SAS System Options for IMS Databases

Specifying System Options

The system options described in this appendix fall into two categories:

Invocation options are processed when SAS is initialized. They can be specified in the following ways:
- in the default OPTIONS table
- in a system or user configuration file
- in the OPTIONS parameter of the host command that you use to invoke SAS at your site
Session options can be specified when SAS is invoked, in the configuration file, or in an OPTIONS statement.

SAS System Options for IMS indicates whether each option is an invocation option or a session option.

The DBA or SAS support personnel at your installation might choose to restrict an invocation option to a particular value for security or data integrity reasons. Session options cannot be restricted; you can override them any time during a SAS session by using an OPTIONS statement. If you try to override a restricted invocation option, you get an error message.

You can use two methods to determine which invocation options are restricted at your installation:

Ask the SAS support personnel or DBA who installed the SAS/ACCESS interface to IMS at your site.
Invoke SAS with the VERBOSE option. In the list of options that appears, the restricted invocation options (if any) follow the VERBOSE option.

Note: From a TSO session under z/OS, the list of options might be displayed only briefly on your computer before the SAS session comes up. In this case, you will need to exit SAS in order to see the list of options.

Displaying the Current Values of the Options

To check your installation's current settings for the SAS system options for IMS, check the settings for the options (except for DLIREAD and BMPREAD) by executing PROC OPTIONS with the IMS option:

proc options ims;
run;

To see the values of DLIREAD and BMPREAD, use PROC OPTIONS without the IMS option. The OPTIONS procedure is documented in the Base SAS Procedures Guide.

Overriding Option Defaults

Most option defaults are probably correct for your applications, and you might never need to override the default settings. In fact, many of the options might specify information that is unfamiliar to a DL/I applications programmer. However, if you decide that one or more of the defaults is not appropriate for your IMS application, you can override the default value(s) as follows:

You can override the default value of an unrestricted invocation option in any of the following ways:
- when you invoke SAS
- in the system configuration file (if one is used)
- in the user configuration file (if one is specified)
- in the default options (DFLTOPTS) table
- in the OPTIONS parameter at invocation of the CLIST (TSO)
- in the OPTIONS parameter in the cataloged procedure (batch only).
Note: You cannot override the default value of any invocation option, whether restricted or unrestricted, during a SAS session. For example, your installation might specify that the invocation option DLIREAD= is unrestricted, and set the value of that option at Y so that programs using a batch region can issue only get calls by default. Because DLIREAD= is not restricted, you can specify the following at invocation time to override the default value of Y .
```
DLIREAD=N;
```
However, you cannot override the value of DLIREAD= during a SAS session.
You can override the default value of a session option by specifying the option in any of the following ways:
- in an OPTIONS statement
- in the system configuration file (if one is used)
- in the user configuration file (if one is specified)
- in the Default Options (DFLTOPTS) table
- in the OPTIONS parameter at invocation of the CLIST (TSO)
- in the OPTIONS parameter in the cataloged procedure (batch only)

For more information about overriding SAS system options, see the SAS companion for your operating system.

Most Frequently Altered Options

If you need to override any options, it will probably be the following:

IMSREGTP=: specifies the type of DL/I region that is used to execute DL/I calls. It is altered whenever you want to execute calls through a DL/I region that is not the installation default.

If you use a batch DLI or DBB region, you are not likely to alter any other system option. If you use an online access region (BMP), you might need to change one or more of these options:

IMSBPIN= IMSBPOUT=: identify message queues for access in advanced DL/I programming when running a BMP region. This option is valid only for the IMS DATA step interface.
IMSID=: identifies the IMS subsystem that contains the databases that you want to access. You might need to use this option with a BMP, DLI, or DBB region in order to specify a test or production system.

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