What's New

What's New in the SAS 9.2 Language Interfaces to Metadata

Overview

Changes and enhancements in the SAS language interfaces to metadata include the following:

a new system option METASPN= and defaults for METAREPOSITORY=, METAENCRYPTALG, and METAENCRYPTLEVEL system options
read-only access to metadata with the metadata LIBNAME engine, and enhancements for data processing
several new arguments in the METALIB procedure
changes to what the METAOPERATE procedure can control, including the SAS Metadata Server's pause state and the metadata server journal file
new arguments and values for some DATA step functions
a new set of DATA step functions for security administration and reporting
new syntax in the metadata LIBNAME engine, PROC METALIB, and the new METADATA_PATHOBJ function for the pathname where metadata is stored in SAS folders
documentation enhancements

System Options

The system option METASPN= is new. This option specifies the service principal name (SPN) for the metadata server. The SPN is a feature of Integrated Windows authentication (IWA).
The default for the METAREPOSITORY= system option is Foundation.
The default for the METAENCRYPTALG is SASPROPRIETARY.
The default for the METAENCRYPTLEVEL system option is CREDENTIALS.

Metadata LIBNAME Engine

The metadata LIBNAME engine has the following changes and enhancements:

Metadata is read-only. If you want to update metadata, use PROC METALIB.
The argument METAOUT=DATAREG is new. This argument specifies that you can read, update, and delete only the tables and columns that are defined in the metadata. The other values of METAOUT= have been changed to reflect the fact that metadata is read-only.
The LIBRARY= value can specify a pathname where metadata is stored in SAS folders.
The metadata LIBNAME engine supports SAS views.
SAS file passwords can be passed to the underlying engine.

Procedures

The METALIB procedure has the following changes and enhancements:

In the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, column names in metadata are updated to match the case of the column names in the data source.
The LIBRARY=, FOLDER=, or FOLDERID= value can specify a pathname where metadata is stored in SAS folders. In the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, a table can be defined in more than one folder.
The IMPACT_LIMIT statement limits the number of Job or Transformation objects that can be changed.
The PREFIX= statement adds a text string to the beginning of all new metadata object names.
Arguments in the REPORT statement determine the level of detail in the output report.
The READ= argument in the SELECT statement enables PROC METALIB to read password-protected data sets.
PROC METALIB updates WorkTable objects.

The METAOPERATE procedure has the following changes and enhancements:

The PAUSE and RESUME actions affect the metadata server, not an individual SAS Metadata Repository or the repository manager. The pause state is still a property of each repository. However, a repository's pause state is not set directly; it is computed from both the metadata server state and the repository's registered access mode.
The PURGE action is no longer supported.
XML strings in the OPTIONS statement can specify a pathname for the metadata server journal file and provide a comment to users about the metadata server's pause state.

The METADATA procedure has the following changes and enhancements:

The input and output XML strings might differ from previous releases. This change is a result of enhancements to the SAS 9.2 Metadata Model, with new metadata types, modifications to existing metadata types, and modifications to the object hierarchy. See SAS Metadata Model: Reference.

DATA Step Functions

An argument in the DATA step functions METADATA_GETPROP and METADATA_SETPROP provides the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the Property object.
The METADATA_SETASSN function can perform replace, modify, and merge.
The METADATA_PATHOBJ function is new. This function returns the attributes of an object that you specify by its pathname in SAS folders.
A new set of DATA step functions can define and query the authorization settings for the metadata server. You can use macros with the functions to create reports.
The DATA step functions' input and output parameters might differ from previous releases. This change is a result of enhancements to the SAS 9.2 Metadata Model, with new metadata types, modifications to existing metadata types, and modifications to the object hierarchy. See SAS Metadata Model: Reference.

Documentation Enhancements

This book is new. SAS Language Interfaces to Metadata is a reference to the language elements that you can submit in a SAS session (in batch or from the SAS windowing environment) to use, query, and maintain the metadata server. Most of these language elements were previously documented in several other books. This book brings the documentation together, adds new language elements and new features, and expands the conceptual information.