topic Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help in Programming 1 and 2

SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

HFJL — Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:13:34 GMT

I was getting errors when I tried to set up the data for the course. The first code ran with no errors, but the second one was giving me errors like:

ERROR: Libname PG1 is not assigned.

WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference PATH not resolved.
ERROR: Physical file does not exist, C:\WINDOWS\system32\&path\data\class_birthdate.csv.

ERROR: Libname XL is not assigned.

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Reeza — Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:24:55 GMT

Please make sure you're following the instructions for your installation of SAS.

The video's here are possibly more clear.

https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/How-to-access-data-for-SAS-Programming-1-course/ta-p/494585

What type of SAS installation do you have?

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

HFJL — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 04:11:45 GMT

Thank you for the reply. I did follow the instructions (https://vle.sas.com/pluginfile.php/257520/mod_scorm/content/11/setup_eg.htm).

I'm using SAS EG5.1.

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

AndrewHowell — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 05:31:42 GMT

Can you please supply the code you executed and the subsequent log?

It looks as if a variable called &Path was meant to be set prior to running the code, but is wasn't, so '&path' is parsed as a literal string rather than a macro variable. Because the path was not set, it defaults to C:\WINDOWS\system32.

But if you could supply the code & log, we can be more accurate regarding the error.

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

mazensleiman — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 09:44:34 GMT

Hi, I am having a similar issue with EG7.13 , I set it up according to the new instructions in the tutorial and followed the steps to the letter. but when I get to lesson 2. Accessing data : understanding SAS data , Activity 2

I wrote this code :

proc contents data= "&path storm_summary.sas7bdat";
run;

which is suppose to automatically indicate the storm summary table, instead it just display this message in the log

proc contents data= "&path PG1.storm_summary.sas7bdat";
ERROR: The physical file name "/vw/data/saswork/SAS_work197600000513_bal2541prd001/SAS_workAEB200000513_bal2541prd001 PG1.storm_summary.sas7bdat" is too long.
27 run;

Note: I did not set a path previously ( as I don't know how yet and it wasn't in the instructions) as it was done automatically by the EPG194-1 and 2 in the Autoexec process

Thank you in advance for your help/ feed back,

Regards,

Mazen

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

HFJL — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 12:52:09 GMT

I can only attach the log, the code is too big. Here's the link for code: https://vle.sas.com/pluginfile.php/257520/mod_scorm/content/11/coursedata_wk.zip

After you unzip it, you should find egpg194_2.sas in the "data" folder.

Thanks for the help!

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Cynthia_sas — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 15:38:49 GMT

Hi:
The Enterprise Guide instructions for Programming 1 were JUST published on Friday to the course. These setup instructions are different from the other instructions. In these instructions, ALL the data files are written to the WORK location on the server. We can guarantee that students always have write access to this location, even when working with Enterprise Guide and SAS on a server.

This means that the students need to follow the instructions that were just added to the course on Friday.

Here's a YouTube video that shows running the instructions when using Enterprise Guide:
SAS Enterprise Guide instructions for Programming 1 (write data to WORK location)
http://youtu.be/ZRpl6KuE8t8?hd=1

When students make their EG project, we have them name one of the Process Flows as Autoexec, so it will be executed each time the project is opened. At the end of the video, it shows how this prompt to run Autoexec looks.

I cannot tell from the log whether you followed the a different set of instructions or the Enterprise Guide instructions. Please review the video and try the Enterprise Guide instructions again. You may need to download the zip file that was part of the instructions.

It does seem pretty clear from your log that &PATH was not correct assigned. This should have happened automatically if you ran the program that is in the zip file.

Cynthia

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Panagiotis — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 16:04:16 GMT

@HFJL, it looks like the second program that is creating all your data cannot find the path macro variable to create the data. The path macro variable is telling the second program where to create everything.

Make sure you run the first program egpg194_1.sas, then without closing out of Enterprise Guide run the second program egpg194_2.sas.

The Enterprise Guide setup will create the data you need for this course in a temporary folder called work because the location of server will differ for all individuals.Task 3 specifies how to automatically create these data files every time you want to run through the course. You will learn more about this temporary folder in Lesson 3.

If you complete task 2 correctly it should look something like this:

Task 3 is important. In task 3 you are telling SAS to create all of these necessary files every time you Enterprise Guide and want to run through the course. It essentially is recreating all the data files for you to use and telling SAS where these files are. Again they are temporary, so when you close Enterprise Guide all the data is deleted and you have to recreate all these files when you open up Enterprise Guide. Task 3 will automate this for you.

Some screenshots below after you follow all steps in Task 3.

Task 3, steps 1 and 2: Rename the process flow to 'Autoexec' and add a new process flow:

Task 3 Step 3, save the project to your computer:

Now when you want to run through the course you have to open the EPG194.egp project. When you open this project it will automatically create all the necessary files and connections for your to work on the course. When you open it, you will be asked to run the Autoexec file, it will look like this:

Make sure to run this.

Hope this helps. Please keep us posted.

- Peter

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Panagiotis — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 16:11:29 GMT

@mazensleiman,

Yours could be two issues.

First thing I see is you are missing a '/' after path. Try this

proc contents data= "&path/storm_summary.sas7bdat";
run;

If this doesn't work you might not have the data since all the data is being created temporarily. You can see my other comment to confirm it is always being set up.

Let me know if this works!

- Peter

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Panagiotis — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 16:13:59 GMT

Thanks Cynthia! Yes my response was for running Enterprise Guide local. I removed that comment not to confuse learners. I redid it with the temporary folder and added screenshots to assist.

- Peter

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

AndrewHowell — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 22:54:49 GMT

@Cynthia_sas - can I suggest a little macro logic prior to assigning any macro variable to throw a well-worded error if the variable if not set? A nice big capitalised "ERROR:" message might get the user attention and assist in rectifying the issue. Just a thought..

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Cynthia_sas — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 23:02:57 GMT

Thanks, Andrew, for the suggestion. I'll pass it on to the developers.

We hope that between the detailed instructions and the videos that we don't need to change the programs again. But we're watching this space.

The good news is that so far, we've had more successes with the instructions than failures.

Thanks again, for the input,
Cynthia

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

mazensleiman — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 08:56:23 GMT

Hi Cynthia, Panos,

Thank you so much for your reply.

2 things I noticed, first I have saved my unzipped files on my desktop (not sure if that should have any effect) and when I run the 2nd program egpg194-2, the physical location of the created data sets( 22 btw, please check screenshot) seems to be on the server instead my C drive as the video shows.

Also, those 2 steps run smoothly but when I try to reference the datasets later on , I keep getting those error messages( please check my previous posts)

Again , thank you so much for the prompt reply and I really appreciate your help,

Kind regards,

Mazen

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

HFJL — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 13:23:43 GMT

Hi Cynthia,

I did everything that was in the video,but I'm still getting the same errors. However, I'm seeing the same observations as what's shown in the video. I also see the PG1 library with tables in there. Thank you!

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Cynthia_sas — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 13:24:36 GMT

Hi:
If you follow the Enterprise Guide instructions that were just entered, then your location is correct. The zip file contents should still be on your C: drive, where you unzipped them. But the EG program writes ALL the data files to your WORK location.

In the version of EG I was using, my WORK location just happened to be on my C: drive. Your WORK location was different. Take a look at the video again, at approximately time stamp 6:33, if you focus on the long path name in my CONTENTS output (not at the C: location), but farther down in the path, you will see "SAS Temporary Files" which indicates that my data files are in WORK.

This is why you need to re-submit the AUTOEXEC Process Flow every time the project opens -- so the data is re-created in the WORK library, as appropriate to YOUR implementation of SAS.

Sounds like you were successful, you have 22 datasets in your screen shot. I assume that you did finish up and follow the rest of the steps to rename the Process Flow as AUTOEXEC, as shown at the end of the video and in the instructions. If you watch the video all the way to the end, you'll see that I log off of EG and log back on and the AUTOEXEC starts up the second time and re-creates the data.

Hope this helps,
Cynthia

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

HFJL — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 20:33:56 GMT

Hi Peter,

I have everything in your screenshots, but I'm still getting errors in the log.

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Reeza — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 20:35:35 GMT

That's possibly an issue with your license. Your version of EG doesn't support SAS/Access or was installed incorrectly without that feature. This means you cannot export to an XLSX file or import from an XLSX file.

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Panagiotis — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 21:06:16 GMT

Yes, it looks like it's the xlsx engine that is causing the problem.

The program you are running to create your data files is creating both SAS tables and other raw data files for you to use in the course. I can see from your image the SAS files are being created, but the Excel files are not. I think the best option for you will be to follow the Setup Instructions for SAS OnDemand for Academics: SAS Studio. This will allow you to run through the entire course using SAS Studio in the cloud.

Link: Sign up here - SAS® OnDemand for Academics

Link: SAS OnDemand for Academics: SAS Studio Setup Instructions from the course page.

There is nothing to install, just an account to make and you will have to upload the data there. While you will be using SAS Studio to program, the concepts you learn will be the same when programming Enterprise Guide.

Keep us posted.

- Peter

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Cynthia_sas — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 23:04:30 GMT

Hi:
It would be useful to know what version of SAS you're using with your Enterprise Guide. This blog explains that the XLSX engine should be available with SAS 9.4 maintenance release 2: https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/2015/05/20/using-libname-xlsx-to-read-and-write-excel-files/

Cynthia

Re: SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

Cynthia_sas — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:14:31 GMT

Hi: &PATH in the EG setup is created automatically in the 2 programs that you run. So that's why you need to run AUTOEXEC every time you start working. The AUTOEXEC will run the 2 programs and the result SHOULD be that 1) you get the data created over again in your WORK location; and 2) &PATH is created and holds the string that is your work location's data folder.

If you are running EG 5.1, what version of SAS are you running? That might make a difference? We tested the program for creating data with EG 7.1 and SAS 9.4 M3, 9.4 M4 and 9.4 M5. Can you go to Help --> About SAS Enterprise Guide and then click Configuration Details -- that should show your version of SAS. If you are running SAS on a server, you may need to submit this program in an Editor window:
%put version is &sysvlong4;

This will show your long version number in the SAS log. The data creation program uses the DLCREATEDIR option to make the data subdirectory in your WORK location. If you are running a version of SAS before SAS 9.3, then you might run into issues.

Cynthia