great, Thank you! I see the code you sent works with and without lrecl. Do you know if I can leave that out? in the input code I use: data test; infile "[path and file] "  dlm=","  firstobs=1; length a b c ...8; input a b c...; format a b c ... best12.; run;   the code you sent to check number of columns works fine the way you sent it and without lrecl Thank you   ... View more

Works great, Thank you! ... View more

Thank you! ... View more

Thank you very much for all your help! ... View more

@StatDave wrote: Include the interaction of the two categorical variables. For example, for two categorical variables, a and b, their interaction is a*b: class a b; model y=x1 x2 a b a*b; Thank you! I use the "PREDICTED" value I get from the model output. Will the intercation you wrote result in getting a predicted value for each combination? ... View more

Thank you! using proc GLM the way you suggest, how can I get a separate predition for each combinatin of teh two categorical variables? Also we just realized we will need to do the same also for a model where we use autoreg due to autocorrelation in teh data. Id there a way to add teh two class variables to proc autoreg or another proocn that can handle data with autocorrelation (we can add the lag of the dependent variable to the GLM model' but that would not be the same as running proc autoreg). Thamnk you! ... View more

Thank you. The value is a macro variable. The jobs are run in batch.   "You can also set a condition code." - what do you mean by that?   "Is the IF going to be in data step code or for macro variables between procedures/data steps?" I can set the if statement any way that will work. I compute the value of the macro variable, based on it I will need to stop the programs from running. Now I have that macro variable. I can write an IF statement in a data step, or another way if that will work better.  ... View more

Thank you. What you suggested regarding having the user save the XML as XLSX is what we are currently doing. I was trying to find a better solution. The csv option you suggested - is there a way to create a disgen CSV file - contitional colors, manage the style including bold type,  foramts, thick gridlines were needed (all possible with XML in proc report)? Thank you. ... View more

Thank you all for all your answers! Following them I still can't see a solution. Here is the code I am using to write the designed XML and then to read the xlsx file (I have many more sheets, veraibles and compute statements. I placed here an example). What I am currently doing (in line with one of the ansewers above) is having the code write both XML and xlsx files. the xml has the required design and that is the file the users views. If the user makes any manual changes the user must save the changed file as xlsx, and then the code reads either the original xlsx written by the code earlier, or the one saved by the user (regarding one of the answers, in this bussiness setting we must allow the user to make manual changes in the file). Regarding the last reply - I am trying to use ODS excel you suggested, to write the required designed file, but right now the output using ODS Excel does not look good.    ods tagsets.ExcelXP file="/dir1/subdir2/TEST.xml"  style=sansprinter; ods tagsets.ExcelXP options(embedded_titles='yes' embedded_footnotes='yes' sheet_name="ONE" sheet_interval='table' row_heights = '20,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15,15'); proc report data=TEST1 nowd split="*" spanrows     style (header)={just=c background=lightorange foreground=black font_weight=bold}     style (report)={bordercolor=black borderbottomwidth=3pt borderleftwidth=3pt                      borderrightwidth=3pt};     column A B;     define A / display "A" missing format=percentn8.3            style=[just=c cellwidth=0.8in];     define B / display "B" missing format=percentn8.3            style=[just=c cellwidth=0.8in]; compute b;     if compress(b) > 0 then             call define (_COL_, 'style', 'style=[foreground=green font_weight=bold]');     if compress(b) < 0 then             call define (_COL_, 'style', 'style=[foreground=red font_weight=bold]'); endcomp; run; ods tagsets.ExcelXP close;   proc import      datafile="/dir1/subdir2/TEST2"      DBMS=xlsx out=A replace;      getnames=YES; SHEET='A'; run;   And similar proc import statements for each additional sheet. Thank you for your help.   ... View more