Programming 1 Essentials - Cannot find excel (.xls) files used in the tutorial

[cietru]

Hi, 
I am doing the 1st SAS course :  SAS Programming 1 Essentials. I ran into a slight problem on Lesson 7 : Creating a SAS Data Set from an Excel Worksheet.

I am using a client application an it seems I cannot use the pcfiles engine. I also do not seem to have the excel files used in the tutorial anywhere on my machine and hence cannot manually find the correct path and adjut the following line of code.

libname prod pcfiles path="&path/product.xls";

Is there a work around to this? Otherwise is there anywhere I can download all the excel files and other data used in the tutorial?

[Reeza]

At the beginning of the course was a setup program that generated the files required. 

Did this run properly for you?

[cietru]

The code that stars with this :

             /*++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*/
             /* THIS CODE CREATES PRACTICE DATA FOR ECPRG193 */
             /* WARNING: DO NOT ALTER CODE BELOW THIS LINE */
             /*++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*/

             /*+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*/
             /* ASSIGN &PATH AND ORION LIB TO THE LOCATION OF WORK */
            /*+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*/

... ran correctly. At least there are no errors or warnings.

[Reeza]

Search code for product.xls and check that part specifically. 

Also, navigate to that folder and see if excel file is there. 

[cietru]

Using CTRL-F and searching for "product.xls" gives no result...however I do have a "prodcut.dat"

[Reeza]

If you contact training@ SAS.com they should be able to help you with source files. 

Or suppot@sas.com

[cietru]

Thank you I will attempt that and mark this issue as resolved if that leads to a solution

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi: Adding more information to this post for other students who search about using Excel files in the Programming 1 class. 

If you are using SAS Enterprise Guide, or SAS University Edition or SAS OnDemand for Academics, we know, ahead of time, that the student will probably  NOT  be able to run the programs in the Excel lesson in Programming 1 and so we do not even put the Excel files into the setup instructions. In order to install the PC File Server software component, we would have to know ahead of time whether the student had 32 bit or 64 bit Microsoft Office, which is impossible to know with so many students on so many different operating systems and/or server configurations using the University Edition. Only 1 PC File Server can be installed in a configuration - that is why in the Practice for Lesson 7, we tell you to study the syntax, but we also advise you NOT to run the code as shown in the screen shot below as highlighted in yellow:

There are actually several different ways to read Excel files and in the Programming 1 class, we chose the way that was most likely to work when the student had access to SAS in a configuration where the bitness of the SAS installation matched the bitness of the Microsoft Office installation or they were working with SAS on a Unix server, where the appropriate PC File Server was installed.

For purposes of certification, the student only has to study the LIBNAME engine syntax, as we show in the course. However, we do not expect students to submit the code or read any files (which is why the Excel files are not provided as part of the setup). It is entirely likely for the SAS University Edition or SAS OnDemand for Academics that the code will NOT work. 

cynthia