SAS/AF Software: Class Dictionary

Using the SAS Data File Class

You can create a SAS Data File object. When you instantiate a SAS Data File object, only the object identifier is created. You then add information about a SAS data file or data view to the object. This step is referred to as initializing the object. To initialize a SAS Data File object, use the _setup method. This example creates a SAS Data File object, DFILE, and initializes it to SASUSER.FITNESS:

dataclass=loadclass
          ('sashelp.fsp.datafile.class');
dfile=instance(dataclass);
call send (dfile, '_setup_', 
           'sasuser.fitness');

Note: All examples assume that you have instantiated a SAS Data File object and initialized it using _setup. [cautionend]

If you list the contents of DFILE, you see

( _class=2631
  DESC='SAS Datafile Class'
  TYPE=''
  FULLNAME='SASUSER.FITNESS'
  LIBRARY=<invalid list id>[0]
  ATTRIBUTES=<invalid list id>[0]
  MEMTYPE='DATA'
)[2647]

LIBRARY and ATTRIBUTES are list identifiers. Notice that at this point, they have a value of 0, an invalid list identifier. The reason is that these values are not initialized by _setup. Use _getLibrary and _getAttributes to initialize these lists.

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