SAS Programming 1: Essentials Setup Help

[HFJL]

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.

[Reeza]

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-cour...

What type of SAS installation do you have? 

[HFJL]

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.

[AndrewHowell]

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.

[mazensleiman]

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

[Panagiotis]

@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

[KevinBaloise]

Hello,

I am not sure what I should replace "&path" with. Here's my attempt :

proc contents data="H:/EPG1V2_EG/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat";
run;

What is wrong here ? Thank you

[Panagiotis]

Hi Kevin, we need a bit more information.

What specific activity/practice are you working on? What error are you receiving when trying this?Where are you using SAS? Is it SAS On Demand for Academics, University Edition or a local SAS at your company?

[wesleyfontes]

Try this... proc contents data="/folders/myfolders/EPG1V2/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat";

[Cynthia_sas]

The link you post will ONLY work for students who are using SAS University Edition in a Virtual Machine. /folders/myfolders is a unique folder path that points to the shared folder location that is defined in your Virtual Machine Host (such as VirtualBox).
Cynthia

[HFJL]

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!

[Cynthia_sas]

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

[Panagiotis]

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

[AndrewHowell]

@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..

[Cynthia_sas]

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