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Programming Tips

Strengthen your programming skills with tips and techniques from the experts

Programming Tips

Falko SchulzDecember 19, 2013 0

Santa's route in SAS Visual Analytics

Being so close before Christmas I thought it would be a good idea to see what route Santa Claus is planning this year. Not just because I'm living in Australia and Santa usually comes in t-shirts & shorts but also because it's a long way to get down here. So

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarDecember 11, 2013 0

Look what Santa has for lazy programmers

On any given day, on an average, good programmers spend maybe about 10-20% of their time writing code. And the remaining 90% thinking, researching, and experimenting to find the best design. With so much thinking time, they need every bit of help to reduce the amount of typing time. Not-so-good

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerNovember 25, 2013 0

11 super-useful custom tasks for SAS Enterprise Guide

The holiday season is here, and you're probably wondering how to shop for that picky SAS Enterprise Guide user on your gift list. I've got a few ideas for you, and the price is right! Here are links to 11 custom tasks that are free to download, easy to install,

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Warren F. KuhfeldNovember 11, 2013 0

The RUN Statement: Fun and Fitness with ODS Graphics

I decided this year to get serious about my running. I started recording my distance for every run. I made a SAS data set and generated simple reports. After a few weeks, I set a goal of averaging one marathon a week (3.8 miles per day, 26.2 miles per week,

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerNovember 6, 2013 0

Support for SAS on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

Microsoft Windows 8 has been with us for a year, and its first major update -- Windows 8.1 -- has just arrived. So how does SAS support these Windows 8 platforms? The answer can be found on support.sas.com in SAS Note 46876. I'll summarize it here: SAS 9.3 and SAS

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonNovember 6, 2013 0

SAS 9.4 has a new way to send interactive graphs in email!

SAS 9.4 allows you to create html5 output with your graph inline (as part of the html), providing a great way to email your SAS/Graph output! Previously, if you used ods html and dev=png to create graphs, you had to deal with two files -- a png file (containing the graph)

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerOctober 29, 2013 0

5 keyboard shortcuts in SAS that will change your life

Okay, given the title of this article, I might be overselling the content a bit. Read on to see if your life will be transformed. I've just returned from SESUG, and this question came up during one of the presentations. While this tip might seem basic, it was news to

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Programming Tips

Christina HarveyOctober 25, 2013 0

Do you understand the Program Data Vector?

Stick to the basics. Did you ever get that advice? Two of the papers at MidWest SAS Users Group 2013 used that most fundamental of SAS processing concepts—the Program Data Vector—to show why users might encounter unexpected errors in their DATA step programs. In The Secret Life of DATA STEP,

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonOctober 23, 2013 0

Using transparent colors in SAS Graphs

This graph certainly makes it clear! I can see right through your lies! Clearly, you know what you're talking about! We need more transparency in our organization! What was that all about, you might ask?!? ... I was just getting all the obvious puns out of the way, so I

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Programming Tips

Output percentiles in a tabular format in SAS

Rick WicklinOctober 23, 2013 0

Output percentiles of multiple variables in a tabular format

A challenge for statistical programmers is getting data into the right form for analysis. For graphing or analyzing data, sometimes the "wide format" (each subject is represented by one row and many variables) is required, but other times the "long format" (observations for each subject span multiple rows) is more

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerOctober 18, 2013 0

A custom task to check your data cardinality

The other day I showed how to check your data cardinality by using a simple SAS program. I also promised to provide a custom task that makes the process even easier within SAS Enterprise Guide. Today I'm delivering on that promise. I've just added the custom task to the support.sas.com

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerOctober 17, 2013 0

How to store data about your data in your data

Although the NSA and news media have given metadata a bad name in the popular press, the fact remains that information about the nature of your data is extremely valuable. For example, I posted an article yesterday about data cardinality. Cardinality measures the uniqueness of values in a variable. Cardinality

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarOctober 17, 2013 0

Learn to fly with SAS PROC SQL workshop

This robin chick chirped away in my backyard on a glorious summer afternoon. While papa robin hovered above, the chick hopped on ground following Dad. Soon Dad disappeared after leading the chick to a tree where two gray squirrels smacked their lips at the sight of an easy lunch. Lifting

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerOctober 16, 2013 0

Your data ain't good looking, but it has a nice cardinality

Data cardinality is an important topic for for data analysis. In mathematical terms, cardinality is simply the number of elements in a set. But in data applications, cardinality signifies the number of unique values for a given field of data. Related terms include number of levels (thank you, PROC FREQ

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerOctober 8, 2013 0

Process Interruptus: a custom task to pause your process flow

Traditionally, SAS users like their processes to behave like Ron Popeil's famous rotisserie: they want to set it and forget it. That's the definition of a batch process. You work like heck to get it ready to run, then you push the button (or schedule it) and walk away. But

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerOctober 1, 2013 0

Put them back the way you found them: restoring SAS titles

Has this ever happened to you? You have a SAS program with statements that you wrote, then you make use of a macro function or %include file supplied by a helpful colleague, and when your SAS code resumes, you find that all of your SAS titles have been changed out

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonSeptember 20, 2013 0

A beginner's tutorial on ... geographical maps

Your biggest problem with maps used to be learning how to fold a paper road map. Today, with the advent of GPS, Google Maps, and location-specific data, the bar has been raised! ... you now need to know how to plot your data on a map! Below are several examples of different kinds

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerSeptember 17, 2013 0

Copy a file using a SAS program: another method

A couple of years ago I shared a method for copying any file within a SAS program. It was a simple approach, copying the file byte-by-byte from one fileref (SAS file reference) to another. My colleague Bruno Müller, a SAS trainer in Switzerland, has since provided a much more robust

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonSeptember 17, 2013 0

A beginner's tutorial on ... pie charts

There's an old expression "easy as pie." Have you ever tried to bake a pie??? ... It's not so easy, LOL! And neither is using pie charts correctly! :) Below are several examples of different kinds of pie charts you can create with SAS/GRAPH. And at the bottom of this

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonSeptember 11, 2013 0

A beginner's tutorial on ... bar charts

Do you know how to create a bar chart using SAS, and when to use what kind of bar chart?!? If the answer doesn't come to you "easy as pie" then this blog is for you! Below are several examples of different kinds of bar charts you can create with SAS/GRAPH.

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerSeptember 5, 2013 0

New and improved: Importing SPSS data files in SAS Enterprise Guide

It's been almost 5 years since I posted one of the first custom tasks for SAS Enterprise Guide. It was a task that made it easier to convert SPSS data files into SAS data sets. Like many projects that begin as custom tasks, this one later became a feature in

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonAugust 28, 2013 0

A beginner's tutorial on ... line plots

Do you know (right off the top of your head) the simple SAS/GRAPH code you would use to create line graphs? ... If not, then this tutorial is for you! A line plot is basically a scatter plot where the markers are connected. A line plot should only be used

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonAugust 26, 2013 0

A beginner's tutorial on ... scatter plots

Scatter plots are probably the simplest kind of graph, and provide a great way to visually look for relationships between two variables. But, do you know (right off the top of your head) the simple SAS/GRAPH code you would use to create them? ... This tutorial leads you step-by-step through the

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Programming Tips | SAS Events

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerAugust 15, 2013 0

SAS Tech Talk: What's new in the SAS programming language?

In SAS 9.4, the SAS programming language continues add new features by the truckload. I've already discussed PROC DELETE (which is actually an old feature, but like an 80s hit song it's now back with a better version). In this SAS Tech Talk video from SAS Global Forum 2013, I

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Advanced Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Angela HallAugust 9, 2013 0

Alternative Method for Accessing SAS Framework Data Server Content

Back in 2011, I wrote about the all new SAS Framework Data Server in 9.3 and how it needs to be running for certain web applications to function properly. But it is actually used as the data storage device for multiple SAS components including webdav content, alerts, comments, and workflows.

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerAugust 7, 2013 0

I18N and L10N: Lazy terms for important work

If you're a software developer, you're probably already familiar with these terms: I18N and L10N. Internationalization (I + 18 letters + N = I18N) The discipline of preparing your software to run correctly in different languages with different culture settings. For example, the software must be able to accommodate multibyte

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerAugust 2, 2013 0

SAS Enterprise Guide versions and SAS 9.4: what's supported

With the release of SAS 9.4 (which included SAS/STAT 12.3 and SAS Enterprise Guide 6.1), you might seriously consider hiring a Chief Versions Officer (CVO). Fortunately, most of the recent versions of SAS Enterprise Guide work with the different recent versions of SAS, so you have some flexibility as you

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerJuly 31, 2013 0

How to use Gmail to send a message from a SAS program

Previously I've described how you can use SAS Enterprise Guide to send an e-mail message using Gmail as your e-mail provider. In the article, I mentioned that you can also write SAS programs that send e-mail messages, but at the time you could not reach Gmail using the FILENAME EMAIL

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Angela HallJuly 29, 2013 0

Sync everything up, at least between EG & metadata

From an Enterprise Guide user's perspective, a SAS library is a library. Whether it was defined in the autoexec or in the metadata or by magic, it is there for them to use with no issues. However, there is a difference as metadata defined libraries do not behave in the

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