SAS custom tasks: using Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 and other new toys

Writing a book about SAS (or any computer software) is both gratifying and frustrating. It's gratifying because there are so many SAS users in the world, and it feels good when you can share your expertise with them. It's also gratifying to have a volume that you can point to and say "I wrote that!"

But it's frustrating too, because computer software changes rapidly, and your book can quickly become out-of-date. Some people might call that "job security". Unfortunately, constantly revising and republishing my books isn't part of my "day job", and while rewarding in many ways, it doesn't pay the bills.

When we published Custom Tasks for SAS Enterprise Guide using Microsoft .NET, the current versions of software were:

SAS Enterprise Guide 5.1

SAS 9.3

Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 (very recently released at the time!)

In just 11 months since then, we are now working with SAS 9.4, SAS Enterprise Guide 6.1, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. I don't address these versions in my book. So readers wonder: can you use the book with the later editions of software?

The answer is Yes. The material in the book still applies, one-hundred-percent. You need to adjust the book instructions only in the most obvious ways. That is, where there is an instruction that includes a specific version number (a folder name, for example), you need only to substitute the more recent version number.

The Microsoft Visual Studio templates, which I provide as a simple way to bootstrap your custom task project, still work as they always have. I originally designed them to work with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and SAS Enterprise Guide 4.2. Since most users are well beyond those versions now, I've created an updated set of templates that work better with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and later, and SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3 and later. You can find the updated Visual Studio templates on the SAS support page for custom tasks. The download package includes templates for C# and Visual Basic, plus illustrated instructions for installation and use. The templates work with the 2010, 2012, and 2013 editions of Microsoft Visual Studio, including the free Express editions.

Custom task project in VS2013

Note: while you can use the free Express editions of Microsoft's development tools, I always recommend the professional editions for serious long-term work. The professional editions include better support for debugging task code, a feature that I find to be essential for production work.