What's New

What's New in SAS/ACCESS 9.2 Interface to PC Files

SAS/ACCESS 9.2 Interface to PC Files enables you to read data from PC files to use in your SAS reports and applications. The following enhancements were made in SAS 9.2:

Support for additional PC Files types.
The enhanced PC Files Server application can run as a Windows service and supports user authentication. PC Files Server supports the client/server model for JMP, SPSS, and Stata files.
The IMPORT and EXPORT procedures and the Import and Export Wizard have been enhanced to support PC-specific 64-bit SAS running on a 64-bit Windows operating environment.
Reading date and time value differences between SAS and Microsoft files is supported.
Support for the LIBNAME UNICODE= option has been added.
The FMTLIB= option enables you to associate a format library to PC data.
Document enhancements.

PC Files

Starting in SAS 9.2 Phase 2, the SAS import and export utilities support the following file types:

dBase DBF Files
Lotus 1-2-3 WKn Files
Microsoft Access Database Files
Microsoft Excel Workbook Files
JMP Files
Paradox DB File Formats
SPSS SAV Files
Stata DTA Files

Starting in the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, Base SAS supports access to JMP files. You can access JMP files with the Import and Export procedures and the Import and Export Wizard without a license for SAS/ACCESS Interface to PC Files.

PC Files Server

Starting in SAS 9.2 Phase 2, the enhancements to the PC Files Server application include the following features:

support for running PC Files Server as a Windows service
authentication options enabling PC Files Server system administrators to secure the server and enforce security
autostart option for Microsoft 64-bit Windows systems

In the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, SAS/ACCESS Interface to PC Files supports the client/server model for JMP, SPSS, and Stata files. This enables you to run SAS on UNIX and access these PC file types by connecting to a PC Files Server.

The Import and Export Wizards and Procedures

In the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, PC-specific 64-bit SAS and 64-bit Windows support for the IMPORT and EXPORT procedures and the Import and Export Wizard are new. Microsoft Excel Workbook on PC Files Server and Microsoft Access Database on PC Files Server have been added to the data source options list in the wizard.

Date and Time Value Differences between SAS and Microsoft Files

Starting in SAS 9.2 Phase 2, in different versions of SAS, the IMPORT procedure and the LIBNAME engine can read formatted date and time values from Microsoft Access and Excel files.

The LIBNAME Option

Starting in SAS 9.2 Phase 2, support for the LIBNAME UNICODE= option is available. You can specify whether SAS binds the character type columns with wide character mode (YES) or narrow character mode (NO). By adding UNICODE=YES to your LIBNAME statement, you enable character data such as DBCS to be returned correctly.

Support for Formats

Starting in SAS 9.2 Phase 2, support for the FMTLIB= option is available. You can associate a format library with your PC data.

Documentation Enhancements

SAS/ACCESS 9.2 Interface for PC Files: Reference was significantly reorganized and rewritten.