Defining SAS/ACCESS Descriptor Files

Extracting CA-Datacom/DB Data with the ACCESS Procedure

Although you can access CA-Datacom/DB data directly in your SAS programs, it is sometimes better to extract the CA-Datacom/DB data and place it in a SAS data file. For example, if you are using the same CA-Datacom/DB data in several SAS jobs, it might be less resource-intensive to access extracted data in a SAS data file than to access a CA-Datacom/DB table repeatedly. (See Performance Considerations for other circumstances in which extracting data is the more efficient method.)

You can extract CA-Datacom/DB data by using PROC ACCESS statement options. You can also extract data using the DATA step. (See Using CA-Datacom/DB Data in SAS Programs for examples using the SQL procedure to extract CA-Datacom/DB data and place it in a SAS data file.) Note that if you store view descriptors and SAS data files in the same SAS library, you must give them unique member names.

To extract data using the PROC ACCESS statement options, submit the following SAS code:

proc access viewdesc=vlib.usacust out=mydata.usaout;
run;

VLIB.USACUST is the two-level name that specifies the libref and member name for the view descriptor you want to use for extracting data, in this case, USACUST. Note that VLIB.USACUST must already exist. MYDATA.USAOUT is the two-level name specifying the libref and member name for the output SAS data file.

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