Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerFebruary 2, 2012 0

Review your metadata profiles using SAS Enterprise Guide automation

We call it the "metadata profile", but really it's like a telephone number that connects you to your SAS environment. Just as a telephone number has component parts (country code, area code, exchange), the metadata profile contains information that allow you to "dial in" to your SAS servers. This information

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerJanuary 27, 2012 0

Reaching a dubious peak

So many of us struggle with this mountain. In fact, 68.27% of us get within sight of reaching the summit (while 95.47% of us are at least on a perceivable slope). We run, walk, crawl and sometimes slide our way uphill (from one direction or the other) until we finally

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerJanuary 25, 2012 0

SAS export to Excel just got a little bit easier

Note: as this is a popular topic, I've added a few notes with minor updates, including a link to a popular how-to tutorial video. In case you missed it, the first maintenance release for SAS 9.3 was recently released. Because we're all friends here, you may call it "SAS 9.3M1"

Read More

English

Programming Tips

SAS JediJanuary 13, 2012 0

Jedi SAS Tricks: These aren't the droids... Episode 1

In the Star Wars movie, Obi-wan could just wave his hand, mutter a few words, and the stormtroopers would "move along".  How the power of the Force makes ridding yourself of problematic characters so much easier! I recently was invited to become an alternate instructor for Ron Cody’s SAS Business

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerJanuary 11, 2012 0

Uncovering the hidden parts of the SAS log

Before there was CNN or FOX News, people used to get their news from SAS. At least, that's how I imagine that people kept themselves informed. What else can explain the existence of the NEWS= system option, which helps SAS admins to surface the must-know information to the SAS community?

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Miss SAS AnswersJanuary 9, 2012 0

Calculated values in PROC REPORT Compute Blocks

Dear Miss SAS Answers, In PROC REPORT can I use one calculated (computed) variable in the calculation of another computed variable? In the example below, I’m trying to use the value of the Bonus column to calculate the Total column:   compute Bonus;     Bonus =sal.sum*0.05;   endcomp;   compute Total;     total=sum(sal.sum, Bonus.sum);   endcomp;

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerJanuary 3, 2012 0

Pitfalls of the LAG function

In the immortal words of Britney Spears: Oops! I did it again. At least, I'm afraid that I did. I think I might have helped a SAS student with a homework assignment, or perhaps provided an answer in preparation for a SAS certification exam. Or maybe it was a legitimate

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerDecember 16, 2011 0

A SAS options viewer for SAS Enterprise Guide

On the heels of the release of the popular SAS macro variable viewer from last month, I'm providing another custom task that I hope will prove just as useful. This one is a SAS options viewer, similar in concept to the OPTIONS window in SAS display manager. You can download

Read More

English

Advanced Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Angela HallDecember 8, 2011 0

Building custom measures for OLAP cubes

In one minute (and 10 seconds, but are you measuring that?) you can add a custom measure (also known as calculated members) to your OLAP cube. Watch this video to create a simple calculation multiplying units * price. Remember that this mechanism is not just used for multiplications, you can

Read More

English

Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarDecember 7, 2011 0

Mmm... Dr. G and the M&Ms

“Do you really serve M&Ms every Wednesday?  Tell us the story!” clamored a wide-eyed class after sampling the M&Ms lighting up the breakout area. Seeing how hard they worked on their exercises, it seemed ok to have a slight diversion from technology. Besides as you’ll find out, the story has

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerNovember 30, 2011 0

Just-in-time data prep in SAS Enterprise Guide

On this blog, I've delivered a few tips about using SAS formats to stratify your data values "in place" without having to actually change your data. The most recent example addressed date and datetime variables. My previous examples included simple SAS programs that you can run in SAS display manager

Read More

English

Programming Tips

SAS JediNovember 18, 2011 0

Jedi SAS Tricks: Building a Name Suffix variable list

If you’ve taken one of my SAS classes you may recall “Mark’s 3 rules of programming”, the first of which is “Lazy programmers are GOOD programmers.”  One of the things I love about best about SAS programming is the plethora of functions and shortcuts built into the language, all designed

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerNovember 17, 2011 0

Take SAS program editor abbreviations to the next level

Rick posted a tip today about using abbreviations in the SAS program editor window (often referred to as the "enhanced editor"). Defining abbreviations is a great way to save keystrokes and re-use "templates" of code that you've squirreled away. (One of Rick's readers also picked up on the tip, and

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerNovember 15, 2011 0

Do you mind if we dance with your DATEs (or DATETIMEs)?

I've been working with date-time data on a recent project, and I've come across a few SAS programs that have "opportunity for improvement" when it comes time to create reports. (Or maybe I haven't, and I contrived this entire blog post so that I could reference one of my favorite

Read More

English

Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Angela HallNovember 9, 2011 0

Limit the number of drill-through to detail records available from OLAP cubes

Drill-through to detail is the ability to right click within a cell of a web report or OLAP viewer and request the detail source records that make up that specific cell's measure. The maximum number of records, by default, is set to 300,000. Feasibly the report user could download all

Read More

English

Programming Tips | SAS Events

Anne-Lindsay BeallNovember 7, 2011 0

Seven steps for avoiding (data) hangovers

In a production environment, where dozens of SAS programs are run in sequence, often monthly or quarterly, and where logs can span thousands of lines, it’s easy to overlook the small stuff that can cause data hangovers.  Recognize any of these? A temporary data set finds its way into subsequent

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerNovember 2, 2011 0

Using Windows PowerShell to report on your SAS Enterprise Guide project files

This blog post is a "mashup" of a couple of my previous posts, combining the lessons to create something brand new that I hope you will find useful.  First, let's review what we know: SAS Enterprise Guide supports a scriptable object model, which allows you to write scripts or programs

Read More

English

Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Angela HallOctober 27, 2011 0

Revisiting the starting file location for Enterprise Guide

Years ago and a seemingly far galaxy away, I wrote about how to modify 9.1.3 to start Enterprise Guide users in a different location for the File folder. By default, the user only can access their personal SAS Temporary File. Why change this? I would prefer to use a central

Read More

English

Programming Tips | SAS Events

Anne-Lindsay BeallOctober 25, 2011 0

SAS Data Step Debugger: Your liberator from logic errors

“I really wish someone had shown me this function in SAS sooner, because it’s saved me a ton of time and effort,” said Brandi Rhoads as she opened her presentation at the Western Users of SAS Software (WUSS) conference in San Francisco.  

Read More

English

Advanced Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Angela HallOctober 18, 2011 0

Troubleshooting a web file upload

Functionality to upload files onto the SAS server (from 9.2 on) is available using stored processes and an html input type="file". I introduced this topic last year in my blog post using the SAS Stored Process Developer Guide sample. Of course, it is never as easy as the sample is

Read More

English

Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarOctober 12, 2011 0

Bad words in SAS - PG rating

Picture this – a student grabs the Programming 1 textbook, scans it quickly seemingly searching for something specific, and shakes his head indicating an unsuccessful search. He plants himself smack dab in the front row, looks me squarely in the eye, raises one eyebrow quizzically and says, “Bad words?” I

Read More

English

Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerOctober 10, 2011 0

10 tips for organizing your SAS Enterprise Guide projects

What is the best way to organize your SAS work in a SAS Enterprise Guide project?  There are no project templates or enforced structure, really, but isn't there a best practice? I don't have a single prescription for the best project organization.  I believe that it depends on the nature

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerOctober 5, 2011 0

Netflix streaming: Making every minute count

It turns out that I'm not receiving the maximum potential value from my Netflix streaming service.  Perhaps it's because I place too much value on sleep. With my monthly subscription, I am permitted to view Netflix content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  In my house I have

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Waynette TubbsOctober 3, 2011 0

Five easy steps to write your presentation in SAS®

Most SUG presentations are written in PowerPoint – they may even be written in Word first, and then fancied up a bit in PowerPoint – but they are rarely written in SAS. But Louise Hadden, from Abt Associates Inc, had a need to produce a lot of PDF presentations. She

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Rick WicklinOctober 3, 2011 0

Rounding up, rounding down

SAS has several ways to round a number to an integer. You can round a number up, round it down, or round it to the nearest integer. If your data contain both positive and negative values, you can also round numbers toward zero, or away from zero. The functions that

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerSeptember 28, 2011 0

Jumping into Windows 7 Jump Lists

Filed under "Little changes that you probably didn't notice". When Microsoft introduced Windows 7 to the desktop, one of the many usability features that they added were "Jump Lists". Jump Lists serve as a sort of shortcut to not just open an application, but "jump right in" to a particular

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerSeptember 26, 2011 0

The default settings are not good enough

Today, I came across this article that discusses how software users rarely change the settings in the applications that they use.  Users assume that the software vendor sets the default values as they are for a reason, and who are they to set them otherwise? I'm a software developer (and

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerSeptember 22, 2011 0

Next time, do your own homework

SAS programming is taught in schools all over the world, including in high schools.  Occasionally, I receive questions via my blog such as this one: Can somebody help me on this? Write a short DATA _NULL_ step to determine the largest integer you can store on your computer in 3,

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerSeptember 19, 2011 0

Measuring the value of my DVD-by-mail movie service

Like millions of other Americans, I recently was asked to make a decision of tremendous importance to my household -- a decision that would affect the welfare of everyone in my family. That decision, of course, was whether to continue to receive Netflix movies by mail, or opt for the

Read More

English

Programming Tips

Rick WicklinSeptember 19, 2011 0

Count the number of missing values for each variable

The other day I encountered a SAS Knowledge Base article that shows how to count the number of missing and nonmissing values for each variable in a data set. However, the code is a complicated macro that is difficult for a beginning SAS programmer to understand. (Well, it was hard

Read More

English