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SAS OLAP Server Names

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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saslogo SAS OLAP Server names for cubes, dimensions, hierarchies, measures, and member properties follow these general rules:

  • can be up to 32 characters in length
  • can contain embedded blanks

If the name has embedded blanks or characters other than letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers, or underscores, then PROC OLAP formats the name as a name literal, which means that it is enclosed within quotation marks followed by the letter n. (Name literals enable you to use special characters or blanks that are not otherwise allowed in SAS names.) Here are some examples:

CUBE=’Financials@HQ’n

DIMENSION ‘Product@Work Dimension’n hierarchies=(Product@Work Hierarchy’n)

HIERARCHY ‘Product@Work Hierarchy’n levels=(prodtype product)

  • can contain mixed-case letters

SAS stores and writes the variable name in the same case that is used in the first reference to the variable. However, when SAS processes a variable name, SAS internally converts it to uppercase. You cannot, therefore, use the same variable name with a different combination of uppercase and lowercase letters to represent different variables. For example, cat, Cat, and CAT all represent the same variable.

  • do not contain periods (.)

These guidelines assume that the SAS Workspace Server is running with the VALIDVARNAME= system option set to ANY. If the SAS Workspace Server is not running with VALIDVARNAME=ANY, then you can either add code on the Submit SAS Code tab in the Advanced Options dialog box to set the option, or you can modify your names to meet the naming requirements that the server is running with. For more information about the VALIDVARNAME= option, see "VALIDVARNAME= System Option" in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Categories: Business Intelligence, Data, Software | Tags: cubes, names, OLAP, SAS, variables

ActiveX Graphs not Active in SAS Information Delivery Portal when Viewed with Internet Explorer

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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SAS Institute Inc.We are still running Internet Explorer version 6.0 in our organization.  When we open our dashboards that we have built in SAS Information Delivery Portal 1.1, the ActiveX graphs do not display detail information when we mouse over them.  The dashboards are running stored processes that output the graphs.  The easy solution is to left-click on the graph to activate it.  This is easy enough if you have one or two graphs on a page, but some of our dashboards include six or seven graphs, which isn’t hard either, it just leaves you thinking that you shouldn’t have to be doing it.  The graphs work perfectly when using Mozilla Firefox, which unfortunately is not our organization standard.  The problem is caused by one or more security patches that Microsoft has made available for Internet Explorer.  SAS Usage Note 17565 explains this in more detail:

Usage Note 17565: ACTIVEX, JAVA, and JAVAMETA graphs may not be active by default when displayed via Internet Explorer

After application of one or more Microsoft security patches/updates, ACTIVEX, JAVA, and JAVAMETA graphs are no longer active by default when displayed via Internet Explorer. This means that the pop-up options menu will not display when you right-mouse button on the graph.

The Microsoft security patches related to this issue include KB912812 and KB912945.

To activate the graph, left-mouse click on the graph. This will activate the current graph and enable use of the right-mouse button. Once the graph is active, flyover data tips will also now display correctly.

Categories: Business Intelligence, Software, Technology, Web | Tags: ActiveX, graphs, Information Delivery Portal, SAS

Quickly Comment and Uncomment SAS Code

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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SAS Institute Inc.

I attended SAS Programming 3: Advanced Techniques and Efficiencies training recently at the SAS’ Austin Training Center.  Programming 3 demonstrates many ways to make your SAS code and programs more efficient, but I also picked up one tidbit that makes coding and testing even easier.  When using the enhanced editor, to create comments in your code or comment out code you do not want to run, merely highlight or select the block or statements to comment with your mouse.  Now type the CTRL-/ key combination and your SAS code will include the required /* and the beginning and */ at the end of each selected line.  To uncomment a block or code or statement, highlight or select it and type the CTRL-Shift-/ key combination.  I did notice that if I select only one word on a line or merely have my cursor positioned anywhere within my code that the key combination will operate on the entire line which contains the highlighted word or cursor.  The quick commenting technique only works in the Windows version of the enhanced editor.  It will not work in the standard SAS program editor or on non-windows systems.

Categories: Business Intelligence, Data, Software, Statistics | Tags: enhanced editor, SAS

Dynamic Text that can be Included in Headers and Footers in SAS Web Report Studio 3.1 Reports

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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from support.sas.com:

Data source name
The name of the relational or multidimensional data source that is being used for the view elements in the report section. (Does not apply to stored processes.)
Data source description
If available, the description of the relational or multidimensional data source that is being used for the view elements in the report section. (Does not apply to stored processes.)
Date the data was last refreshed
The date and time that the query for data was last sent from SAS Web Report Studio to the underlying source of data. The format of the time value is based on the locale set for the middle tier.
Report author
If available, the name of the report author. Otherwise, the user ID of the report author is used.
Report date
Either the date and time that the report was created, or the date and time that changes to the report were last saved. The format of the time value is based on the locale set for the middle-tier.
NOTE: If you save changes in the current session, you must close and then reopen the report in order to refresh the report date.
Report description
If available, the description of the report.
Report name
The name of the report.
Categories: Business Intelligence, Software, Statistics | Tags: SAS, Web Report Studio

Get Quarterly Updates of ZIP Code Data Set Available from SAS Maps Online

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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from support.sas.com:

In response to requests from many customers, quarterly updates to the SASHELP.ZIPCODE data set are now available for you to download from the SAS Maps Online Web site.

The zip file provided in the download is a SAS data set in transport format, and you should use this file to replace your existing SASHELP.ZIPCODE data set.

The data set contains the following information:

  • US ZIP codes and centroid xy coordinates for each code
  • The variable, AreaCodes, which returns all area codes within a ZIP code
  • The variable, Alias_City, which returns all cities within a ZIP code

Features of the SASHELP.ZIPCODE Data Set

ZIP Code Centroids

The SASHELP.ZIPCODE data set contains ZIP code centroids, or the geographic centers of the areas, defined by the ZIP codes. You can use centroids and associated data to:

  • Calculate distances between ZIP codes and cities.
  • Find nearest locations to a ZIP code.
  • Perform address matching.
  • Annotate locations on a map.
    When merged with marketing data, the SASHELP.ZIPCODE data set can enhance a company’s marketing strategy to a significant degree.

SAS ZIP Code Functions

ZIPCITY is a SAS written function that utilizes the SASHELP.ZIPCODE file. It takes ZIPCODE as its argument and returns a title case city name and two-character postal code state abbreviation – for example – ZIPCITY(’02138′) returns "Cambridge, MA".

There are some useful functions that are indirectly related to the ZIP code file:

  • ZIPSTATE returns the uppercase two-character postal code for any five-character ZIP code argument.
  • ZIPNAME returns the uppercase name of the state for any five-character ZIP code argument.
  • ZIPNAMEL returns the mixed case name of the state for any five-character ZIP code argument.
  • ZIPFIPS returns the two-digit numeric U.S. Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code for any five-digit ZIP code argument.
Categories: Data, Software, Statistics | Tags: coordinates, postal code, SAS

SAS Information Map Studio 3.1 Truncates OLAP Measure Names

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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saslogo I created some nice data cubes using SAS Data Integration Studio recently.  I had a local, regional, and state-level hierarchy for my geographical dimension as well as a monthly, quarterly, and annual hierarchy for my time dimension.  I had eight measures which were vital for assessing where the organization was through time.  I added drill-through to detail records capability and useful, descriptive names for all of measures, hierarchies, and dimensions.  To present my cube to the staff via SAS Web Report Studio, I needed to make an information map first.  I loaded up SAS Information Map Studio 3.1 (IMS 3.1) and added my cube data.  I dragged my dimensions and measures over to the new information map window and noticed that the descriptive names of my measures were truncated.  I went to the properties of those measures and tried to add the missing letters.  Each attempt to save my edits prompted a dialog box stating “This data item label is invalid”.  I counted up the characters in each of the truncated names and noticed that 30 characters was the magic number.  I opened up some of my other information maps that had measure names longer than 30 characters, and they looked and worked fine – but they weren’t built from OLAP cubes.

I browsed to support.sas.com, and then drilled down to the Hot Fix page for Information Map Studio 3.1.  Compared to the other SAS tools I use, there were relatively few issues addressed in the five hot fix history of IMS 3.1.  Browsing down the issue list I did notice the magic number 30, and sure enough, the issue “Measure captions are limited to 30 characters for OLAP information maps” was fixed in hot fix 31MAPCNTR03.  I did not have any hot fixes applied, so I downloaded the latest one (31MAPCNTR06) from ftp://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/ims31.html.  I applied the hot fix, opened Information Map Studio, added my cube data, and created my information map without a problem. 

Categories: Downloads, Software, Statistics | Tags: hot fix, Information Map Studio, measures, OLAP, SAS

OLAP Tips from a SAS e-Learning Class

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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saslogo I recently took the opportunity to sit through a SAS e-Learning course titled Creating OLAP Cubes.  It was a pretty detailed walkthrough for individuals creating OLAP cubes using SAS OLAP Cube Studio or Data Integration Studio.  Dimensions, levels, and hierarchies were described thoroughly, but measures were inadequately addressed.  Overall, it was a fine course for staff preparing to develop their first cube, particularly for small course fee.

There were a few takeaway points from the course that were worth sharing, particularly the last one, which I learned the hard way:

  • Every cube must have at least one dimension.
  • You can have only one TIME dimension per cube.
  • In a TIME dimension, you must order levels from the most general time period to the most specific with regard to the drill path.
  • You can specify a maximum of 1,024 measures per cube.
  • If you are creating a cube from a detail table or a star schema and you are including aggregated data from tables other than the input data source, then you must include measures for the stored statistics that are required for each derived statistic that you want to create for the new cube.
  • When you edit the definition of a cube, any existing physical cube is deleted.
  • To perform tasks on a physical cube (such as deleting, rebuilding, and tuning), you must have the appropriate file access permissions at the operating system level. If you do not have access, contact your system administrator for more information.
Categories: Data, Software, Statistics | Tags: BI, cubes, dimensions, hierarchy, measures, OLAP, SAS

SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1 Output

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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saslogo I’m currently attending Querying and Reporting Using SAS Enterprise Guide training at the SAS office in Austin, TX.  I’m a veteran at using Enterprise Guide, but SAS has great training courses and you always pick up a lot of worthwhile information when you are lucky enough to attend.  One tidbit that was covered yesterday that I think is worth passing on is how to prevent the procedure title from displaying when you create reports in EG. 

To remove THE FREQ PROCEDURE (or any procedure used in your project) title from your report, go to Tools –> Options –> Tasks –> Tasks General and uncheck “Include SAS Procedure Titles in Results”.  This is a global setting, so the titles will not appear in any project’s output unless you check the box again.

Categories: Software, Statistics, Technology | Tags: Enterprise Guide, output, procedure, SAS

How to determine which hot fix has been applied to SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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saslogo When using a Microsoft product, I’m used to mousing to the Help menu and choosing About… to find out which updates or service packs have been applied.  I haven’t been as accustomed to doing the same thing with SAS software because the updates are  applied manually, and I usually remember the last update I performed.  I haven’t been as good at keeping track of these these lately, so I decided to to use the Help –> About SAS Enterprise Guide technique to see what it told me.  Sure enough, it stated “SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1.0.508:  hot fix 41EG04 has been applied”.  Alright, I have that information, but is this the latest hot fix?  The easiest way to check is to browse over to http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/ent_guide41.html to check out the Enterprise Guide 4.1 Hot Fix history.  It appears that I was a few hot fixes behind and it is time to apply the current hot fix.  One nice feature about Enterprise Guide hot fixes: each hot fix is cumulative, so you only need to apply the latest hot fix, not worrying about the ones you missed.

Categories: Software, Statistics | Tags: Enterprise Guide, hot fix, SAS

SAS Web Report Studio in a Headless Configuration

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Fred Janssen
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saslogo We ran into a problem recently in SAS Web Report Studio 3.1 where our web reports that contained graphs produced java errors while our table-only reports did not.  Our platform is SAS Enterprise Business Intelligence Server 9.1.3 Service Pack 4 running Solaris 10 on Sun SPARC Servers.  Our web server is Apache Tomcat 4.1.18.  The error we received looked like this:

Error messages:There is a problem with the current page. Error Rendering the Report
 
Root Cause: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError
  at com.sas.servlet.tbeans.graphics.BaseBarChart.(BaseBarChart.java:23)
  at com.sas.servlet.tbeans.olapgraphics.html.OLAPBarChart.(OLAPBarChart.java:83)
  at com.sas.servlet.tbeans.olapgraphics.html.OLAPBarChart.(OLAPBarChart.java:74)
  at com.sas.servlet.tbeans.olapgraphics.html.OLAPBarChartComposite.(OLAPBarChartComposite.java:57)
  at com.sas.servlet.tbeans.olapgraphics.html.OLAPBarChartComposite.(OLAPBarChartComposite.java:43)
…

 

I contacted SAS tech support and they had the answer instantly.  When running in a headless environment (a server that does not have a display (monitor) attached to it), Tomcat requires the following option in its startup script:

Djava.awt.headless=true

 

Once I added the option to the Tomcat startup script and restarted Tomcat and SAS Remote Services, no more errors and we were getting our graph output in Web Report Studio again.

Categories: Hardware, Software, Statistics, Technology, Web | Tags: Business, Intelligence, java, reporting, SAS, Sun, Tomcat
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