We would like to be able to schedule a report job that will automatically run an existing dashboard, convert  it to PDF, and save the PDF to a network location.   Currently we are using the SAS PowerPoint Add-In to import data from the dashboard into PowerPoint.  This is very inefficient and takes a long time if the network is busy. ... View more

I was wondering why SAS is not automatically upgraded for license users. Why can a patch be made available for users with a valid institutional license? ... View more

I'd like to suggest the addition of a particular variable selection method for Regression called “NONNEGATIVE GARROTE” method (Breiman, 1995)[1]. It is similar to LASSO and RIDGE REGRESSION, but slightly different. NONNEGATIVE GARROTE method performs variable selection based on the contraints b_i > 0 for all i.   Please see the following reading material for NONNEGATIVE GARROTE: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1269730?seq=1 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-25832-9_9   [1] Breiman, Leo. “Better Subset Regression Using the Nonnegative Garrote.” Technometrics, vol. 37, no. 4, 1995, pp. 373–384. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1269730. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020.   It would be invaluable to have this method as an available variable selection option in PROC LOGISTIC, PROC REG, or PROC DMREG. ... View more

Similar to a Python IDE, create an option in the SAS Enterprise guide settings to require saving of either a new piece of code or a modified .sas file that has been opened.   I know this should be basic computer hygiene, but I see enough users not saving code when they run a process, that this option would be a nice backstop. ... View more

At the moment, quote() can only add enclose a string in ' or ". It would be useful if any character could be added. And if the quoting character is one of < > [ ] { } ( ), this function would also know to enclose the string in balanced brackets.   A 't' third parameter to trim the quoted string would also be useful. ... View more

I occasionally need to break a string into several components such as A_B_C_D becoming A_B_C   and D. The last fragment is easily found by Scanning with a -1 but for the rest, I wind up reversing and left justifying the string and then doing a Substr, another reverse, and another left justification. My suggestion is to add a modifier to Scan so that starting at some point in the string (reading right to left), the returned value is the rest of the string. It would look something like   RestofString = Scan (String , -1 , '_' , 'rest' );   ... View more

Add some ML to the back end so that when users, especially new users, post SAS code in their posting it is automatically detected and placed in a code block.   No offense, not sure why there is a "Insert SAS Code" and a "Insert Code" feature in the posting editor.  They appear to be the same.  Not sure why some code blocks appear as boxed with white background, slightly oversized font and syntax highlighting. ... View more

Our organization is moving from Oracle DB Client (fat client) to Oracle Instant Client (thin client). So as a SAS admin I am forced to use the Instant Client instead of the actually used fat client. But my query to SAS Technical Support showed that the Instant Client is «not officially supported» by SAS Institute, cf. Technical Support Track # 7613206118. Strangely enough SAS mentions the Instant Client in its documentation Configuration Guide for SAS® 9.4 Foundation for UNIX Environments (in the section «SAS/ACCESS Interface to Oracle» on page 62 and 63). SAS Technical Support proposes us to continue with the fat client,  which collides with the technology release plan of our organization. And moving to the Instant Client without the Support commitment by SAS could lead to support constraints by SAS. Therefore I request that SAS Institute works towards supporting the Instant Client. ... View more

Hello,   The results displayed with PROC UNIVARIATE are described as descriptive statistics. However, the standard error of the mean is included in this display. While the standard deviation is certainly a descriptive statistic, the standard error is not. It is an inferential statistic that is only appropriate when the data comprise a random sample selected from a population of interest.   It would be helpful as a statistics instructor to have the SE not reported in this way with the PROC UNIVARIATE output, since it is not a descriptive statistic.   Thank you for considering.   Matt Hayat, PhD Professor of Biostatistics Georgia State University ... View more

(with EG 8.2's Enhanced Editor, Integrated Syntax Help feature)    The Integrated Syntax Help feature allows mousing-over the keywords to get information on keywords.  If one, for example, mouses-over "MACRO" the program will produce mouse-over text with helpful info and links for "MACRO".  Adding this feature would add a new link to this box.  The new link would behave like the first link in the box.  Where the first link initiates a Google search in the default web browser with:   site:support.sas.com "%MACRO STATEMENT" The new link sends this to Google search:   site:documentation.sas.com "%MACRO STATEMENT" The new feature could add the new link like so: (orange arrow)     ... View more

Problem My team has run into the following problem: When using the HIGHLOW statement in SGPLOT along with the HIGHCAP = FILLEDARROW option to create arrows at the ends of bars, the following problem occurs: if a bar is shorter than the arrow cap is wide, then the arrow cap disappears. In the plots we create, we often would like to use these arrow caps conditionally to display relevant information, so to have these arrow caps disappear sometimes without any indication such as a warning or error in the log makes this feature unreliable, and we now avoid the use of HIGHCAP altogether.   The behavior I described is also described in the SAS documentation for HIGHCAP, "If the length of the high-low element is smaller than the cap, then the cap is not drawn.", so it appears that SAS is aware of the problem. However, as described, this behavior makes the feature completely unusable for us. Note that in the following SAS blog, these arrows are used to conditionally represent relevant information, producing unreliable output: https://blogs.sas.com/content/graphicallyspeaking/2014/06/22/swimmer-plot/#prettyPhoto   Suggestions: 1. Add a warning or error that is printed to the log when a bar cap fails to print. 2. Add an option that will allow the bar cap to be printed in place of the bar when the bar is too small to accommodate the cap.   Example The following sample code reproduces this problem. When I run this on Base SAS, 9.4 TS1M4, the cap appears for the bars in the range 0.4 - 9, but not for the 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 bars. A screenshot is included at the end.   ods _all_ close; ods html; %macro set_vars; subjectid = strip(put(index, best5.)); high = index; low = 0; output; %mend set_vars; data ds; do i = 1 to 9; index = i; %set_vars; index = i / 10; %set_vars; end; run; proc sort data = ds; by high; run; proc sgplot data = ds; highlow y = subjectid low = low high = high / type=bar highcap = filledarrow barwidth = 1; run; ... View more

Our customer is building an analytical model consisting of variables over 1000. The data used is time series type, so they are trying data manipulation in "Prepare Time Series Data" in Enterprise Guide. We have come up with an idea where they could change the same transformation command towards some variables at one time, where currently they should operate the transformation process for each variable selected through a selection tab one by one. We feel it's a bit time consuming. ... View more

The Studio right click context menu has "New -> SAS Program (F4)" available.  When you select that, it opens a new SAS program.   When it does that, though, you have to save that program in the folder you want it in.  While that's an appropriate UI for a F4-created new program, or one created when you select the New option from the top of the page, it is unnecessary extra steps for someone who already has the folder open they want to save to.   Please change that workflow (either if you select the folder name, or if you right click on a file inside that folder) so it creates an empty file in the selected folder, and either prompts for a name then (by going into rename file mode and moving the cursor there), or asks for a new name when you select "save" (ctrl+s) but defaults that to the folder that was right-click selected for that file. ... View more

In SAS Studio, when you add a repository to the Git Repositories list of tracked repositories, it gives it a name that seemingly comes from the root folder the repository is stored in (the local disk folder, not the SAS Folder name). This name cannot be changed.   In my use case, all of my repos are stored in folders named the same thing - because they're in "[[project]]\src".  So I have all "src" repos, and can't change them.   It would be a better user experience if we either could relabel the repo while we add it (or afterwards), and/or if it defaulted to the SAS Folder Shortcut label if that is what it was added from.   Example: I have a SAS Folder shortcut named "MyProject" which points to //disk/MyProject/src/.  Right now, if I Open a Local Repository based on the repository that exists there, I will end up with a repository named "src".  It would be better to take the name from the SAS Folder shortcut, "MyProject", and further to allow me to relabel the repository with whatever makes sense - particularly as often Prod and Test will be identically named other than a higher level location difference. ... View more

Currently, to add a new repository to the Git Repositories section of SAS Studio, you do that from within that section by clicking Open and then navigating to the local folder storing the repository.    It would be much faster to be able to do that from the Server Files and Folders section itself; it clearly knows about the repos, as it shows a different icon for them.  We should be able to right click -> Track Repo or something similar to add it to that list.  Given it's already there most of the time, and I simply want to be able to commit/push/etc. it, this would reduce the time needed to add a new local repo significantly. ... View more

We have recently had problems of people taking copies of projects to to testing and not realising that the changes that they make in the programs are applied to the original project because whilst the action is to take a "copy" of the project, the programs are not copies but links to the originals. This is unclear. If we can automatically enforce that programs are embedded then taking a copy of a project is a real copy, not a link.  ... View more

I would like some built in functionality to support common tasks associated with working with IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.   For examples of common tasks, I'd personally like to see a function to convert IPv4 to a numeric value and back. For IPv6, I'd like to see something similar to the inet6_ntoa() and inet6_aton() functions implemented by many other languages, and possibly also the ability to represent them easily in formats required by commonly used geo-location lookup datasets such as Maxmind, etc..   From what I can gather, our best options currently seem to be outlined here on by Chris Hemedingers SAS Dummy blog and on this SAS Community post. ... View more

SAS Viya 3.4/3.5 User Activity Reports show URIs instead of report names, which would be more useful. Even though we can look them up via command line, most people use the web interface.   ... View more

There are many fiddle websites that promote exchange of ideas and demonstrate sample code in a working environment.   There's a fiddle for that - https://fiddles.io - lists 40 or so, make a site so SAS can be added to the list.   If free to use sounds unpalatable, gate the site to SAS community accounts. Code the whole thing in SAS products because, well, ya got to "Eat your own dog food" (wiki)  Could be a wrapper app around a shackled but open SAS Studio login. ... View more