Referencing a Fileref Using the URL Access Method

Using several methods, the XML engine can access an XML document that is referenced by a fileref. When using the URL access method to reference a fileref, you should also specify an XMLMap. Specifying an XMLMap causes the XML engine to process the XML document with a single pass of the file, rather than a double pass, which is what happens when you do not specify an XMLMap.

This example illustrates how to access an XML document by referencing a fileref and using the URL access method:

filename NHL url 'http://www.a.com/NHL.xml'; 1
filename MAP 'C:\My Documents\XML\NHL.map'; 2

libname NHL xml xmlmap=MAP; 3

proc copy indd=NHL outdd=work; 4
   select NHL;
run;

1	The first FILENAME statement assigns the fileref NHL to the XML document by using the URL access method.
2	The second FILENAME statement assigns the fileref MAP to the physical location of the XMLMap NHL.map.
3	The LIBNAME statement uses the fileref NHL to reference the XML document, specifies the XML engine, and uses the fileref MAP to reference the XMLMap.
4	PROC COPY procedure reads the XML document, and writes its content as a temporary SAS data set. When using the URL access method, you should include the step to create the SAS data set with either a COPY procedure or a DATA step.