Introduction to Using IMS Data in SAS Programs

An advantage of the SAS/ACCESS to IMS interface view engine is that it enables SAS to read and write IMS data directly from SAS programs without having to code DL/I calls. This section presents examples that use IMS data that is described by view descriptors as input data for SAS programs. Throughout the examples, the SAS terms variable and observation are used instead of the IMS terms field and segment because this section illustrates using SAS procedures and the DATA step. The examples include charting data using the SAS 7 SQL procedure to combine data from various sources, and updating a SAS 6 SAS data file with data from IMS.

Read, Write, Alter, or PW passwords can be assigned to a view descriptor, access descriptor, PROC SQL view, DATA step view, or SAS data file. See SAS Passwords for SAS/ACCESS Descriptors for information about assigning passwords.

See Example Data for definitions of all the view descriptors referenced in this section. It also includes the IMS database data, SAS data files, and a DB2 table used in some of the examples.