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Programming Tips

Strengthen your programming skills with tips and techniques from the experts

Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonMarch 30, 2015 0

Paint it black: A song choice or a graph background?

This blog post discusses the use of a black background in a graph. But before we get started, I invite you to have a listen to one of my favorite songs - "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones. Perhaps this song subliminally persuaded people to use black backgrounds in

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Programming Tips

Chevell ParkerMarch 27, 2015 0

Using SAS to add PivotTables to your Excel workbook

In Microsoft Excel, a PivotTable can help you to create an interactive view of summarized data. Within a PivotTable, it’s easy to adjust the dimensions (columns and rows) and calculated measures to suit your ad-hoc reporting needs. You can also create a PivotChart – similar in concept to a PivotTable, but

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonMarch 25, 2015 0

Spotting a misleading chart

Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory - hopefully you'll enjoy mine about the number of US E1 visas! I was perusing some of the US government charts, and found one on US immigration visas that caught my attention. It was a 3D bar chart, and since I always mistrust 3D

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonMarch 24, 2015 0

When art and analytics collide

The best graphs are both beautiful and informative - a smooth blend of art and analytics. But more often than not, the two collide rather than blending smoothly... Here is a link to a artistic infographic I recently saw posted by Vendavo on twitter. Their message (80% of your profit is generated

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Leonid BatkhanMarch 20, 2015 0

How to reverse graph axes in SAS Visual Analytics

It may never crossed your mind, but there are real-life cases when reversing graph axes make sense. For example, when Y-axis represents a depth under the sea level or depth of oil well drilling, it makes perfect sense to have zero on top and positive numbers increasing from top down.

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarMarch 16, 2015 0

I can see clearly now thanks to this SAS student

With any software program, there are always new tips and tricks to learn, and nobody can know them all. Sometimes I even pick up tips or techniques from my students while they’re learning broader programming tips from me. Like fine wine, instructors only get better with age. Every customer interaction

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonMarch 13, 2015 0

How to use the SAS pi constant

With Pi Day coming up on 3/14, I wanted to make sure all you SAS programmers know how to use the pi constant in your SAS code... All you have to do is use constant("pi") in a data step, and you've got the value of pi out to a good many decimal places

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Programming Tips

Marjorie ShelleyMarch 13, 2015 0

Descriptive statistics—the more, the merrier in SAS Visual Analytics

This blog is not about the original movie The More the Merrier (1943) or its remake, Walk, Don’t Run (1966), which I’ve actually seen a couple of times. It’s actually about the wide variety of descriptive statistics available in SAS Visual Analytics—and when you want to examine the characteristics of

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerMarch 12, 2015 0

Project Reviewer task and Copy Files task: refreshed for v7.1

Two popular SAS custom tasks have recently been updated for SAS Enterprise Guide 7.1. Most custom tasks that I've shared will work without modification across releases, but these two required a special rebuild due to some internal product API changes. The Project Reviewer task allows you to see a detail

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonMarch 5, 2015 0

Making a 'fun' zip code map more useful

When I saw Robert Kosoro's cool ZIPScribble map, I knew I had to create a SAS version - and of course I had to add a few enhancements along the way.... I was perusing some of the examples on dadaviz.com, and Kosoro's ZIPScribble map caught my attention. It wasn't a particularly useful

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Programming Tips

Gerry NelsonMarch 4, 2015 0

Relationships are easy – for SAS objects!

Somebody once said that relationships are not easy. Well now they are—in SAS 9.4, at least! SAS objects have inherent relationships and dependencies, and a change to one element can often have an impact on one or many related objects. For example, for SAS Visual Analytics reports to work as

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Programming Tips

Teri PatsilarasFebruary 27, 2015 0

SAS Visual Analytics: creating a custom sort order

Does your week start on Sunday or Monday? Do you have a promotional product you would like to see at the top of your list? Do you have a particular order in which you like to view your regions? Custom sorting is now possible with SAS Visual Analytics 7.1. The

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Programming Tips

Russ TyndallFebruary 13, 2015 0

SAS macro variables: how to determine scope

Have you ever created a SAS macro variable and at resolution time received a warning that it did not exist? Many times this warning is because your program referenced the macro variable outside the scope it was created in. Every macro variable created is stored in one of two symbol

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Programming Tips

Teri PatsilarasJanuary 29, 2015 0

Using parameters in SAS Visual Analytics

In the latest release of SAS Visual Analytics Designer, a parameter is a variable whose value can be changed and that can be referenced by other report objects. Why is this an important introduction? This addition means that, not only can you design interactive reports via prompt controls, those controls

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerJanuary 26, 2015 0

How to split one data set into many

Back in the day when the prison system forced inmates to perform "hard labor", folks would say (of someone in prison): "He's busy making little ones out of big ones." This evokes the cliché image of inmates who are chained together, forced to swing a chisel to break large rocks

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Programming Tips

Stephen FoersterJanuary 23, 2015 0

Need test data? Use SAS to extract it from these surprising sources

Everyone is always looking for test data. Business analysts want it for demos and prototypes. Software developers want it for development and unit testing. Testers want it for system and integration testing. I’ve written many programs to generate test data over the years, as have many other SAS users. Generated

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Leonid BatkhanJanuary 21, 2015 0

SAS timer - the key to writing efficient SAS code

New Year to me is always a stark reminder of the inexorability of Time. In a day-to-day life, time is measured in small denominations - minutes, hours, days… But come New Year, and this inescapable creature – Time – makes its decisive leap – and in a single instant, we

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonJanuary 15, 2015 0

Using SAS analytics to monitor blog posts

As a blogger, I often wonder whether my blog posts are 'successful' - and being a graph guy, I like to visually analyze the data, to try to answer that question. The most common measure of a blog post is probably the number of times it was viewed, so I guess

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonJanuary 14, 2015 0

Don't let difficult graph legends get your goat

Is this blog post about techniques to use on difficult graph legends, or is it about goats? The answer is both! But first, to get you into the proper mood, here is a picture my friend, Mark, took of some cute goats. And some links to YouTube videos about goats

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Jim SimonDecember 4, 2014 0

How to eliminate data error notes from the SAS log

A student in a SAS class recently asked if there were a way to eliminate data error notes from the SAS log and, instead, write them to a separate file. Of course there's a way! Here's a simple datastep. Notice the missing dollar sign to indicate the variable GENDER (M,

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Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerDecember 4, 2014 0

Using SAS Enterprise Guide with your local SAS installation

If you have SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS for Windows installed on a machine together, they should Just Work. There is no special setup required. But...what if they don't? I've posted an article in the SAS Enterprise Guide community about this topic. Read the article to learn: How to select

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Advanced Analytics | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Compute minimum and maximum of rows and columns in SAS

Rick WicklinDecember 1, 2014 0

Compute maximum and minimum values for rows and columns in SAS

A common question on SAS discussion forums is how to compute the minimum and maximum values across several variables. It is easy to compute statistics across rows by using the DATA step. This article shows how to compute the minimum and maximum values for each observation (across variables) and, for

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Leonid BatkhanNovember 28, 2014 0

Drill, baby, drill—using SAS to drill down through Google maps

➤ DISCLOSURE! In June 2018 Google introduced changes to the way it handles its Maps platform. They now require API key in order to embed a map, plus Google Maps "projects" must now be associated with a billing account. Unless these new Google rules are met, Google maps described in

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Programming Tips

Grace WhiteisNovember 21, 2014 0

SAS arrays—be not afraid!

Arrays are a powerful SAS programming tool. They can be used to simplify coding for repetitive calculations, to transpose data and to evaluate variables in a non-sequential manner. Sometimes users are intimidated by the term array, but in SAS, an array is simply a grouping of variables that lasts for

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Programming Tips

Russ TyndallNovember 14, 2014 0

SAS macro errors: the answers you’re looking for

Have you ever received an error or warning in SAS macro and did not know what to do next or even where to look? Now there is an answer! And debugging your SAS macros just got easier. All macro errors and warnings are now documented in the SAS 9.4 Macro

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinNovember 3, 2014 0

Recent additions to the SAS/IML file-sharing community

It has been three months since the introduction of the SAS/IML File Exchange, so I thought I'd give a short update on recent submissions and activity. (Note: The File Exchange was merged into the SAS Community Library in 2022.) Users have submitted eight new articles. The application areas include experimental

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Programming Tips

Lelia McConnellOctober 17, 2014 0

Symbols in SAS 9.4 graphs: unlimited possibilities

Beginning with the first maintenance of SAS 9.4, you have the ability to define your own symbol markers using the SYMBOLCHAR and SYMBOLIMAGE statements. With these statements you can select a Unicode value or you can select an image file that exists on the local file system—making the possibilities for

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