A
format is a set of instructions that SAS uses to write data values. Formats are used in
the data builder to control the written appearance of data values. User-defined formats
are specialized formats that are not supplied by SAS. These formats are stored in
a
custom format catalog.
The preferred method for making
user-defined formats available to a SAS Application Server is to name the custom format catalog
formats.sas7bcat,
and to place it in
SAS-config-dir/Lev1/SASApp/SASEnvironment/SASFormats
. For more information about using
user-defined formats, see
SAS Intelligence Platform: Data Administration Guide.
When a user-defined format is permanently associated with a variable, the data builder
uses the format and shows
it in the
Format column.
However, if you select the
Format menu and
choose a different format, you cannot use the
Format menu
to go back to the original user-defined format. You can click
to
undo the change to the format if you have not saved your work yet, or you can remove and
add the column back again.
Even if the custom format catalog is made available to the SAS Application Server
correctly, you cannot associate
a user-defined format to a variable with the data builder. The menu in the Format column
does not enable you to specify a user-defined format.