topic Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide? in SAS Programming

What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

whs278 — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:56:33 GMT

What is the best way to transport a macro across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

I know you can write an %include statement, but this seems to require saving a files as .sas instead of .egp. I was wondering if there was a more efficient way to do this in SAS EG?

Thanks,

Bill

Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:15:50 GMT

THE PROPER WAY OF STORING SAS CODE IS AS TEXT IN .sas FILES.

Write this a hundred times, or until you have internalized it.

I mean it, from 20+ years of SAS experience and 40 years in IT.

Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

novinosrin — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:26:14 GMT

"I mean it, from 20+ years of SAS experience and 40 years in IT."- Kudos! and my sincere salutations. I guess that's right up there among the likes of @art297 and @Tom Well done!

Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

Tom — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:31:23 GMT

That is a good question and hope some EG developers ( @ChrisHemedinger ) .

Traditionally with SAS project code we would create a macro library and maintain the code there and use SASAUTOS to have SAS automatically find and compile any macros that a specific program calls. I have not seen a good method of building such a system for EG files ("projects"). To me the EG files feel more like Excel spreadsheets. A nice way to build something but not something that has a pathway to a real production environment.

Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

Reeza — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:34:30 GMT

Assuming these macros are all general and you don't change them through projects I recommend setting up a macro library.

Note that I will also store all the macro's in a single utility folder as .sas files. .egp files are propietary and can have issues over time. .sas files are text files. But for day to day usage of common macros, a macro library is a good idea. And make sure to use the SOURCE option on your macros so you can retrieve the code if you ever lose track of your .sas programs.

https://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings/pdfs/sgf2008/101-2008.pdf

https://www.listendata.com/2016/04/building-sas-macro-library.html

https://pauldickman.com/sastips/autocall/

@whs278 wrote:

What is the best way to transport a macro across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

I know you can write an %include statement, but this seems to require saving a files as .sas instead of .egp. I was wondering if there was a more efficient way to do this in SAS EG?

Thanks,

Bill

Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

yabwon — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 17:18:19 GMT

Hi @whs278

Consider building a SAS package. Check out: https://github.com/yabwon/SAS_PACKAGES there is a pdf article from SGF2020 describing the process.

All the best

Bart

Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

novinosrin — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 17:20:09 GMT

Thank you for sharing @yabwon 👍

Re: What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

yabwon — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 17:28:55 GMT

@novinosrin - enjoy!
Read it, try it, build a package! 🙂 🙂

All the best
Bart