| SAS/ACCESS Software for PC File Formats: Reference |
- The ACCESS procedure has been enhanced by the addition of the
UPDATE statement, which enables you to edit and update access descriptors
and view descriptors. The DROP statement can now be used when you update view
descriptors. See UPDATE.
- The base SAS IMPORT and EXPORT procedures and the Import/Export
facility is provided in this document for the first time in Version 8. Both
the procedures and the facility enable you to transfer data between SAS and
external data sources. In some cases, a license for SAS/ACCESS software for
PC File Formats is required to access a PC file format. These procedures and
the facility also enable you to read and to export data to Microsoft Access
files and Excel 97 files, formats that are not available through the ACCESS
or DBLOAD procedures. For more information, see Overview.
- Variable names can be up to 32 rather than 8
characters long.
However, for Version 6 compatibility, the maximum length of access and view
descriptor names remains at 8 characters. When specifying SAS data sets in
the DBLOAD procedure, SAS variable names are also limited to 8 characters.
See SAS Language Reference: Concepts for more information about SAS naming conventions.
- Users running this SAS/ACCESS
interface
under the Windows, OS/2, and UNIX operating environments can now use the DBF
or DIF procedures to access local data in these file types. Users running
under OS/390 can also use the DBF procedure. See DBF and DIF Procedures.
- The interactive windowing interface is not
supported. You can
no longer create and edit access descriptors and view descriptors by using
the Access Descriptor and View Descriptor windows.
- The SAS Explorer window replaces the ACCESS window and its functionality.
Copyright 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.
