topic Re: Using custom Autoexec at startup of SAS EG in SAS Enterprise Guide

Using custom Autoexec at startup of SAS EG

thesasuser — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:42:19 GMT

Hello
We are running SAS EG on the Desktop and SAS on a remote server running Windows OS.
The moment a user connect to the server it executes and Autoexec.sas (and Autoexec_usermod.sas specified in it) in the [SASRoot]. The same Autoexec.sas (and the autoexec_usermod) executes for different teams with different teams.
Was thinking of a custom autoexec for each team.
Using the "Automatically run the Autoexec process flow" is not a feasible option.
Similarly "insert custom code before" is also not a feasible option.
Wondering if there is some way to use a custom autoexec instead of the Autoexec in SAS Root.
I have already looked at the following and could not find something relevant for my case (or have I missed it?)

https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Enterprise-Guide/Enterprise-Guide-how-to-run-program-at-startup/td-p/489023

https://blogs.sas.com/content/sgf/2014/05/01/autoexecs-the-sas-enterprise-guide-advantage/

Any help is highly appreciated.

Re: Using custom Autoexec at startup of SAS EG

LinusH — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:02:18 GMT

There are probably many ways of doing this, so it may come down to your requirements.

How many teams are there that need separate autoexec?

First, I don't think you should bypass the existing set up with the central ones.

The different option within EG will distribute the logic from the server. This will be question of governance.

On the server you could create separate compute contexts (e.g. other SASApp's). This a quite a change and feasible if you don't too many groupings and want other separation between you user groups.

Maybe you could have a %include code in your central autoexec (with some kind of logic that pickup users group and select the appropriate .sas file), or %if %then %else sections in your autoexec code.

Re: Using custom Autoexec at startup of SAS EG

Quentin — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:05:57 GMT

I'm not an admin, but I think if you want a different autoexec for each team, you would need to set up a different (logical?) SAS server for each team.

Another way you can approach this is to create a utility macro %setup(teamname) which each program would call at the beginning. (Or could be called automatically when EG connects to the server). I tend to use the %setup() approach as I like to see my code in the program and log, rather than depend on an autoexec. Also as a user, I can maintain the definition of %setup() but typically can't muck with autoexecs. This also tends to make code more portable when it is run on different servers (as DI job, stored process, or whatever).

Re: Using custom Autoexec at startup of SAS EG

sbxkoenk — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 15:46:53 GMT

@thesasuser wrote:

Was thinking of a custom autoexec for each team.
Using the "Automatically run the Autoexec process flow" is not a feasible option.
Similarly "insert custom code before" is also not a feasible option.
Wondering if there is some way to use a custom autoexec instead of the Autoexec in SAS Root.

The two options you label as "not a feasible option" are described in this video:
SAS Tip: Automatic Code Execution with SAS Enterprise Guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzFYNw7Bntg

I would still select the “Submit SAS code when server is connected” - option (for Initialization Code).
But in the pop-up window ... you put code that executes conditionally (by means of a macro that you define and call).
Based on the user ID (automatic macro variable "sysuserid"), you determine which team a user belongs to. Then you use a %INCLUDE to load the autoexec file for that team.

%INCLUDE "\\fileserver\teams\teamA_autoexec.sas" / source2 ;
%INCLUDE "\\fileserver\teams\teamB_autoexec.sas" / source2 ;
%INCLUDE "\\fileserver\teams\teamC_autoexec.sas" / source2 ;
...

BR, Koen