topic Re: Opening a SAS file in Administration and Deployment

Opening a SAS file

rgoetze — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:47:05 GMT

The people I'm supporting are typically running SAS 9.2 under Windows 7, both 64 and 32 bit

Prior to SAS being bundled with Enterprise Guide, a user could double click on a .sas file the file would open and not execute in SAS. Now that installations come with Enterprise Guide when a user double clicks on a .sas file the file opens in EG. I have been asked how one can open the file in SAS (not EG) with a double click.

Personally I right click on the .sas file and choose 'open with SAS 9.2' from the context menu. My users, being older academics, reject my simple solution. I have tried re-associating the .sas type file to sas.exe instead of EG and also uninstalling EG. Both of these resulted in a double click executing the .sas file and not just opening it.

This sounds like a Windows thing and I think it is, but I think it's a registry issue. If anyone has any good ideas I would appreciate the help.

Thanks.

Opening a SAS file

Tom — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:10:05 GMT

It is a Windows thing. From Windows Explorer select Tools -> Folder Options. Then select File Types tab. Look for the the .sas files in the registered file types list and highlight it. Hit the ADVANCED button. You should now see all of the actions associated with the file.

You can try just changing which one is marked as the default, but I have in the past found that some windows actions insist on calling the one that is named "open". You can just rename them or re-create them with different names.

How this works on different versions of Windows I am not sure. We are still running XP.

Opening a SAS file

rgoetze — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:16:52 GMT

Yeah, wasn't it great the way you used to be able to do that. Unfortunately Win 7 isn't that easy. I've looked around for these options in Win 7, but I haven't found them yet.

Opening a SAS file

Sunshine_sas — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:03:34 GMT

Hi there,

I was curious if you have tried or knew about the Manage SAS File Types utility? If you click on Start>Programs>SAS>SAS 9.2 License and Renewal Utilities> Manage SAS File Types - you can select either

SAS Foundation 9.2 or SAS Enterprise Guide from the menu, then select All and click OK.

Best Regards!

Opening a SAS file

rgoetze — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:11:44 GMT

Sunshine,

That looks like a nice utility that could do the trick, i.e. uncheck .sas in EG and check in SAS. It has to be run as an administrator under Win 7 to not throw an exception, but checking and unchecking do nothing. Re-entering the utility shows all checks in place and no change.

Bob

Opening a SAS file

Sunshine_sas — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:33:14 GMT

Hi Bob, Your correct, you need to have admin priviledges to run this - in some cases you might only have to right click and select Run as administrator for Windows 7.

When you make the changes in the tool and then exit, they should work in Windows Explorer. However, going back into the tool, it does look like nothing has happened. So the key is to make your changes and then click Ok in the utility and close it. then got to Windows Explorer and test it there.

Take care!

Opening a SAS file

rgoetze — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:17:12 GMT

Sunshine,

Sorry I forgot to mention that. I did think that something might have happened even though it didn't look like it.I tried going right to the file and double click it - opened up in EG. Then I logged off and logged back on and tried again. Same results - opened in EG.

I did see that one of the times I tried it as not administrator, the pop-up exception complained about writing to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/.egp. I looked in the registry at that location and it does reference 'SASEguide.Project.2' for that file type and /.sas references 'SAS.Program.701' for that file type. That's apparently where changes are attempting to be made.

The bottom line is I don't want to necessarily change the file/application association, I just don't want the SAS script to run when SAS is the application. I want SAS to open the script in an edit window like it did before EG.

Thanks.

Bob

Opening a SAS file

Tom — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:20:34 GMT

Here is the Microsoft page on associating actions (or verbs).

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc144175%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

It really seems that Microsoft has made this much more difficult to manage.

Opening a SAS file

BrianH_ — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:37:33 GMT

My organization (including myself) is having the same issue, and we are seeking the same result: to be able to double-click on a SAS program (in Windows 7) and have it open the program in SAS 9.2 editor (like it has in the other versions of Windows), as opposed to the SAS job running without opening, like a batch job.

We know how to make this change in Windows XP, but the options have changed in 7.

Any ideas, in additon to what has been posted above?

Thanks,

Brian

Opening a SAS file

Sunshine_sas — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:58:26 GMT

Hi Brian,

The first thing you can try is to use the Manage File Type Utility.

To do this click Start>Programs>SAS>SAS 9.2 License and Renewal Utilities>Manage File types

When it opens highlight SAS Foundation 9.2 - click Select All and OK.

Now go into Windows Explorer and try this again.

http://support.sas.com/kb/32/464.html

You might need to reference this in rare cases, especially is the UserChoice has been set.

Always backup registry before making these kinds of changes though.

Have an awesome day!

Re: Opening a SAS file

BrianH_ — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:35:19 GMT

Sunshine,

I followed your steps (running the Manage File types as an admin) it ran successfully, but the same issue still occurs.

I need to be able to choose "Open with SAS 9.2" instead it seems that it is opening in "Batch Submit with SAS 9.2"

(This screen shot is from XP, and I want to duplicate it in Windows 7, though this option does not exist in the same fashion in Windows 7)

Any other ideas?

I appreciate the effort.

-Brian

Re: Opening a SAS file

rgoetze — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:44:26 GMT

Brian,

Thanks for keeping this thread alive. I'm still hoping for a solution to this issue. However, most of my users have decided to use my original suggestion of using the right-click context menu to pick off Open with SAS 9.2.

Bob

Re: Opening a SAS file

BrianH_ — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:58:32 GMT

Bob,

When I right-click context menu to pick Open with SAS 9.2, it still batch submits my programs and does not opening them in editor.

Windows 7 lacks some XP options that were really useful.

-Brian

Re: Opening a SAS file

rgoetze — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:08:35 GMT

Brian,

I have SAS 9.2 64-bit installed on Win 7 Enterprise O/S. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary and I get the following right-click context menu.

I know that doesn't really help, but I've done several similar installs with the same results. This particular system has had Enterprise Guide uninstalled and reinstalled and the menu subtracted and then added the EG 4 entries you see.

Bob

Re: Opening a SAS file

DaveJ — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:17:14 GMT

I had the same issue. After I accidently selected V8.2 as an open with program, it worked somehow??

If you installed v8.2, EG, and v9.2, you may try the below steps.

- Go to Control Panel, Programs, and click Make a file type always open in a specific program.

- Choose the .sas extension, and click Change Program.

- Select V8.2 program (icon) from the list of programs available or in the section of Other Programs

Opening a SAS file

michele_sas — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:42:23 GMT

File type associations on Windows 7 can be tricky. Two common issues are: 1. Double click a .sas file and it batch submits. 2. Double click a .sas file and it opens in SAS Enterprise Guide when the user expects it to open in the SAS display manager. See below for some suggestions.

1. Double click a .sas file and it batch submits:

Check to see if you have a UserChoice key set in your Windows registry. If this is set then you can certainly have problems. This gets set when you use the Windows operating system methods to associate a file type with an application. For example choosing to associate the .sas file type with sas.exe will result in batch submiting a .sas file when you double click it.

Click start and in the search box type regedit and enter.

Navigate to:

HKEY_current_user ► Software ► Microsoft ► Windows ► Current Version ► Explorer ► Fileexts ► .sas

Look for a key named UserChoice.

If UserChoice exists right click the key and choose export. This will save the key should you need to add it back to your Windows registry.

After you export and save the UserChoice key delete it from your Windows registry by right clicking and choosing to delete.

Warning: Always backup your Windows registry before making changes.

Next test by double clicking a .sas file. If it still batch submits or opens in SAS Enterprise Guide you should run the Manage SAS File Types utility. The utility allows you to associate file types with either SAS or SAS Entperprise Guide.

SAS 9.2: Go to Start -> Programs -> SAS -> SAS 9.2 License Renewal and Utilities -> Manage SAS File Types

SAS 9.3: Go to Start -> Programs -> SAS -> Utilities -> Manage SAS File Types

For Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 it is important that you "right click" the utility and "run as administrator" even if you are the administrator.

Next re-test by double clicking a .sas file.

2. Double click a .sas file and it opens in SAS Enterprise Guide:

File types can only be associated with one application at a time. While some users might want a .sas file to open in SAS Enterprise Guide, some users might want .sas files to open in the SAS display manager. To associate your file types with either SAS Foundation or SAS Entperprise Guide use the Manage SAS File Types utility.

SAS 9.2: Go to Start -> Programs -> SAS -> SAS 9.2 License Renewal and Utilities -> Manage SAS File Types

SAS 9.3: Go to Start -> Programs -> SAS -> Utilities -> Manage SAS File Types

Remember to right click on the utility and run as administrator.

I hope this helps.

Opening a SAS file

Sunshine_sas — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:05:27 GMT

Oh a Happy Note! Tech Support is working with development to come up with a work around for this issue.

Look for this in Mid-January.

Until then have a very Happy Holiday, a Merry Christmas and a terrific New Year.

Take care, Sandy

Re: Opening a SAS file

Hong — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:01:00 GMT

Please do NOT use Windows Default Program feature to associate SAS file types. It's going to make things worse and harder to fix SAS file type association. Use following links to fix the opening .sas file.

For SAS 8.2 version, http://support.sas.com/kb/16/399.html

For SAS 9.2 version,

The SAS Filetype Registration Utility was installed by default with Foundation SAS^®. The SAS Filetype Registration Utility is labeled as Manage SAS File Types under Start ► All programs ► SAS ► SAS 9.2 License Renewal & Utilities.

Opening a SAS file

Chrisinthemorning — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:20:47 GMT

Hi,

I too am (was) struggling with this issue.

I run a windows 7 environment with SAS 9.3 and the typical "Manage SAS file types" that is run via the program menu didn't work for me. All it offered was establishing which file types to associate with Enterprise Guide and no other SAS product was listed. This is probably due to the fact that I had been already playing around with configuring the file type association via windows which several people have posted is a bad idea.

After hunting around the installation folder for a solution I found "SASFileExtensionManager.exe" within C:\Program Files\SASHome\SASFileTypeManagementTool\9.3

I assumed it would just be the exe I ran from within the program menu. However, when i ran it, the only program it gave me the opportunity to associate files with was the main, foundation SAS 9.3. All file types were selected I clicked okay and it now works!

A double click on a .sas program now opens vanilla SAS not EPG and doesn't batch it off.

I hope this solves the issue for others too.

Cheers,
Chris

Re: Opening a SAS file

michele_sas — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:04:24 GMT

Hi, I wanted to let you know about a new SAS note that I hope will help with the issues posted here.

Problem Note 45779: Troubleshooting issues related to SAS file-type association in a Windows operating environment

http://support.sas.com/kb/45/779.html

Following the steps in the note will resolve most issues where you double click a file and it runs/batch submits or opens in Enterprise Guide when you expect it to open with SAS.

Bob, you mentioned in an earlier post that you didn't want to necessarily change the file association, that you just didn't want your SAS program to run when you try to open the file. You wanted it to open in the editor.

SAS and Enterprise Guide share some of the same file types, .sas is one them. Only one application can have the default action when you double click a .sas file. When SAS and Enterprise Guide are installed together, the last program to be installed is Enterprise Guide and because of that when you double click a file it will open in Enterprise Guide. SAS has a utility that allows
you to change the default action. You can choose between SAS Foundation or Enterprise Guide. Doing so will still keep all of your file type associations. The utility will only change the default action that is used when you double click the file.

The utility is the Manage SAS File Type utility. The SAS note I posted here has instructions for running the utility.

A file can end up running when you double click it (batch submitting) when you associate the file type with sas.exe. SAS.exe is what is used to batch submit. There is another executable which is used to open the file in the SAS windowing environment - sasoact.exe.

Please use the Manage SAS File type utility to associate .sas with sasoact.exe (the utility will do it automatically) instead of using the Windows tools because I have seen some issues when folks use the Windows tools to associate the default action with sasoact.exe and it doesn't work correctly.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that on Vista/Win7 when you right click and do an "Open With" and choose to open the file with SAS.exe it will likely become the default action. When you right click, Open With and choose the default action there is a check box that says "always use the selected program to open this kind of file". Once this happens a Windows registry edit is necessary to remove the default action of SAS.exe. The SAS note has a registry file that you can run to remove this key. SAS does not recommend using the Windows tools to associate file types.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Michele