SAS Companion for the OS/2 Environment

Overview of the SAS System Interface

The main SAS window contains all other SAS application windows. The main SAS window is completely configurable, enabling you to use its features in a way that is productive for you. The Main SAS Window shows the main SAS window as it appears when you first start the SAS System. This section briefly describes the features of the window.

The Main SAS Window

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Here are the primary components of the main SAS window:

menu bar

presents the menus that are available for the active SAS application window. As you switch between application windows, the menu bar changes. Similarly, the pop-up menus that appear when you click on the right mouse button inside a window are specific for that window.

command bar

provides a way to quickly enter any SAS command. The command bar retains a list of the commands that you enter. To repeat a command that you issued previously, either type until the command appears in the command bar or select the command from the drop-down list and click on the check mark button or press ENTER. To switch the keyboard focus to the command bar, press F11 (the key that is defined as COMMAND BAR).

toolbar

provides quick access to the commands that you issue most often. The toolbar is completely configurable and can contain up to 30 tools. You can associate different sets of tools with different SAS application windows. When you create a tool, you specify the tool icon, the commands that are associated with the tool, the Help text that is displayed on the status line, and the tip text. The bitmap browser provides hundreds of images that you can use to represent your commands on the toolbar.

windowing environment

contains a workspace to open windows within the main SAS window. Certain windows, such as windows that are used for navigation, can dock to left side of the main SAS window when Docking View is enabled from the Preferences dialog box. Windows that cannot dock to the main SAS window open to the right of the docking area. For more information about using dockable windows, see Using the Docking View.

status line

contains a message area and the current folder for the SAS System. The message area displays Help text for menus and tools, as well as messages that are specific to SAS application windows. The current folder area displays the name of the current working folder. To change the current folder, double-click on the current folder area. For more information about changing the current folder, see Changing the SAS Current Folder.

The status line can be enabled and disabled from the Preferences dialog box. The message line and the current folder can be enabled and disabled from either the Preferences dialog box or the status line pop-up menu.

Accessing SAS Commands, Tools, and Options from Menus

You can access SAS commands, tools, and options by selecting them from the menus at the top of the main SAS window or by using pop-up menus within application windows. The menus display options that are available in the active window. To access a pop-up menu for a particular window, click the right mouse button anywhere within a window. The pop-up menu that appears contains the menu items that are available in that particular window.

Some SAS windows (such as the Explorer window) along with the main SAS window can contain objects that have their own pop-up menus when you click on an object by using the right mouse button. For example, the command bar, the toolbar, and the status line each have a pop-up menu. In these windows, the pop-up menu that appears is specific to the selected object.

Using the Docking View

The SAS System for OS/2 makes it easier for you to access files by using docking view. When the docking view is enabled, certain windows are docked to the left side of the main SAS window. These windows are typically used for navigation. When you double click on an object in a docked window, a window that contains the object opens in the right side of the main SAS window.

The docking view is enabled or disabled

from the Preferences dialog box View page
by entering the WDOCKVIEW command in the command bar.

Issuing the WDOCKVIEW command without any arguments toggles the docking view.

Each docked window has a tab at the bottom of the docking area for easy access to the window. When the number of dockable windows is large enough so that you cannot identify the tabs, a left and right arrow are displayed for you to navigate through the docked windows.

Docked windows cannot be individually moved or resized. To enlarge or contract the docking area, place the cursor over the split bar between the docking area and the remaining portion of the main SAS window. Then click and hold down the left mouse button. Move the mouse to the left or right to resize the docking area.

If you prefer to dock or undock individual windows, you can toggle the Docked menu item by selecting

Window Docked

For more information about docking or undocking all windows, see View Preferences and WDOCKVIEW.

Learning about the Main SAS Window

To help you learn about the different parts of the main SAS window, the SAS System provides different types of screen Help. The screen Help is either a message that displays in the message area of the status line or a one- or two-word screen tip. The message area descriptions are available for menus, the command bar, and items in the toolbar. Screen tips are available for the command bar, toolbar buttons, the docking area tabs, and the status line.

If you would like a description of a menu or a menu item, select the menu or menu item, and hold down the mouse button. As the mouse pointer passes over the menu or menu item, a description of the item displays in the message area of the status line. For example, when you select the File pull-down menu, the status line displays the words Perform file-related operations. As you drag the mouse to highlight the items under the File menu, the message area displays a short description of each item.

When you place the cursor over a toolbar button, a screen tip displays by the icon and a longer description displays in the message area.

For information about other parts of the main SAS window, such as the docking area tabs and the status line, place the cursor over the item and hold it there for a second. A one- or two-word screen tip will pop up.

If you customize the commands that are available from the toolbar, you can also specify the descriptions (Tip Text and Help Text) that appear as screen tip Help and the message in the message area. To learn more about changing the toolbar, see Customizing the Toolbar.

To enable or disable command bar or toolbar screen tips, you can use either the Show ScreenTips on toolbars option in the Customize dialog box Toolbars page or issue the TOOLTIP command in the command bar. All other screen tips can be enabled or disabled by using the ScreenTip option in the Preferences dialog box View page or by using the WSCREENTIPS command. For more information on enabling and disabling screen tips, see Setting Session Preferences, Customizing the Toolbar, WSCREENTIPS, and TOOLTIPS.

Opening and Saving Files

You can open and save external files from any text editor window, such as the Program Editor window. Some SAS windows, such as Log and Output, do not allow file input; you cannot open files from these windows, but you can save the window contents to external files. If you would like the default folder for the Open and Save As dialog boxes to be the current working folder and not the SASUSER folder, you can use the SASINITIALFOLDER system option when you start the SAS System. For more information, see SASINITIALFOLDER

Opening Files

To open a file from the Program Editor,

With the Program Editor window active, either click on the Open toolbar button (the opened file folder), type dlgopen in the command bar, or select the File menu and select Open. SAS displays the Open dialog box.
Use the Open dialog box to select the file that you want to open. By default, SAS looks for files with the .SAS file extension (which contain SAS code, by convention).
If the file that you are opening contains SAS code that you want to submit, check the Submit box before clicking on [OK].
Note: If you check Submit, it remains checked and in effect each time you use the Open dialog box to open a file. You must uncheck it if you do not want to submit the contents of the file that you want to open.

You can also drag and drop a file into the Program Editor from the My Favorite Folders window. To do this,

Open the My Favorites Folder window by selecting

View My Favorite Folders
Position the My Favorite Folders window and the Program Editor window so that both are visible.
In the My Favorite Folders window, find and select the file that you want to open; click and hold down the right mouse button.
Drag the file over the Program Editor window and release the right mouse button.

Note: The Program Editor window can hold up to 256 characters on a single line. If you open a file with lines longer than 256 characters in the Program Editor window, the lines are truncated unless you issue the INCLUDE command with an LRECL= value equal to the number of characters in the longest line, and you set either the AUTOWRAP or AUTOFLOW command to ON. If you want to use the Open dialog box to open a file with lines that are longer than 256 characters, use the FILENAME statement to set up a fileref with the appropriate options and then include the fileref, enclosed in double quotes, in the File Name field in the Open dialog box. [cautionend]

Saving Window Contents to a File

To save the contents of the active window to a file,

Either click on the Save toolbar button (the diskette) or select Save from the File menu. If you have previously saved the contents of this window to a file (and the filename is part of the window title), SAS simply saves the window to the file that you specified previously. If you have not saved the document during this session (and the window title bar displays the name "Untitled"), then SAS displays the Save As dialog box.
If you have previously saved the editor contents but now want to save it to a different file, select Save As instead of Save in the File menu or issue the DLGSAVE command.

CAUTION:
Always use Save As when you want to save the contents of the editor window to a new file. If you open a text file in the editor window, whether you use the Open dialog box or the INCLUDE command, the editor title bar displays the name of the file that you opened. When you select

File Save
SAS overwrites or appends the file of that name with the current contents of the editor.
Select Save As from the File menu and select or name the file where you want to store the window contents.

Clearing the Window and Filename

To clear a SAS window of its contents and its saved filename (if it has one), do one of the following:

press CTRL + E
select Clear All from the Edit menu
click on the New (the blank page) toolbar button
select the File pull-down menu and select New
type clear in the command bar and press ENTER.

If the contents of the window have not been saved, SAS prompts you to save them before it clears the window.

Defining Keys

To display the key definitions that are active for the SAS session (that is, the DMKEYS entry in your SASUSER.PROFILE catalog), either type keys in the command bar or select

Tools Options Keys
These key definitions apply to the basic SAS windows, such as the Program Editor, Output, and Log windows. Default Key Definitions under OS/2 contains a list of the default key definitions.

Other SAS products have their own key definitions. Use the menus in the specific product window to access key definitions for specific products.

Although the SAS System lets you define any key that is listed in the KEYS window, OS/2 reserves some keys for itself to maintain conformity among OS/2 applications. These reserved keys are not shown in the KEYS window.

To define or redefine a key within the SAS System, place the cursor in the Definition column across from the key or mouse button that you want to define and type the command or commands that you want to associate with that key or button. The definition must be a valid SAS command or sequence of commands. When you specify a sequence of commands, separate the commands with a semi-colon ( ; ). For example, if you want to define the CTRL+H key sequence to maximize a window and recall the last submitted program, specify the following commands in the Definitions column next to CTL H:

zoom; recall

The SAS System does not check the syntax of a command until it is used (that is, when the key is pressed). If you misspell a command or type an incorrect command, you do not discover your error until you use the key and receive an error message that indicates that the command was unrecognized.

Your key definitions are stored in your SAS user profile catalog. SAS creates a new profile catalog each time you invoke the SAS System with a different value for the SASUSER option. Changes that you make to one profile catalog are not reflected in any other. However, you can use the COPY command from the KEYS window or the CATALOG procedure to copy key definition members to other profile catalogs. (For more information, see the CATALOG procedure in SAS Procedures Guide.)

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