Reporting on SAS Information Maps

Like any good SAS professional, I subscribe to the SAS Samples RSS feed. The other day I found this sample that shows how to create a PDF report about the contents of a SAS Information Map.

It's a nice example: it shows how to use the INFOMAPS engine and ODS to create a simple report to show what's in an information map. But we can do much more. Information Maps are a richer data source than regular SAS data sets: they can contain calculations, folders, filters, and more.

Here is an example that I wrote that shows:

Information maps in a particular SAS folder

The data items for a particular map, including the folder hierarchy, item type (category or measure), description, and SAS syntax name

The list of filters, if any, that are defined for the information map, including folder hierarchy, descriptions, and an indication as to whether the filter includes one or more prompts

The example uses the new Information Map dictionary tables that were added in SAS 9.2. (Note: this example reports only on relational information maps, not OLAP. The INFOMAPS engine does not support OLAP data sources.)

The complete SAS program is available here, and this link is an example of the result. The following picture is an excerpt from the report you'll get.

If you want to create a SAS program that reads the actual data rows from a map, that's easy. Use SAS Enterprise Guide to open the Information Map into your project. You'll wind up with a task and SAS program as part of your process flow. You can run the task just as it is, or copy the code and adapt it for your own use.