What is the best way to transport macros across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

[whs278]

What is the best way to transport a macro across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

I know you can write an %include statement, but this seems to require saving a files as .sas instead of .egp.  I was wondering if there was a more efficient way to do this in SAS EG?

Thanks,

Bill

[Kurt_Bremser]

THE PROPER WAY OF STORING SAS CODE IS AS TEXT IN .sas FILES.

Write this a hundred times, or until you have internalized it.

I mean it, from 20+ years of SAS experience and 40 years in IT.

[novinosrin]

"I mean it, from 20+ years of SAS experience and 40 years in IT."- Kudos! and my sincere salutations. I guess that's right up there among the likes of @art297  and @Tom  Well done!

[Tom]

That is a good question and hope some EG developers ( @ChrisHemedinger ) .

Traditionally with SAS project code we would create a macro library and maintain the code there and use SASAUTOS to have SAS automatically find and compile any macros that a specific program calls.  I have not seen a good method of building such a system for EG files ("projects").  To me the EG files feel more like Excel spreadsheets.  A nice way to build something but not something that has a pathway to a real production environment.

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

Assuming these macros are all general and you don't change them through projects I recommend setting up a macro library. 

Note that I will also store all the macro's in a single utility folder as .sas files. .egp files are propietary and can have issues over time. .sas files are text files. But for day to day usage of common macros, a macro library is a good idea. And make sure to use the SOURCE option on your macros so you can retrieve the code if you ever lose track of your .sas programs. 

https://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings/pdfs/sgf2008/101-2008.pdf

https://www.listendata.com/2016/04/building-sas-macro-library.html

https://pauldickman.com/sastips/autocall/

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@whs278 wrote:

What is the best way to transport a macro across projects in SAS Enterprise Guide?

I know you can write an %include statement, but this seems to require saving a files as .sas instead of .egp.  I was wondering if there was a more efficient way to do this in SAS EG?

Thanks,

Bill

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[yabwon]

Hi @whs278 

Consider building a SAS package. Check out: https://github.com/yabwon/SAS_PACKAGES there is a pdf article from SGF2020 describing the process.

All the best

Bart 

[novinosrin]

Thank you for sharing @yabwon  👍

[yabwon]

@novinosrin - enjoy!
Read it, try it, build a package! 🙂 🙂

All the best
Bart