Getting Started with SAS under OpenVMS

SAS Windowing Environment under OpenVMS

Introduction to the SAS Windowing Environment

Invoking SAS in the windowing environment opens three programming windows: Program Editor, Log, and List.

The SAS Explorer window is available on any display device that uses the Motif interface. For information about Motif, see your Motif documentation. The SAS Explorer window is not the default for SAS in the OpenVMS operating environment.

SAS Explorer Window

[SAS Explorer Window]

For more information about the SAS windowing environment, see Working in the SAS Windowing Environment.

Note: If you are not using an X display, then you need to invoke SAS in interactive line mode using the NODMS system option. For more information, see Interactive Line Mode under OpenVMS. [cautionend]

Methods for Invoking a SAS Process

If you have the hardware and software to run the Motif interface, you can use any of the following methods to invoke a SAS process:

the SAS command, plus any appropriate system options
the Applications menu of the Motif Session Manager
a command procedure (COM) file

Invoking SAS with the SAS Command

If the SAS windowing environment is not the default, then use the SAS windowing environment system option to specify the SAS windowing environment interface:

$ SAS92/DMS

If the SAS Explorer window is not the default, then use the EXPLORER system option to specify the Explorer window:

$ SAS92/EXPLORER

To invoke both the SAS windowing environment and the SAS Explorer window, use the DMSEXP system option:

$ SAS92/DMSEXP

As explained in Starting a SAS Session under OpenVMS, you can also specify other system options when you invoke SAS in this manner.

To specify a display node, use the SET DISPLAY DCL command. For example, if you want to invoke SAS with the Explorer window and to display the windows on node MYNODE running the TCP/IP transport protocol, type the following:

$ SET DISPLAY/CREATE/NODE=MYNODE/TRANS=TCPIP
$ SAS92/EXPLORER

For more information about the SET DISPLAY DCL command, see the OpenVMS online Help. For more information about logical names, see the OpenVMS User's Manual.

Invoking SAS from Your Motif Session Manager

You can also invoke SAS from the Applications menu of your Motif Session Manager. To add SAS to the Applications menu, follow these steps:

From the Options menu, select Menus .
Select Applications from the Menu Names list.
Enter a menu item name, such as MySAS , and define SAS92/system-option, along with the appropriate command line qualifiers, as the DCL command.
Add the menu definition to the Item Names list by clicking the up arrow.
Add the new item name to the existing list of applications by clicking the left arrow.
Click Apply, and then click Cancel in the Menus dialog box.
Select your menu command from the Applications menu to invoke SAS.

For more information about the Motif Session Manager, see the documentation for your Motif interface.

Invoking SAS from a COM File

To invoke SAS with the Explorer window from a COM file, enter the following commands in the COM file:

$ DEASSIGN SYS$INPUT
$ SAS92/EXPLORER

To invoke SAS with the SAS windowing environment interface from a COM file, enter the following commands in the COM file:

$ DEASSIGN SYS$INPUT
$ SAS92/DMS

To invoke SAS in the DMSEXP mode from a COM file, enter the following commands in the COM file:

$ DEASSIGN SYS$INPUT
$ SAS92/DMSEXP

The DEASSIGN command prevents OpenVMS from looking for program input in the location defined by the SYS$INPUT logical name, and it enables SAS to be initialized with the Explorer window.

If the COM file is named MYSAS.COM, then you would execute the file as follows:

$ @MYSAS

For more information about COM files, see Command Procedures and OpenVMS User's Manual.

Top of Page