Overview of the SAS/ACCESS Interface to ADABAS

Purpose of the SAS/ACCESS Interface to ADABAS

SAS/ACCESS software provides an interface between SAS and the ADABAS database management system (DBMS). With the SAS/ACCESS interface, you can perform the following tasks:

create SAS/ACCESS descriptor files using the ACCESS procedure
directly access ADABAS data from within a SAS program using the SAS/ACCESS descriptor files created with the ACCESS procedure
extract ADABAS data and place it in a SAS data file using the ACCESS procedure, the DATA step, or other SAS procedures
update ADABAS data using the SQL procedure, SAS/FSP software, SAS/AF software, and the APPEND procedure.

The SAS/ACCESS interface consists of two parts:

the ACCESS procedure, which you use to define the SAS/ACCESS descriptor files
the interface view engine, which enables you to use ADABAS data in SAS programs in much the same way as you use SAS data files.

The ACCESS procedure enables you to describe ADABAS data to SAS. You store the description in SAS/ACCESS descriptor files, which you can use in SAS programs much as you would use SAS data files. You can print, plot, and chart the data described by the descriptor files, use it to create other SAS data sets, and so on. Several examples of using ADABAS data in SAS programs are presented in ADABAS Data in SAS Programs. Using SAS/ACCESS descriptor files to update ADABAS data from within a SAS program is shown in Browsing and Updating ADABAS Data.

The interface view engine is an integral part of the SAS/ACCESS interface, but the interface's design is embedded in the software, so you seldom have to deal directly with the engine. SAS automatically interacts with the engine (via the SAS/ACCESS descriptor files) when you use ADABAS data in your SAS programs. SAS and the interface view engine do much of the work automatically, so you can simply use ADABAS data in SAS programs in much the same way you use SAS data.

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