Reviewing ADABAS Variables

If you want to use ADABAS data that is described by a view descriptor in your SAS program but cannot remember the variable names or formats and informats, you can use the CONTENTS or DATASETS procedures to display this information.

The following examples use the DATASETS procedure to give you information about the view descriptor VLIB.CUSPHON, which references the NATURAL DDM named CUSTOMERS.

proc datasets library=vlib memtype=view;
   contents data=cusphon;
quit;

The following output shows the information for this example. The data that is described by VLIB.CUSPHON is shown in Data That Is Described by the View Descriptor VLIB.CUSPHON.

Results of Using the DATASETS Procedure to Review a View Descriptor

                                 The SAS System                                 

                               DATASETS PROCEDURE

Data Set Name: VLIB.CUSPHON                            Observations:         .
Member Type:   VIEW                                    Variables:            3
Engine:        SASIOADB                                Indexes:              0
Created:       14:09 Friday, October 5, 1990           Observation Length:   80
Last Modified: 14:33 Friday, October 5, 1990           Deleted Observations: 0
Data Set Type:                                         Compressed:           NO
Label:

                  -----Engine/Host Dependent Information-----


             -----Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes-----

     #    Variable    Type    Len    Pos    Format    Informat    Label
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     1    CUSTNUM     Char      8      0    $8.       $8.         CUSTOMER
     3    NAME        Char     60     20    $60.      $60.        NAME
     2    PHONE       Char     12      8    $12.      $12.        TELEPHONE

Note the following points about this output:

You cannot change a view descriptor's variable labels using the DATASETS procedure. The labels are generated to be the complete ADABAS data field name when the view descriptor is created and therefore cannot be overwritten.
The Created date is the date the access descriptor for this view descriptor was created.
The Last Modified date is the last time the view descriptor was updated.
The Observations number field contains a null value.

For more information about the DATASETS procedure, see the Base SAS Procedures Guide.