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Move "Delete" button on the menu away from the running man button or at least put some space between the two buttons.

 

I click the running man button to execute a SAS code quite frequently and sometimes click the delete button right next to the running man button by accident, which causes panic! From ergonomic viewpoint, this is a poor design issue.

 

5 Comments
Reeza
Super User

Agreed! Sadly SAS Base is not being updated really, everything is moving to SAS Studio. In Studio it does not have this issue 🙂

ballardw
Super User

You might be surprised to find out there is key that will submit programs: F8.

 

At least in the Display Manager (or Foundation or Base SAS) there is a customizable by you selection of keys. Press F9 while in the editor to see if you get  KEYS window. The key combinations shown can be customized by you. The default F8 of submit;log;wpg; will: submit the program (or selected program lines), switch to the LOG window and then return to the enhanced editor window.

 

SAS commands can be entered on any line and the key stroke on the left will execute them.

 

Also the menu bar can be configured by you. While in the editor click on Tools>Customize to open the Customize Tools window. Go to the Customize tab. You could scroll down until you find the Clear command, click on it to highlight, then go to the small row of icons in the window and click on the down arrow, click on Separator to add a separator before the clear icon. Or maybe add 2 if you want more space. Click on OK to save.

SASUSER007
Fluorite | Level 6

Dear ballardw, 

 

 

 

PaigeMiller
Diamond | Level 26

When I first read this, I thought that I can't ever remember accidentally hitting the delete icon.

 

Then I read further, and I do essentially what @ballardw recommended, I use keystrokes to submit my code. In fact, I have defined my own keystroke, Shift-F1 which clears the log, clears the output window and then submits the code.

 

To set this up, you type KEYS into the text box at the top left (I don't know what it is called), then next to SHF F1 you enter the command

 

cle log;cle out;submit
ballardw
Super User

@PaigeMiller I also have more than one "submit" key depending on whether I may want to keep log contents.

I generally have include a focus change to the log begore returning to the editor after submission so those pesky warning and error messages are noticeable or at least remind me to Check the log.

 

I learned keyboards long before computers were commonly available. So I spend a certain amount of time finding keystroke equivalents to menu icons as practical. I have used SAS on a PC since the days of SAS for DOS and do not even remember which version of SAS introduced the "running man" for submitting code because I find it inconvenient to be moving my hand from the keyboard to the mouse/trackball/trackpad (especially trackpadsSmiley Sad). The KEYS window and customizations have probably saved me weeks if not months of repetitive actions over my career with SAS.