Failed output SAS EG

[nrose]

Hi all,

I am finding that, on occasions during the middle of a project, SAS EG fails to display ouput (graphs, results) for all tasks in the project. When I close and restart the project, the problem dissapears, only to reappear again during the project. It doesnt matter what output form I choose (e.g. sas report HTML). I am using XP, and I have the latest maintenance (SAS EG 4.22) release and hot fix.

Anyone else experience the same. Any fixes?

Nick

[Doc_Duke]

Apparently it was a change in 4.2. The "printed" output of tasks does not show on the Process flow, even though it is there and can be viewed/printed by right-clicking on the task itself.

Whether it was an intended change or side-effect is for Chris@SAS to comment on.

[ChrisHemedinger]

To answer Doc's comment:

We reduced the clutter in the project tree for EG 4.2. We stopped adding all results and output data sets to the tree, leaving them in the process flow. You can still get to them with the right-click action, as you point out.

Chris

[nrose]

Hi,

Just to clarify that when this happens, it is not possible to view the output using the right click.

Thanks

[ChrisHemedinger]

Nick, I'm going out on a limb here...

Are you running your custom task (different discussion thread) within the project? It's possible that one of your custom task interactions (submitting custom SAS code) is having an adverse effect on EG's ability to detect output from the SAS session.

Chris

[nrose]

Hi Chris,

I do have a custom task within the project - which is to logon to a remote server. I am pretty sure that the problem occurs even if I have not used this task at some stage during the project, although I will look at this more closely next time the problem occurs.

But, if I am to understand, do you feel that having this custom task within the project may be the cause of this project? If so, any suggestions for a fix?

Thanks.

[ChrisHemedinger]

Nick,

There is nothing inherently problematic about having a custom task in the mix. But when you have a task that submits SAS code "behind the scenes" and interacts with the SAS workspace (directly or indirectly), and you see problems such as you've reported, then it deserves some extra scrutiny.

You want to make sure that the code you submit doesn't contain any unbalanced quotes or missing semicolons or the like.

You might consider adding the "quote killer" as EG does. It looks like this:

;*';*";*/;quit;run;

Chris

[nrose]

Hi,

After some testing, it seems that this problem occurs only after we log into a remote server using the custom task. The custom task creates references to the remote server libraries and datasets. Typically, if we import the dataset to the local work directory and just run tasks on these datasets everything works fine. If we then run a task on a remote datasets, the task works the first time, but then, all output is no longer visible, even if tasks are also applied to the local dataset.

Any suggestions as to why this is happening?

Thanks.

[ChrisHemedinger]

Nick,

You're using SAS/CONNECT to work with the remote server, right?

If you run your SAS code via RSUBMIT, then the output is created on the remote SAS/CONNECT session. Enterprise Guide does not always receive notifications about this output (two hops here: one to the SAS workspace, and then from the SAS workspace to a remote SAS/CONNECT server). Actually, this is something that the SAS/CONNECT team is working to improve.

You should try with a SAS program node in Enterprise Guide to simulate the work you are doing with your custom task and the tasks that follow, and see if you get the same result. If so, then I suggest working with SAS technical support to see if there is a solution available.

Chris

[nrose]

Hi again,

Just to let you know that I am still having issues with this problem, and that I have identified that this problem exists regardless of whether I work on a remote library, or even when I have not logged in to a remote session. I have reinstalled EG, installed the latest hot fixes, and another user has identified similar problems.

I am having SAS support deal with this problem, but have not had much success. I was wondering if anyone else out there has experienced similar issues i.e. that the results for tasks fails to display during a project?

Thanks,

Nick

[ChrisHemedinger]

Nick,

I've looked at the track with SAS Technical Support, and I've suggested a few things to the consultant you're working with. I'm sure you'll hear from him soon.

Tracking this issue with tech support is the correct thing to do. I agree that there is something odd at play here.

Chris

[deleted_user]

Hi Chris, Nick,

I have one question regarding building custom tasks for EG 4.22. Do you have to build them with the DLL's from EG 4.22 or can custom tasks built for EG 4.2 also run in EG 4.22?
I ask this because I get an error message while adding EG 4.2 custom tasks to EG 4.22 with the Add-in manager. This happens with my own custom tasks but also with the examples from support.sas.com.
I have some tasks built with .NET 1.1 (originally designed for EG 4.1) and some with .NET 3.5. Are both versions still supported in EG 4.22?

Thanks in advance,
Rudolf.

[ChrisHemedinger]

Rudolf,

EG 4.22 and 4.2 custom tasks should be completely compatible. If you are having trouble getting a custom task to load when you think it should, please contact SAS Technical Support.

Hint: we built in quite a bit of behind-the-scenes logging for EG 4.1 and 4.2. You can enable the logging by following the instructions in:

http://support.sas.com/kb/17/730.html

Once enabled, you'll logging files appear for every EG instance that you run. They'll be located in "%appdata%\SAS\EnterpriseGuide\4.2\Logs" (where %appdata% is a system environment variable that resolves to your user profile area).

The process for loading custom tasks has lots of log messages: search the log files for the name of your task DLL for hints of what might be the problem.

Again, if you cannot resolve, please write it up for SAS Technical Support.

Chris