Key Happenings at support.sas.com - Sharing Updates and advances in SAS Online Support

UPDATE:
The advanced search functionality is now production on support.sas.com. It is available at support.sas.com/search. You can also access it by selecting the search button when the search field is empty. Links to advanced search will start to appear on the site over the next few days. The first link is now available as shown below.




Thanks for your comments. Based on your feedback, the Search and Reset buttons have switched locations on the page. If you have additional comments, please send them to us or post them here.
--- end of update ---

I have written about the search functionality on support.sas.com before and you have provided feedback about what you need from the search tool. If you missed those conversations, you may want to take a minute to review other posts about searching.

Based on your comments and site usage evaluations, there is no mistaking the importance of searching. Given that, we have a team of dedicated people looking at reported issues and potential search improvements. The team is proud to announce our first major update to search: Advanced Search. Below is a screen shot of the new search page.



The Advanced Search is available today on support.sas.com. However, we have not made it a production feature yet because we are still testing and gathering feedback. Today, I am offering you early access to the search features. All I ask in return is that you let us know what you like and what you don't like.

Give it a try
While we are polishing the last few rough edges, I invite you to visit support.sas.com/search/advanced.html and kick the tires on these features.

The Proceedings from SUGI 24 forward are available on support.sas.com. You can browse the table of contents for the Proceedings or search the Proceedings collection by visiting the SAS Global Forum site at support.sas.com/events/sasglobalforum/previous/online.html.

However, you can search all of the papers that are available on support.sas.com, including the Proceedings, from one spot. Try this.

1. Go to support.sas.com
   
2. Type your term or phrase in the search entry field in the top right corner of the page.
   
3. Select the down arrow for the drop list, then select Papers.
   
4. Select the Search button or hit your Enter key.
   

The search results include appropriate entries from the Proceedings, all TS Docs, and all technical papers that are available on support.sas.com.

Note: You can also browse our technical papers by visiting support.sas.com/resources/papers and selecting a topic category.

What do you think; is the papers search a useful tool for locating information?

User discussion forums are a great way to find answers to your problems. I've searched forums for help with updating operating systems, fixing the washing machine, and selecting new plumbing fixtures. In all cases, the forums have been helpful and I never posted a single question. I just looked at the other questions, comments and opinions. I found most of these resources using search tools.

I look at the SAS discussion forums daily. Judging by the number of views for some of the posts, it looks like a lot of you are just looking for answers and opinions too. You can do that by scanning the posts on a regular basis, which is what I do, but I'm just looking to make sure that the forums are moving along nicely. Scanning the forums is not an effective way to locate more targeted information. Searching is what you want. Keep reading for hints on how to search the discussion forums for just the right piece of information.

New! Forum content is included in the site search
Starting in early March, we included the content of the discussion forums in the overall site search. This enables you to use the content of the discussion forums to help you solve problems without specifically visiting the forums. Just issue your search from the search box at the top of every page. You can easily recognize a forum post in your search results. Each forum result is preceded by SAS Discussion Forums: as shown in the image below.

Read these posts for more searching tips

Using the extending search
The discussion forums have their own search feature. You can search all of the forums from the entry page (support.sas.com/forums) or you can click to the forum most likely to contain your answer and search that forum using the search box on the right. But let me introduce you to the extended search.

You can access the extended search by selecting the Search link next to the search box on any page. The extended search page displays as shown below.


Just use the entry fields and selection lists to search all or some of the forums, look for posts from your favorite poster, or search posts within a certain date range. If you frequent the forums, you'll want to give this a try. You may also want to set watches so that updates are delivered to you.

Do you have a tip for how to use the discussion forums to learn more?

I love being able to share good news, and this is good news. You brought it to our attention that you could not locate a hot fix on the support.sas.com site using search. Thanks to your comments and a little work from our administrators, you can now search for hot fixes on support.sas.com using the search box at the top of any page. (Now would be a great time for me to stress the importance of your feedback. Without your comments, this omission could have gone undetected. So keep your comments coming!)

Finding a hot fix download

If you know the hot fix name or topic and simply want to locate the download package, try the following:

1. Find a search box on the top of any support.sas.com page.
   
2. Type the name or description into the search field .
   For example: E9BA02 or hot fix for Compaq Tru64 9.2
   
3. Select Downloads and Hot Fixes from the search drop list.
   
   
   
4. Select Search or hit your Enter key.
   

Sometimes, you just need a little help adjusting to change. We introduced a lot of change when we updated support.sas.com in October of 2007. Then, the Publications Division brought out the SAS 9.2 documentation in the spring of 2008. More change.

We hope that the changes in the SAS 9.2 documentation offer you features that you've been waiting for. The biggest change is that the documentation is now integrated with the rest of the support.sas.com content. You can use the site search to locate content across all SAS Support content; or you can limit your search to just documentation, just documentation for SAS 9.2, or even to just one book. My favorite enhancement is the Product Documentation A-Z list. If you know your product, it is easy to find the books, by title, that are associated with that product. We've never had a list like this before!

The SAS 9.2 documentation also takes advantage of the topic browse feature that was introduced with Samples & SAS Notes in October. With topic browse, you don't have to know a product name or a book title. You can find content based on the subject. For example, if you are interested in CALL routines, simply go to the SAS 9.2 Documentation page and select the CALL routines link from the SAS Reference category. You will get a list of 10 books that address CALL routines. You can select the book most likely to help you based on the book title and description. If that doesn't work, you can search the text of the 10 books by submitting a search query in the Search box in the body of the page. (See the image below.) The search you submit from this search field searches only the current results set.



Get more tips
Helen Weeks, a member of the SAS Publications Division, wrote an article to help you get the most out of the new documentation features. She created a hints table that compares how you used to use the SAS OnlineDoc with how you might use the new SAS 9.2 documentation. If you are still learning your way around, take a look at Helen's Product Documentation for SAS 9.2 article on support.sas.com.

We'll be watching this post, so share your usage tips, questions and suggestions with us and other SAS documentation users.

Did you know ... that you can select a section of the support.sas.com site to search before you submit your search? You can limit your search to one of the four major site sections or to one of the many subsections.

Here's how:

1. Type your search term or phrase in the entry field at the top of any support.sas.com page.
   
2. Select the down arrow next to Search support.sas.com.
   
3. Select any section from the list.
   

In the picture below, you can see that I am searching for training that I can take online. I know that all training information is available from the LEARNING CENTER, so I limit my search to only that section.




Some sections, like Samples & SAS Notes, have a dedicated search box that searches only that section. Using this drop box accomplishes the same task as if you went to the Samples & SAS Notes entry page and searched from the dedicated search field.

I have an advantage because I know what content is associated with each section. However, with a small amount of effort, you too can make good use of this filtering mechanism. To get started, review the section definitions at The big four or use the sitemap on support.sas.com to help you locate content.

Try it and let me know if it helps you to locate your answers faster. You can use the voting poll to the right to provide your quick feedback or add a comment to provide even more.

Did you know ... that we provide a collection of frequently used links at the bottom of the Samples and SAS Notes page? We worked with Technical Support to determine what types of content is frequently requested from the samples and notes database. We have created links to this content to give you a running start when searching for information.

Updated June 02, 2009
The location of the frequently used links has changed since this post was written. New information follows.

The quick links are now on two pages:

• The Samples & SAS Notes search page


• The Samples & SAS Notes topic browse page

We also move the featured links from the bottom of the page to the top of each of these pages.
End of updated text.

Notice that we have also added search boxes for other SAS note collections, such as SAS/C and older notes that apply only to SAS Version 6.

We have limits for everything: how much we eat; how fast we drive; and how many text messages we can send before getting charged. My patience has a limit too. Those limits are often exceeded by slow-loading Web pages or a nugget of content hidden behind a maze of links to click. So, I'm interested in what your paging versus load-time limits are. What are you willing to put up with?

• Will you scroll down and down or do you prefer to click Next and Next?


• Do you want mulitple pages with small numbers of results or more results on less pages?


• How many results do you generally consider before trying another search?

How many times a day do you perform a search on the Web? Do you have a favorite search site from which you start all of your searches? Does it drive you crazy that not all search engines are created the same?

Search tools have become a huge part of our everyday life. I search our intranet to locate an employee phone number, or to review the latest policy from HR. We use Internet search engines to locate the nearest pizza delivery shop, to plan home remodels, or to debug software error messages. Search engines have put the knowledge of the world at our fingertips and we expect a search to deliver the right answer every time.