to persuade seasoned SAS Programmers to make the move. Apart from Graphs, they can always wack out code faster than they can use EG (and I have even tried a few shoot out’s to prove the point).

However with EG projects no being included in Metadata Impact analysis, the improved security capabilities EG allows and the licensing benefits compared to a fully loaded Base SAS PC, corporations are starting to make the decision for them.

Having said that the self proclaimed “SAS Uber Geek” in New Zealand has almost seen the light regarding SAS Data Integration Studio, so maybe he will see some value in EG will be next, and if he does I will be sure to post immediately.

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Using a SAS Software Depot

Feb
05

Saw a problem note about installing SAS Web OLAP Vewier over on the SAS Support site.

The interesting thing was the recommendation to create a SAS Software Depot (SSD) to do the install, rather than installing from CD.

I have to say that a software depot does make installs much easier (and quicker). Effectively when you create a Software Depot it copies all the install CD’s to a hard drive, in a format that you can install straight from the hard drive (and never have to put in a CD again ;-)

As part of the install from the Depot the install wizards ask what components you want installed, and you can point it at your setinit to only install what you are licensed for, magic!

Only downside is that the Software Depot often conatins all SAS products for all operating systems so can be very large. For example a full depot using a SAS internal setinit (i.e all products and all platforms) comes out at a whopping 35GB.

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Checking what is licensed on your SAS Server

Jan
25

If you ever want to know what is licensed on a SAS server you can run this little bit of code:

proc setinit;
run;

If you run it via a base SAS session. on the machine itself, it will display a list of licensed SAS product and their expiry dates in the log window.

If you are running this in SAS Enterprise Guide and don’t have show log automatically turned on, then you will need to view the log once the job has completed to see the details.

  • Process Flow screen
  • right click on the custom code node
  • open log

If you are running multiple SAS Servers and running this via SAS Enterprise Guide then you will need change the workspace server to point to each server before you run it, to see what is licensed on each server:

  • Process Flow screen
  • right click on custom code node
  • select server

And of course if your metadata server is on a separate server to your workspace servers then you can’t use SAS Enterprise Guide at all, so you will need to run it via a base SAS session on the machine itself.

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Purging (reducing the size of) your Metadata Repository

Jan
16

You may find that over time your SAS Metadata Repository seems to be getting bigger and bigger. The reason for this is that when you deleted an object in the Metadata Repository SAS doesn’t physically delete the object it just marks it ready for deletion.

To remove all the objects that have been flagged for deletion you need to purge the Metadata Repository. According to SAS help Purge:

“permanently removes all metadata items that have been marked for deletion in the selected repository”

You can purge the repository via SAS Management Console:

  • Metadata Manager > Active Server
  • Right click on the relevant Metadata Repository
  • Purge

You must have security rights (authorisation) to pause the server in order to perform this task.

Be careful not to click truncate or format by mistake and of course backup your Metadata Server before performing this task.

Out of interest SAS Help defines formating your Metadata repository as:

“formats the selected repository, which removes all metadata definitions in the repository.”

and truncating as:

“Deletes all of the metadata objects in the selected repository, but does not delete the object containers or remove the repository registration”

hence the warning about ensuring you have backed up and click the correct option.

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