Working in the SAS Windowing Environment

Opening Files under OpenVMS

The Open dialog box enables you to select a file to read into the active window. To access this dialog box, complete one of the following steps:

Issue the DLGOPEN command in the command window.
Select File Open in the active window.

Open Dialog Box

[Open Dialog Box]

The Open dialog box displays files and directories as a graphical hierarchy. You will not see directories that you do not have READ access to. Double-click a directory name to list the files it contains. Select a file.

You can display a list of possible file filters by selecting the down arrow next to the File Type field. Click a file filter to select it.

Description of the Open Dialog Box Options

The following table describes the options found in the Open dialog box.

Options in the Open Dialog Box
Option	Description
Enter directory, filename, or filter	is where you can type in the name of the directory, file, or file filter (file type) that you want to open. To display a list of all the files in a directory, enter the asterisk () wildcard in the Filter field or select All Files; from the list of file types. The directory listed in the Filter field is the currently selected directory. You can change this directory either by selecting a name from the Page of Directories list or by typing the new name directly into the field.
Page of Directories	contains the names of the directories specified in the Filter and Page fields. The Open dialog box displays non-readable directories with a different icon.
Page	enables you to change the directories that are displayed in the Page of Directories list. A new page is defined when the number of entries in the Page of Directories list exceeds twice the screen height. To change pages, use the right or left arrow next to the Page field or enter a page number directly in the field.
Files	contains the files in the selected directory that match the file filter specified.
File type	enables you to select the type or types of files to be shown in the Files list. You can display a list of possible file filters by selecting the down arrow next to the field. Click a file filter to select it.

Note: Because of the use of concealed logicals, you will not be able to access the SAS$ROOT:[000000] directory from the Open dialog box. [cautionend]

Click OK when you have finished making your selection. Click Cancel to close the Open dialog box without selecting a new file.

Specifying the Initial Filter and Directory Using SAS Resources

You can specify the initial file filter in the File type field by assigning a value to the SAS.pattern resource. However, the Open dialog box retains its file filter between invocations, so the SAS.pattern resource applies only to the first invocation of the Open dialog box. You can also use the SAS.directory resource to specify the directory that you want when you first invoked the Open dialog box.

For more information about specifying SAS resources, see Overview of X Resources.

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