Working in the SAS Windowing Environment

The SAS ToolBox in UNIX Environments

The SAS ToolBox has two parts as illustrated in the following display:

The SAS ToolBox

[Command Window and Default Toolbox]

A command window that enables you to quickly enter any command in the active SAS window. For information about commands that are available under UNIX, see Commands under UNIX and the SAS commands section in the Base SAS section in the online SAS Help and Documentation.
A toolbar that contains several tool icons. When you select a tool icon, SAS immediately executes the command that is associated with that icon. The toolbar and the tool icons are completely customizable. For more information, see Using the Tool Editor.

The name of the active window is displayed in the title bar of the SAS ToolBox. For example, if the Log window were active, the title bar would say SAS ToolBox: Log instead of SAS ToolBox: Program Editor.

Under UNIX, the default SAS ToolBox automatically appears at the bottom of the SAS windows stack by default. To control its configuration, you use the Preferences dialog box. (See Modifying the SAS ToolBox Settings.)

Customizing the Default SAS ToolBox

The default SAS ToolBox is automatically copied to your SASUSER.PROFILE.DMS.TOOLBOX regardless of whether you customize the ToolBox. If you invoke an application that does not have an associated PMENU entry, the default toolbox is displayed for that application. If you then customize the toolbox for that application, the customized toolbox is stored in SASUSER.PROFILE.DEFAULT.TOOLBOX, where DEFAULT is the same entry name as the PMENU entry for the window or application.

You can customize the default SAS ToolBox, create multiple toolboxes and switch between them, and create application-specific toolboxes (such as with SAS/AF applications) that are automatically loaded when the application is loaded. Only one toolbox is displayed at a time, and the tools in the toolbox change as you move between applications. For more information about customizing your toolboxes, see Customizing Toolboxes and Toolsets in UNIX Environments.

Default Configuration for the Command Window and the Toolbar

By default, the toolbar and the command window are joined and are automatically displayed when SAS initializes unless one of the following conditions applies:

You executed your SAS job in a non-windowing environment mode.
The SAS.defaultToolBox or SAS.defaultCommandWindow resource is set to False. The default value is True. For more information about the resources that control the toolbox, see X Resources That Control Toolbox Behavior.
You deselect Display tools window, Display command window, or Combine windows from the ToolBox tab in the Preferences dialog box.

The following display shows the command window and the toolbar in their default configuration.

Default Configuration for Command Window and Toolbar

[Command Window and Default Toolbox]

Opening and Closing the Command Window and the Toolbar

The following table lists the steps that you can use to open and close the command window and toolbar.

Steps for Opening and Closing the Command Window and the Toolbar
Window	How to Open	How to Close
Command Window and Toolbar	To open both windows, complete any of the following steps: Issue the COMMAND WINDOW command. Issue the TOOLLOAD command. See TOOLLOAD Command: UNIX for more information. Select Tools Options Toolbox	To close these windows, complete any of the following steps: Select Close from the ToolBox window menu. Enter the TOOLCLOSE command as described in TOOLCLOSE Command: UNIX. Select Tools Options Toolbox so that ToolBox is deselected.
Command Window	To open only the command window, complete the following steps: Deselect Combine windows on the ToolBox tab of the Preferences dialog box. Complete any of the following steps: Select Display command window in the ToolBox tab of the Preferences dialog box. Issue the COMMAND WINDOW command.	To close only the command window, complete the following steps: Deselect Display command window on the ToolBox tab of the Preferences dialog box. Select Close from the window menu.
Toolbar	To open only the toolbar, complete the following steps: Deselect Combine windows on the ToolBox tab of the Preferences dialog box. Complete any of the following steps: Select Display tools window on the ToolBox tab of the Preferences dialog box. Issue the TOOLLOAD command. See TOOLLOAD Command: UNIX for more information. Select Tools Options Toolbox.	To close only the toolbar, complete the following steps: Deselect Combine windows on the ToolBox tab of the Preferences dialog box. Complete any of the following steps: Deselect Display tools window on the ToolBox tab of the Preferences dialog box. Issue the TOOLCLOSE command as described in TOOLCLOSE Command: UNIX. SelectTools Options Toolbox so that ToolBox is deselected.

Executing Commands

You can execute commands from either the command window or the toolbar. The following table gives more details about how to execute commands.

Executing Commands in the Command Window and the Toolbar
Location	Execution
Command Window	To execute a command, complete the following steps: Click in the command window. Type in the command. Press ENTER or click the check mark. The command is executed in the active SAS window. You can use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through previously entered commands, or you can select a previous command from the drop-down list. Use the left mouse button to select a command from the drop-down list. Use the right mouse button to select and execute a command from the list.
Toolbar	To execute a command, click a tool icon in the toolbar to execute the command or commands that are associated with that icon. If you place the cursor over an icon for the amount of time specified by the SAS.toolBoxTipDelay resource, a pop-up window displays text that describes the command for that icon.

Top of Page