SAS Studio vs SAS Enterprise Guide – Choosing the Best SAS Programming Interface for You

[#1]

Likely one of the most common questions I’m asked, “Should I use SAS Studio or SAS Enterprise Guide?”  The answer to this question is in the SAS Global Forum paper “SAS® Studio or SAS® Enterprise Guide®: What's the Best SAS Programming Interface for Me?”  While SAS Studio and SAS Enterprise Guide are being developed so that they’ll share as much look/feel and functionality as possible, there are differences so choose to work in one versus the other based on your needs and preferences.

A summary of the current state of capabilities is in this FAQ entry and we’ll be updating this as new releases come out. There's also an Ask the Expert webinar.  If you have opinions on priorities, features needed, or direction, post in the comments!

Editor's note: In the video below, SAS' @DannyModlin notes the differences and similaries between SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Studio. He gives a side-by-side comparison of such things as included tasks, current procedures (GLMSLECT) in SAS Studio and how to see and edit code in each interface.

[RedPlanet]

I have an automation task involving SAS programs that run interactively now on SAS EG.  We will be converting those SAS EG programs to batch SAS programs (probably running on UNIX or Linux).  The jobs will be run using a non-SAS scheduler, and they will run as batch SAS jobs and not as SAS EG interactive jobs.

I found lots of information about converting SAS EG programs to SAS Studio.  I read in one paper that the correct version of SAS Studio (Single-User version of SAS Studio) can be used to read and convert the SAS EG programs to SAS Studio programs.  Are SAS Studio programs easier to translate into batch SAS jobs -- which was also something that I could not confirm by web searches?  This paper is written by SAS employees, "Using SAS Enterprise Guide Projects in SAS Studio".

I wanted to know what the conversions looked like.  But I did not have the correct version of SAS Studio or SAS UE, and I cannot appraise the converted EG job, or the effort to convert it to a batch SAS job.  What are the benefits and readability of the converted code?  I found no confirmation that the translation from SAS Studio to batch SAS programs was easier and better to use than a SAS EG program export, plus some editing of the exported code. What is the best method for converting from SAS EG to batch SAS programs?  What method is more correct and more readable?

[AmyP_sas]

I would expect the native EG export to code functionality to be better since it was specifically designed for that task.  SAS Studio's import of EGP files is focused on creating a Studio process flow as closely matching the EG flow as possible rather than being focused on converting flows to code.  If you went the Studio route, you'd not only need to do the initial conversion to a Studio flow but then take the extra step of dumping the code out of that Studio flow to get to your desired end result.  It should work fine, but just seems like extra work.

[tomrvincent]

Has anybody figured out how to do a prompt in Studio?  I'd like to do a demo for mgmt to show Studio vs EG but if I can't even prompt for a password, date ranges or anything else for that matter, Studio's dead.

[AmyP_sas]

Sorry I missed your question, @tomrvincent .  Yes, you can prompt in SAS Studio - create your own task.  There's a pretty robust framework in place and we're working to expand it.  SAS Studio tasks are designed for SAS programmers to be able to edit or create their own (an advantage over SAS Enterprise Guide custom tasks which require Visual Basic knowledge). A quick way to get started is to right click on an existing task, select Add to My Tasks, then edit the copy you created in My Tasks. There are also several new task templates available from the pull-down for create a new task that you can use as starting points. And there are lots of resources to help you learn how to create your own tasks:

• Writing a Custom Task for SAS Studio- free e-Learning course
• SAS Studio 3.8: Writing Your First Custom Task- getting started doc
• SAS® Studio 3.8: Developer’s Guide to Writing Custom Tasks- reference doc
• SAS Global Forum papers
  • Create Web-Based SAS Reports Without Having to Be a Web Developer(PDF)
  • Teach Them to Fish — How to Use Tasks in SAS Studio to Enable Co-Workers to Run Your Reports Themsel...
  • Developing Your Own SAS Studio Custom Tasks for Advanced Analytics
• Custom Task Tuesday- series on SAS communities with examples including a repository to use and an excellent cheat sheet
• Sample tasks on GitHub- external repository hosting SAS-provided tasks and contributed custom tasks to extend SAS Studio.

[tomrvincent]

@AmyP_sas so it's like a whole new mindset in place for Studio instead of EG? 

No native prompting capability? 

I don't see how you're comparing EG prompting with VB or Studio tasks. 

Wouldn't supplying values and parameters be a natural part of reporting?  How was that missed in designing Studio?

Maybe I'm missing something fundamental...if so, let me know.

[AmyP_sas]

@tomrvincent , I think of CTM (common task model - the way you create Studio tasks) as native prompts in Studio.  The limitation, in my view, is you can only throw up a prompt as part of a task while running Studio.  What's under development now is pulling CTM out as its own component so you can use it not only as part of Studio tasks but wherever prompts are needed - for example, the next gen stored processes will take prompts written using CTM (as well as HTML) - but also outside of Studio.  What I'd be able to do it send you a URL which, when you open will display my prompts (without taking you into the Studio interface) and once you fill those out, the generated code runs to produce the report or whatever.  Is that what you're looking for or am I totally missing it?

[tomrvincent]

@AmyP_sas   What I'm looking for is getting the functionality of EG in Studio so that I can do the following:

1) compare the two in terms of:

a - performance

b - functionality

c - development effort

d - learning effort

e - 'convertibility' (converting an EG project to Studio)

f - when to use one vs the other

g - resources

h - compatibility: Can the 2 use common modules/code/macros/processes?

2) be able to present/teach Studio to EG folks

3) answer the question: why use Studio?

4) can the 2 handshake: Can Studio run/call/launch an EG project or vice versa?

5) documenting/version control:  easy in EG...is it even possible in Studio?

[echoC3PO]

My employer uses EG. Does Sas Studio come with the purchase of EG or are they bought seperately?