SAS: Exploiting the Power of Windows

SAS Runs in Enterprise Environments

The Windows enterprise environment provides a flexible, easy-to-use working environment by which you can integrate SAS into your enterprise solutions. Here are the supported Window environments for SAS 9.4:
You can access applications that are supported by Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) by accessing the following URL. Word and Excel applications are supported. The PowerPoint application is not supported.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/142821

An Integral Part of Your Windows Editions

SAS under Windows is designed to let you complete your data- and computation-intensive tasks while integrating with the Windows applications that are already in place on your desktop and within your enterprise. SAS supports information sharing through the most powerful tools and techniques that Windows has to offer. Those tools and techniques include the following:

Compatible and Maintainable

Read and Write SAS Data Sets from Previous Releases

SAS can read and write SAS data sets that were created by earlier releases of SAS.
However, in order to bridge the upgrades in the SAS catalog architecture and differences in the operating environment structure, you must convert catalogs from earlier formats (such as Release 9.1 under Windows) to SAS 9.4 format using the transport procedures CPORT and CIMPORT.

Use the Graphical Interface or the Command Line Interface

You can still use the command line as you did in previous releases. However, you can also use the graphical user interface (GUI) to issue commands. Most existing SAS commands and windows are available through the GUI. In some cases, you select operations through dialog boxes and various other GUI controls.

Launching Java

SAS launches Java using the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) so that it can run Java code. Parts of SAS are written in Java. The JRE contains the libraries that are needed to run Java.
In SAS 9.3, the ODS graphics procedures moved from SAS/GRAPH to Base SAS. These procedures that rely on Java are delivered as part of Base SAS, rather than as a separate SAS product. As a result, a key difference in the SAS 9.4 windowing environment is that SAS now initializes the Java environment upon SAS invocation.
HTML is now the default output for SAS 9.4 Windowing environment, replacing the listing destination. The default style has changed from Styles.Default to Styles.HTMLBlue for the default HTML ODS destination that is generated with the SAS windowing environment and in batch mode.
Java is implemented as a part of Base SAS in SAS 9.4 because the Graph Template Language and the SAS/GRAPH procedures such as SGPLOT, SGPANNEL, SGSCATTER, and SGRENDER have moved to Base SAS from the SAS/GRAPH procedures. By default, the ODS GRAPHICS statement is set to ON for SAS procedures that support ODS Graphics when the procedures are executed in the SAS windowing environment in the Windows and UNIX operating systems. Although ODS Graphics are enabled for these procedures, you might want to use the ODS GRAPHICS statement to control the graphical environment.
When you use the Windowing environment of SAS (interactive SAS) in SAS 9.4, you might encounter error messages similar to the following in the SAS Log window when you run programs (for example: PROC JAVAINFO; run;):
ERROR: Unable to attach current thread"
   ERROR: Unable to load the java virtual machine"
   ERROR: Proc javainfo did not run correctly
   ERROR: The Java proxy is not responding.
   ERROR: The Java proxy's JNI call to start the VM failed.
   ERROR: Java failed to start during the SAS startup.
These errors are typically related to issues with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). To resolve these issues, follow these steps: http://support.sas.com/kb/48/548.html