Accessing Your Data Sources

The details of how you access your SAS data sources depend on which ODBC-compliant application you are using (for example, Microsoft Access or Excel), and on whether you are accessing local or remote data. To access your data source, complete these steps:
  1. Install the SAS ODBC Driver. (See the installation instructions for the driver.) The installation program provides the SAS ODBC Driver for the ODBC Data Source Administrator to use.
  2. Double-click the ODBC Data Sources or ODBC Administrator icon in the Control Panel window to access the ODBC dialog box and the SAS ODBC Data Source Definition dialog box.
  3. Use both of these dialog boxes to provide the SAS ODBC Driver with the necessary information about your SAS data sources. ( For more information, see Defining Your Data Sources.) SAS data sources can include SAS data sets, DATA step views, PROC SQL views, or SAS/ACCESS views, all of which contain definitions of data that is stored elsewhere from the physical data itself. (For more information, see Types of Data Accessed with the SAS ODBC Driver and SAS Data Sets.)
  4. For information about how to access or import data from other sources, see the documentation for your Windows application. From the list of available data sources, select the name of your SAS data source.
  5. Select or enter the name of the SAS library.
  6. Select or enter the name of the SAS data file or view.
For information about configuring file data source names (DSN) for applications that use file DSNs only (such as Microsoft Excel 97), see the online Help that is available when you configure data sources in the ODBC Data Source Administrator.