What's New in the SAS 9.2 XML LIBNAME Engine

SAS 9.2 provides two versions for XML LIBNAME engine functionality.

• By specifying the XML engine nickname XML, you access the SAS 9.1.3 XML engine functionality.

• By specifying the XML engine nickname XML92, you access new engine functionality with additional enhancements and changes.

  Note:   Much of the XML92 engine functionality is preproduction for SAS 9.2. Contact SAS Technical Support for a list of cautions before using this engine in your production jobs.  

The XML92 engine nickname provides the following enhancements and changes:

• an enhanced LIBNAME statement

• new XMLMap functionality

• diagnostics of obsolete syntax

The LIBNAME Statement Syntax has the following enhancements for the XML92 engine nickname. Note that some functionality is for SAS 9.2 Phase 2 and later.

• In addition to assigning a libref to a specific XML document, you can assign a libref to the physical location of a SAS library in a directory-based environment. You can use a wildcard character in document names, such as *.xml.

• The value RELAX for the XMLPROCESS= option has changed to PERMIT. XMLPROCESS=PERMIT accepts character data that does not conform to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifications. Use XMLPROCESS=PERMIT cautiously; this value is provided as a convenience. If an XML document has non-escaped characters, the content is not standard XML construction.

• The XMLTYPE= option now supports the XMLMAP markup type. The XMLMAP type specifies that the XML markup is determined by an XMLMap, which tells the XML engine how to interpret an XML document that is being imported or a SAS data set that is being exported.

• For SAS 9.2 Phase 2 and later, you can specify a version name or number for the software using the VERSION= option. For example, when importing a CDISC ODM document, you can specify version="1.2".

• For SAS 9.2 Phase 2 and later, the functionality of the EXPORT markup type for the XMLTYPE= option has changed. EXPORT is an XML markup type for transporting files across hosts. The EXPORT markup type processes XML markup that is in a machine-independent format and can be used for all hosts.

• SAS 9.2 Phase 2 and later provides the new XMLCOMPRESS= option to control how SAS data set observations are written to the XML document when exporting an XML document using the EXPORT markup type.

• For SAS 9.2 Phase 2 and later, the XMLTYPE= option supports the WSDL markup type. The WSDL markup type supports the markup standards of the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). Specifying the WSDL markup type enables the XML engine to invoke a Web service and import the Web service results.

XMLMap functionality has the following enhancements for the XML92 engine nickname:

• You can now export an XML document from a SAS data set using the XMLMap that was created to import the XML document. The XMLMap tells the XML engine how to map the SAS format (variables and observations) into the specific XML document structure. See Exporting XML Documents Using an XMLMap.

• The XMLMap Syntax Version 1.9 has the following enhancements:

  • The new OUTPUT, HEADING, ATTRIBUTE, and TABLEREF elements enable you to include file attribute information in the exported XML document.

  • The COLUMN element now supports the replace= attribute, which controls concatenation of data. The COLUMN element also supports the class= attribute, which determines the type of generated variable.

  • The new DECREMENT-PATH element defines when to decrement the accumulated value for a counter variable.

For the XML92 engine nickname, the following syntax is obsolete:

• The OIMDBM and HTML markup types for the XMLTYPE= option in the LIBNAME statement are obsolete.

• The OIMSTART= option in the LIBNAME statement is obsolete.

• You can no longer specify the XMLMAP= option as a data set option. You must specify the XMLMap in the LIBNAME statement for the XML engine.

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