Messages

By default, SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit provides a Messages data set for all SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit framework standards and for each data standard provided by SAS. Each Messages data set includes a list of codes and associated text that are specific to each standard. In some cases, actions such as validation are used to report process results. The structure of all the message files is described in the following table.

Messages Data Set Structure

Column Name	Column Length	Description	Optional or Required
resultid	($8)	The message ID. SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit has adopted a naming convention matching each standard. The resultid values are prefixed with an up to 4-character prefix (CST for framework messaging; CDISC examples: ODM, SDTM, ADAM, and CRT). By convention, the prefix matches the `mnemonic` field in the Standards data set in `<global standards library directory>/metadata`. This prefix is followed by a 4-digit numeric that is unique within the standard (for example, SDTM1234). Users can use any naming convention limited to 8 characters. For CDISC standards supporting validation, the resultid should match the checkid from the Validation Master data set for standard records that support validation.	Required
standardversion	($20)	A specific version of a standard. This value must match one of the standard versions that is associated with a registered standard. This value must also match the `standardversion` field in the SASReferences data set. The only exception to this rule is that * can be used to signify that the check applies to all supported versions of the standard (for example, 3.1.1, 1.0, ). If a subsequent version of the standard is released, then ** would be applicable if the check is valid for the new version.	Required
checksource	($40)	A string that identifies the source of the message. This string is used to provide source-specific messages generated within the SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit. CDISC examples include Janus, OpenCDISC, SAS, and WebSDM. This field can contain any user-defined value.	Required
sourceid	($8)	A reference identifier for this message from the `checksource`.	Optional
checkseverity	($40)	The severity as assigned by `checksource`. This value is mapped to the following standardized values: Note (Low), Warning (Medium), Error (High). A value is expected, although it is not technically required. It is used in reporting.	Optional
sourcedescription	($500)	A full description of the validation check that is associated with `checksource` if the source is external to SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit. If `checksource` is set to `CST`, then this field is null.	Optional
messagetext	($500)	The default message text to be written to the Results data set. This field can contain 0, 1, or 2 parameters. By convention, parameters are _cstParm1 and _cstParm2, but any _cst prefix parameter is recognized. The fully resolved `messagetext` that includes substituted parameter values is written to the Results data set.	Required
parameter1	($100)	The message parameter1 (_cstParm1) default value. If the code using the message does not provide a parameter value, then this default value is used. This column can be null.	Optional
parameter2	($100)	The message parameter2 (_cstParm2) default value. If the code using the message does not provide a parameter value, then this default value is used. This column can be null.	Optional
messagedetails	($200)	Any additional information that explains the message.	Optional

The Messages data set that supports the SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit framework can be found at:

<global standards library directory>/standards/cst-framework-1.3/messages/messages.sas7bdat

The following display provides an excerpt of records and columns from the SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit framework Messages data set.

Framework Messages Data Set

For more information about messages supporting the SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit framework, see ResultIDs and Associated Message Text. Other message-type data sets that support non-framework standards are described in this document.