With the release of SAS 9.2, the SAS documentation that accompanies the software has never been more accessible. See for yourself: check out the product documentation for SAS 9.2.
Type in a few keywords in the search pane. I just tried "filename http" -- the top link, describing the FILENAME URL access method, was just what I was looking for.
This is the culmination of years of work to transition SAS' primary documentation medium from printed books to electronic documentation. I am proud to have played a small part in the early days of this -- it was about 12 years ago that I smuggled the SAS Companion for Windows into the online help system for SAS on the PC -- that was in the late days of version 6, early version 7. I've been out of that biz for a long time, but the progress has continued steadily.
The new library of online documentation is a huge leap. I talked to someone last night who still keeps the version 5 manual on his shelf because it contains the whole of SAS documentation as it was at that time. I appreciate the nostalgia, but I think from now on I'll keep my documentation in my web browser.
5 Comments
Congradulations Chris on the book! I read it, good stuff. By the way, this is one of your relatives back in south Florida. I hope all is well buddy.
In the previous format clicking "Macro" on the left opened the macro documentation. In the new format clicking "Macro" opens a list of 27 documentation topics with Macro on the second page, all the other items being irrelevant. This is not easier access.
In general, at a first glance, there are far more clicks and waits between http://support.sas.com/cdlsearch?ct=80000 and actual information than in the old style. I haven't tried the search facility yet. However, my first take is that the change is a disaster.
I've alway liked the way SAS puts complete documentation on the Web. I still do, but it's going to be more trouble to use than before.
Jonathan, thanks for the comments. I've passed your comments on to the folks in charge of the online doc; they might be in touch with you to gather some more feedback.
I got EG 4.3 installed instead of EG 4.2 and now I no longer have any SAS documentation in the help menu, what gives?
In EG 4.3, the program editor contains most of the syntax reference help you'll ever need. Just hover over a keyword or navigate with the keyboard and click F1. That being said, many people miss the more detailed help. So in the next release of EG (5.1), you'll be able to jump from this syntax help in the editor to the SAS syntax on the support.sas.com site, using provided links.