SAS Web Applications

SAS Web applications reside and execute on the middle tier.  These applications require a Web browser on each client machine and a Web application server on the middle-tier machine where the application will run. These applications communicate with the user by sending data to and receiving data from the user's Web browser. For example, an application of this type displays its user interface by sending an HTML document to the user's browser. The user can submit input to the application by sending it an HTTP response, usually by clicking a link or submitting an HTML form.

SAS Web Report Studio 4.2 enables you to view, interact, create, and distribute both public and private reports. Users can interactively get the information they need without having to understand a programming language. In addition, SAS predictive analytical results can be used by business professionals across the enterprise via their Web browsers.

You can use the SAS Web Report Studio for the following tasks:

• Creating reports. Beginning with a simple intuitive view of your data provided by SAS Information Maps (created in SAS Information Map Studio), you can create reports based on either relational or multidimensional data sources. You can use the Report Wizard to quickly create simple reports or the Edit Report view to create sophisticated reports that have multiple data sources, each of which can be filtered. These reports can include various combinations of list tables, crosstabulation tables, graphs, images, and text. Using the Edit Report view, you can adjust the style to globally change colors and fonts. You can also insert stored processes that take the results from a block of SAS code and embed those results directly into a report.

• Viewing and working with reports. While viewing reports using a Web browser, you can filter, sort, and rank the data that is shown in list tables, crosstabulation tables, and graphs. With multidimensional data, you can drill down on data in crosstabulation tables and graphs, and drill through to the underlying data.

• Organizing reports. You can create folders and subfolders for organizing your reports. Information consumers can use keywords to find the reports that they need. Reports can be shared with others or kept private. You can schedule reports to refresh on a recurring basis. Specific report pages can be distributed via e-mail or subscription channels.

• Printing and exporting reports. You can preview a report in PDF and print the report, or save and e-mail it later. You have control over many printing options, including page orientation, page range, and size of the tables and graphs. You can also export data as a spreadsheet and export graphs as images. You can also export data for list tables, crosstabulation tables, and graphs. The output can be viewed in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

SAS Web Report Studio runs within the Web application server, and requires the SAS BI Report Services (which includes the report output generation tool) and the SAS BI Report Services Configuration (which creates libraries used by the SAS Web Report Studio). SAS Web Report Studio can be invoked from the SAS Information Delivery Portal.

SAS Web OLAP Viewer for Java is a Web-based application for viewing SAS OLAP data. It provides an easy-to-use interface from which you can select a data source, view the data, and customize your view with features such as sorting and filtering. SAS Web OLAP Viewer for Java can be run separately, or it can be launched from the SAS Information Delivery Portal

The SAS Web OLAP Viewer enables you to perform the following tasks:

• subset your data by drilling down and filtering

• save and restore bookmarked views of your data

• search for data values

• calculate new data items

• view ESRI maps

• export your data view as a SAS report, Microsoft Excel file, Microsoft document, or PDF document.

Note:   You cannot use the SAS Web OLAP Viewer to make changes to information maps or to physical data.   

For more information, see the SAS Web OLAP Viewer Help, which is available from within the product.

The SAS Information Delivery Portal is a Web application that enables you to aggregate data from a variety of sources and present the data in a Web browser. The Web browser content might include the output of SAS Stored Processes, links to Web addresses, documents, syndicated content from information providers, SAS Information Maps, SAS reports, and Web applications. The portal also provides a secure environment for sharing information with users.

Using the portal, you can distribute different types of content and applications as appropriate to internal users, external customers, vendors, and partners. You can use the portal along with the Publishing Framework to publish content to SAS publication channels or WebDAV repositories, to subscribe to publication channels, and to view packages published to channels. The portal's personalization features enable users to organize information about their desktops in a way that makes sense to them.

For more information, see the SAS Information Delivery Portal Help, which is available from within the product.

The SAS BI Dashboard enables users to create, maintain, and view dashboards to monitor key performance indicators that convey how well an organization is performing. The application is Web-based and can be accessed from within the SAS Information Delivery Portal.

The SAS BI Dashboard includes an easy-to-use interface for creating dashboards that include graphics, text, colors, and hyperlinks. Dashboards can link to SAS reports and analytical results, SAS Strategic Performance Management scorecards and objects, externally generated data, and virtually anything that is addressable by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).

All content is displayed in a role-based, secure, customizable, and extensible environment. Users can customize how information appears on their personal dashboards.

For more information, see the SAS BI Dashboard Help, which is available from within the product, and the SAS BI Dashboard: User's Guide, available at http://support.sas.com.

Your installation can include the following documentation software:

• SAS Help Viewer for the Web is an application that enables users to view and navigate SAS online Help in the various SAS Web applications.

  Note:   SAS Help Viewer Metadata Configuration is another name that is associated with this application. Whereas SAS Help Viewer for the Web is the name for the delivery system software, SAS Help Viewer Metadata Configuration is the name for the configured component. This component combines SAS Help Viewer for the Web software with various Help content and creates an EAR file that can be deployed on a Web application server.  

• SAS OnlineDoc for the Web is an application that contains an online library of reference documentation for the SAS System.

Note:   You must manually deploy SAS OnlineDoc for the Web in your Web application server. Manual deployment is required even if you selected the automatic deployment option in SAS Deployment Wizard. For more information, see Manual Deployment of SAS OnlineDoc for the Web.  

You can install SAS Help Viewer for the Web without installing SAS OnlineDoc for the Web. However, the reverse is not true. In order to install and configure SAS OnlineDoc for the Web, in the SAS Deployment Wizard you must choose to install both SAS Help Viewer for the Web and SAS OnlineDoc for the Web.

The October 2009 Release provides SAS BI Portlets that are based on JSR 168 and available in the SAS Enterprise BI Server offering. These portlets are seamlessly integrated into the SAS Information Delivery Portal that runs on JBoss, WebLogic, or WebSphere Web application servers. SAS BI Portlets enable users to access, view, or work with content items that reside in either the SAS metadata server or the SAS Content Server.

Copyright © 2009 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.