Top 3 reasons to learn PROC TEMPLATE

Aimee Rodriguez
Aimee Rodriguez|May 15, 2013

PROC TEMPLATE Made EasyWe’re just coming back from SAS Global Forum, and what a show! SAS Books was there to provide users with the highest-quality resources for learning SAS, and our users were there to tell us what new books they were most looking forward to reading. Kevin Smith's PROC TEMPLATE Made Easy: A Guide for SAS Users was one of those; it's the first on the subject, and customers told us it definitely fills an important space on their bookshelves.

I heard copies of the book went fast, so for those of you who weren't able to come to our booth at SAS Global Forum and see for yourselves, I asked Kevin to give us the top reasons why users should learn PROC TEMPLATE. Here's what he had to say:       

  1. You'll be able to create styles that match your corporate color scheme, or just simply to your personal tastes.  This can make your reports a more cohesive part of your business documentation, and will set your reports apart from those using pre-defined styles.
  2. While the book is about PROC TEMPLATE, style overrides in the Base reporting procedures overlap that domain.  Using the style override syntax provided by PROC TEMPLATE, you'll be able to add traffic lighting to your reports using PROC TABULATE, PROC PRINT, and PROC REPORT to make them easier to read and quicker to interpret.
  3. PROC TEMPLATE is the key to becoming an ODS reporting wizard. As far as tricks go, I think one thing that most people don't know is that you can use a SAS expression or a SAS macro as a style attribute value to do fairly complex traffic lighting. With this sort of knowledge, you can present your analyses in reports that your managers will be able to clearly and quickly read and interpret.

Check it out for yourself by downloading a free excerpt on Creating and Customizing Table Templates, and then purchase the book to learn more.

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Wearing two hats at SAS Global Forum

Kathy Council
Kathy Council|May 14, 2013

SAS bookstore SAS Global ForumThe annual conference in SAS Francisco is now a pleasant memory. And what a pleasant one it was!  I saw so many of my user friends and met some new ones too.

When I attend this conference I wear at least two hats. The first is that of a SAS Global Users Group Executive Board member, representing SAS. This board is responsible for planning the content for the conference and is involved in site selection and hotel logistics along with a team of SAS people. The board’s primary function is to plan the annual conference. This year we worked with new conference chair Rick Mitchell from Westat. He had some great new ideas that were implemented at the conference.

For example, Rick wanted to see the Poster session expand and become a more vital part of the conference. That plan worked great and we had almost 100 posters that were displayed in the demo hall. Rick also wanted to have a more robust closing session. That, too, was a huge success. He moved the general session to early Wednesday morning and the room was completely full. He selected a keynote presenter and everyone was very impressed with this revamped event.

These were just two of the more obvious changes that Rick made, but plans are underway for next year’s conference and some new, out-of-the-box thinking. Plan to attend next year in National Harbor, Maryland. Watch support.sas.com this fall for a call for papers and be there or be square!

My other hat is being the head of Publications at SAS. Our booth in the demo area was set up like a bookstore where users could browse our many books. We offered a 20% discount and had a steady stream of attendees window shopping and looking at our online documentation. We also created a game to test users’ SAS programming savvy.  That game, with its pirate motif, drew a lot of visitors to the booth.

This year, we announced to our SAS Press authors that we are planning to double the number of published books in 2013. This initiative impacts them because we are adopting a new authoring platform that will allow us to take advantage of XML and all the benefits of using it.  Our processes are changing to allow for more automation for quick delivery of books in every format, whether hardcopy or eBook. The authors were excited and that makes us excited.

Speaking of doubling the number of new books, why don’t you consider publishing with us? We would love to discuss any ideas you have for a SAS book. SAS is so broad, and our Publications staff works very hard to provide the software documentation you need to run the software. We love for our loyal SAS users to help us write different kinds of books—how-to guides and example guides are always well received. So think about it. You might be the next SAS bestselling author!

 

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SAS author's tip: SAS/ACCESS interface to PC Files

Shelly Goodin
Shelly Goodin|May 10, 2013

Web Development with SASThis week's SAS tip is from Frederick Pratter and his handy book Web Development with SAS by Example, Third Edition. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you've probably noticed that this book is frequently excerpted. There's just so much to choose from! View Pratter's previously featured tips here.

The following excerpt is from SAS Press author Frederick Pratter's book "Web Development with SAS by Example, Third Edition" Copyright © 2011, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (please note that results may vary depending on your version of SAS software).

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The business of book writing: Developing the concept with Chris Holland and Jack Shostak

Shelley Sessoms
Shelley Sessoms|May 9, 2013

Developing a new concept for a book can be daunting, but it can also be very rewarding. Think about The Little SAS Book. I bet Susan Slaughter and Lora Delwiche didn’t know they were stumbling on a huge hit when they created that format.

I love to see authors create something new. So, when Chris Holland and Jack Shostak submitted a proposal for Implementing CDISC Using SAS: An End-to-End Guide, I was intrigued. When I saw the topic was on CDISC, I was thrilled because we’d never published a book on that topic. So to have a new concept for a new topic, we were really breaking new ground.

I wanted to know what it takes to develop a new concept, so I asked Chris and Jack, “How did you decide on the end-to-end concept? And what made it work for this topic?” Here is their answer, in their own words:

“To be honest, Chris was really the prime mover on this idea. SAS is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and it is pervasive in the clinical trials data management, analysis, and reporting arena. It has also become prominent in CDISC data model production work. Chris had the idea to do an end-to-end book with regards to CDISC and SAS implementation, and I was honored that he would think of me so I took him up on the idea and opportunity. Two years later, here we are. The book covers an array of SAS offerings from JMP Clinical, to SAS Clinical Data Integration, to the SAS Toolkit, and even our old friend BASE SAS,” said Jack.

And Chris responded, “I guess I've been frustrated at times by the lack of CDISC adoption over the years.  You wouldn't know this necessarily from working on CDISC teams because those are, as we statisticians say, biased samples.  Having worked at FDA, I was exposed to data from a lot of different submissions - partly from my own projects but mostly from training work I did helping reviewers with their submissions.  There was really only a small portion of submissions that had CDISC-compliant data.  Though at the same time, I guess I could understand why certain organizations were reluctant to take the CDISC plunge.  The standards were, initially, not very stable and there was no real requirement to abide by them.  

But then, slowly, the stars came into alignment.  The standards stabilized (somewhat), SAS (and JMP) developed CDISC implementation and analysis tools, and my day-job workload lightened a bit.  It just seemed like the right time to try to put something out there that would make it harder for organizations to come up with excuses for not adopting to CDISC standards.  I thought that by going through the process, showing potential users not only what tools exist but also how to use them, and demonstrating some of the benefits that can be reaped after putting in the time to develop CDISC data, we might have a package of information that SAS users in the pharma industry might find useful.

I could not have done it alone though and Jack was the perfect “partner in crime.”  Twenty years ago at my first job out of college Jack was my mentor, a fellow Hokie, and still, to this day, one of the funniest people I've ever had the pleasure to work with.  Having been through the book-writing process before (on more than one occasion), being a long-time CDISC implementer, and having experience with some of SAS' CDISC tools made Jack the ideal accomplice.”

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New programs, new products, new opportunities

Sean Gargan
Sean Gargan|May 3, 2013

These activities may have been announced at SAS Global Forum, but they apply to a much broader audience!  And you can take advantage of them today. 

  • New Program:  Publications is pleased to announce that you can now use Training Points to buy books.  Training Points (previously known as EPTO's) is a pre-paid discount program that can save you money on training courses AND books.  See the link for more details or email Book Sales at sasbook@sas.com.
  • New Product: The first eBook only title from SAS Press is now available!  Don Henderson’s SAS Server Pages: Generating Dynamic Content shows SAS developers how to create custom interfaces for Web-based applications.  This enhanced book includes how-to videos and is now available from Apple’s iBookstore and Google Play.
  • New Opportunities:  Now there’s no excuse for putting off that SAS book you’ve always wanted to write!  A newly designed web site and simplified submission process make NOW the best time for you to Publish with SAS.  You’ll find sample book topics, easy submission forms and information about all the resources available to you from SAS to produce the next great SAS book!

Thank you for using SAS. Stay tuned for future posts about our products and services. And, as always, we welcome your feedback.

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SAS Server Pages: Generating Dynamic Content

Don Henderson
Don Henderson|April 26, 2013

SAS Server Pages were first introduced in Building Web Applications with SAS/IntrNet: A Guide to the Application Dispatcher using a DATA step to process them. PROC STREAM provides more robust support for SAS Server Pages and significantly expands SAS’ facilities for dynamic content generation.SAS Server Pages

SAS Server Pages are the Lego pieces, Lincoln Logs for the older among us, that can be used by PROC STREAM to build custom reports, user interfaces and more. My new eBook SAS Server Pages: Generating Dynamic Content provides insights and examples on what you, a SAS programmer, can do with PROC STREAM. It is currently available from the Apple Store and Google Play —and we hope to have a Kindle version available later.

For example, in Chapter 2, an overview is provided of what I call the Portal Reporting Framework, an application framework built on the foundation of SAS Server Pages and PROC STREAM. Recognizing that a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth a thousand pictures, the e-Book only format of this book includes a number of embedded videos to show how to use these tools. For example, this is a short demo of the Portal Reporting Framework included in Chapter 2 (the video can also be found on my Author Page). See my blog posting for more details about the Portal Reporting Framework.

Another advantage of the e-book only format of this e-book is that the content can be easily expanded discussed via links to blog entries. In this book there are lots of examples with lots of possible variations of what can be done. They all can’t be described in one book (even if I, the author, or the reviewers, could think of them all). That is why many of the examples in the book have links to lists (using search) of blog entries on my blog Jurassic SAS® in the BI/EBI World, that allow me to expand upon the examples, including feedback from readers.

Now, I know that some of you are thinking, yea, but things change and links sometime break. But again, the e-Book format comes to the rescue. Under the covers in the book the links are actually short URLs. If someone finds that the target of that short URL is no longer available or broken, once known, it can be fixed. And voila, things work without have to deal with errata, updates, and so on.

I hope everyone reading this starts to follow my blog, Jurassic SAS® in the BI/EBI World, where I will continue to discuss what can be done with PROC STREAM and SAS Server Pages.

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Jazzing up the ODS DOCUMENT statement

Michael Tuchman
Michael Tuchman|April 25, 2013

PROC DOCUMENT by Example Using SASPROC DOCUMENT is one of the niftier tools in SAS. To get the most benefit out of it, you need to create a workflow that makes saving your work to the document effortless. This post discusses some things that can help you get more out of PROC DOCUMENT. It will show you how to direct your work to folders. To see many other ways the ODS DOCUMENT can make your life easier, take a look at my book PROC DOCUMENT by Example Using SAS.

Have you ever had the situation where your work requires you to run several analyses, each different in some minor way? PROC DOCUMENT can make it easy for you to organize such work by directing the output to folders as the SAS code runs.

To make using the document nearly effortless, use an abbreviation, or a shortcut key in your favorite text editor to put the following lines at the beginning of your code and ODS DOCUMENT CLOSE; at the end.

ods document name=_________._________
dir=(path=_____________ label= );
/* your code goes here */
ods document close;

The code for today's example comes from SAS for Mixed Models, Second Edition, by Ramon Littell, George Milliken, Walter Stroup, Russell Wolfinger, and Oliver Schabenberger. It's not necessary to understand the statistics; just that each variation of the procedure is saved to its own folder.

The first code sample illustrates how, if you repeatedly run similar analyses off the same source code, you can still keep your output well organized when you save each run to its on folder in an ODS DOCUMENT.

ods document name=sasuser.mmodel(write)
/* start a document */
dir=(path=\Type3 label='Outputs 2.1 and 2.2,
using the Analysis of Variance Method' );
/* specify a starting folder */

proc mixed data=bond covtest cl method=type3;
class ingot metal;
model pres = metal / ddfm=kr;
random ingot;
run;

/* you can change folders midstream */
ods document dir=(path=\reml label='Output 2.3,
using the REML method' );

proc mixed data=bond method=reml;
class ingot metal;
model pres=metal;
random ingot;
run;
ods document close;

With the work saved, you can print it out again to any destination and in any order - all without re-running the original analysis. Furthermore, with PROC DOCUMENT's WHERE= option on Document Paths, you can swiftly perform analyses that require output from multiple folders. Code sample 2 shows how you might use the document created in Code sample 1.

proc document name=sasuser.mmodel;
obbnote \reml#1\mixed\tests3 'REML Method';
obbnote \type3#1\mixed\tests3 'Analysis of Variance Method';
replay reml; /* only the reml stuff */
replay ^(where=(_name_ = 'Tests3')) / activetitle ;
replay same;
/* Compare */
quit;

The OBBNOTE statements give the output a little extra annotation in addition to SAS Titles. The screen shots show the output of the LIST and the second REPLAY statement. According to SAS for Mixed Models, Second Edition it’s intended that the two Fit Statistics be identical. Adding this habit into your work does two things; it documents your source code and it documents your output at the same time, making it easy to find the most relevant analysis in a pinch.

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The whys and hows of simulating data

Rick Wicklin
Rick Wicklin|April 24, 2013

Simulating Data with SASWhen I told a friend that the title of my new book is Simulating Data with SAS, she asked, “Why would anyone want to simulate data?”  To her, data are measured or surveyed. Data tell us how big, how often, and how many.  Data indicate people’s opinions about politics and breakfast cereals. Data are real.

So why simulate data? It’s an excellent question, which I address in Chapters 4 and 5 of my book. The short answer is that simulation offers a way to understand how sampling variability affects a statistic. In particular, simulation can tell you how the value of a statistic might change if you were to collect another sample of the same size. Simulation also enables you to understand how statistical techniques perform on data that are skewed or that are contaminated by outliers.

Professional statisticians understand the value of simulating data, so most of my book is concerned with how to simulate data efficiently.  Internet discussion forums are filled with examples of statistical programmers who lament “My simulation is taking too long to run! Can someone please help?” My book describes how to plan a simulation study and includes strategies for efficient and effective simulation.

Advanced practitioners will enjoy the chapters that show how to simulate univariate and multivariate data with specified properties. Do you need to simulate correlated data? I provide techniques for simulating from several important multivariate distributions. Are you designing an experiment and need to determine the sample size that will enable you to detect a specified alternative hypothesis with a required power? There are several examples of this type.  

A reviewer stated, "This book is a powerful learning tool and an indispensable aid to anyone who wants to use simulation methods in SAS.” I hope so. The book includes hundreds of SAS programs and about 80 graphs that visualize the results of computations. There are about 130 exercises.  Every program in the book is available for free from the book’s Web page.

Teachers can use the examples in Simulating Data with SAS to explain sampling variability. Students and researchers can use the strategies to plan simulation studies as part of their research projects. Practicing statisticians can use the techniques to understand the variability of complex statistics for which theoretical results are unavailable. And SAS programmers whose simulations are “taking too long to run” can now consult a reference book that shows how to simulate data efficiently.

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Headed to SAS Global Forum

Kathy Council
Kathy Council|April 22, 2013

It’s that time of year again, where I make my plans to head to SAS Global Forum. This year, the meeting is in San Francisco and, since I love this city, it makes me more excited than ever to meet with SAS friends.

This user conference is planned and organized by SAS users, led by the SAS Global Users Group Executive Board, of which I am a member. Most of the Board members are previous chairs of the conference, and all of us are passionate about making this conference the greatest gathering of SAS users anywhere in the world. The Executive Board gets a lot of help with logistics from SAS. In fact, they would tell you that they couldn’t have this conference without the company’s help. Kudos to everyone who has helped to put this conference together.

Here are some of the things you can learn about if you visit the Publications folks in the demo area:

  • how to get started quickly with the new SAS Visual Analytics
  • what’s new in SAS 9.4 and who should plan to migrate to it
  • enhancements to the SAS Programmer’s Bookshelf
  • several additions to the SAS Press library
  • our first eBook with embedded video examples
  • information on how to publish with SAS
  • how to use SAS Training points to purchase books
  • how international users can order books
  • and much, much more.

Of course, that’s just Publications stuff. Imagine the opportunities when you add R&D, Education, Technical Support, and the rest of SAS! If you are going to be there, please stop by the Publications booth in the demo area, or catch me at one of the functions. I’d love to meet you or see you again.

If you are unable to come this year, check out the live streaming of the general sessions and some of the invited papers.

And try to come next year if you can. It’s worth every second.

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SAS author's tip: Inputting data using text value positioning

Shelly Goodin
Shelly Goodin|April 19, 2013

In the Know...SAS Tips and Techniques From Around the GlobeThis week's SAS tip is from Phil Mason and his ever-helpful book In the Know...SAS Tips and Techniques From Around the Globe, Second Edition. When the book released in 2006, it received a lot of praise from the user community. This quote from SAS user Ron Fehd is a personal favorite: "Phil Mason, one of the SAS user community's famous creative tinkerers--the SAS user version of mild-mannered Clark Kent--has updated his 300-page first edition of SAS Tips and Techniques with the addition of a third more tips in this second edition."

Visit Phil's author page for more information and for bonus content.

The following excerpt is from SAS Press author Phil Mason's book "In the Know...SAS Tips and Techniques From Around the Globe, Second Edition" Copyright © 2006, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (please note that results may vary depending on your version of SAS software).

 

 

 

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