What's New in SAS 9.3 Companion for z/OS

Overview

SAS for z/OS has added the following new and enhanced features:
  • new support for symbolic references in SAS configuration files and SASRX configuration files
  • new tree nodes and commands for the Explorer window
  • new support for SAS Data Location Assist for z/OS
  • new LOGGER switch option for SASRX
  • new 64-Bit SAS Metadata Server
  • enhanced support for z/OS Extended Addressability Volumes
SAS for z/OS has enhanced the following language elements:
  • FILECLOSE data set option
  • Procedures
    PRINT LEAVE
    RELEASE SOURCE
  • Statements
    FILE LIBNAME
    FILENAME
  • System Options
    ALTLOG= FONTRENDERING=
    APPEND= INSERT=
    APPLETLOC= MSGCASE
    EMAILSYS= UTILLOC=
    FILESYNC=
SAS for z/OS has added the following new system options:
CLENTWORK FILETEMPDIR
DLCREATEDIR VALIDMEMNAME

SAS Software Enhancements

The following software enhancements have been made to SAS for z/OS:
Format of a Configuration File's Contents
has added information that option values in SAS configuration files can contain symbolic references.
Explorer Window
has added the following features:
  • USS Home Directory and z/OS Data Sets nodes on the tree view
  • DSLIST and UDLIST commands to open windows that display lists of native z/OS data sets and UFS files.
SAS Data Location Assist for z/OS
enables you to use the flexibility of the SAS DATA step to gather information about attributes for data sets that reside throughout your operating system.
SASRX Switch Options
has added the LOGGER option, which enables you to use the UNIX logger command to write error messages and output of the TRACE option to the system console.
64-Bit SAS Metadata Server
enables support for much larger amounts of metadata because of exploitation of the hardware's 64-bit memory addressing capability.
Extended Addressability Volumes
SAS support for z/OS Extended Addressability Volumes (EAV) enables the following functionality:
  • Under z/OS V1R2, SAS can process direct access bound libraries that reside in the extended address space of an EAV.
  • Under z/OS V1R11 and subsequent releases, SAS supports the EATTR option on the FILENAME and LIBNAME statements. This option enables SAS to create new files and library data sets with extended attributes so that they can reside in the extended address space of an EAV.
SASRX Configuration File Options
can contain symbolic references that can be resolved from values that are specified with the SASRXSYSCFGPARMS or SASRXCFGPARMS options.

Enhanced SAS Data Set Options

The FILECLOSE= data set option is now supported on z/OS. FILECLOSE= supports the V5TAPE, V6TAPE, and V9TAPE engines. The default value for FILECLOSE= is the current setting of the TAPECLOSE system option, and you can specify the FREE value for FILECLOSE=.

Enhanced SAS Procedures

The following SAS procedures have been enhanced:
PROC PRINT
has methods specific to z/OS for controlling the amount of memory that it uses.
PROC RELEASE
can be used only to release all unused space for extended format sequential data sets and data sets residing in Extended Addressing Space on Extended Address Volumes. No options can be specified on the PROC RELEASE invocation for these data set types.
PROC SORT
The LEAVE option of PROC SORT applies only if SORTSIZE=SIZE is specified.
PROC SOURCE
truncates records from an INDD if they are larger than the OUTDD LRECL. To avoid truncation, specify an OUTDD LRECL that is equal to or greater than the INDD LRECL value.

Enhanced SAS Statements

The following SAS statements have been enhanced:
FILE statement
has added the following standard host options:
RLS specifies that a data set should be opened in RLS mode.
RLSREAD specifies the read integrity level to be applied to an RLS data set.
VSMDBUG indicates that a message should be written to the SAS log that indicates the filename, function requested, return code, and reason code after each VSAM system request (for example, GET, POINT, PUT) until the number specified by nnnn is exceeded.
FILENAME statement
has the following enhancements:
  • enables the specification of DATACLAS values that begin with national characters such as @, #, and $.
  • supports the AVGREC option, which can be used only when the unit of space subparameter of the SPACE option is a number, which indicates an average record length.
  • supports the EATTR option, which specifies whether a sequential data set can have extended attribute DSCBs. The EATTR option can also specify whether a sequential data set can reside in extended addressing space (EAS).
LIBNAME statement
has the following enhancements:
  • enables the specification of DATACLAS values that begin with national characters such as @, #, and $.
  • supports the AVGREC option, which can be used only when the unit of space subparameter of the SPACE option is a number, which indicates an average record length.
  • supports the EATTR option, which specifies whether a sequential data set can have extended attribute DSCBs. The EATTR option can also specify whether a sequential data set can reside in extended addressing space (EAS).

Enhanced SAS System Options

The following SAS system options have been enhanced or changed:
ALTLOG system option
enables you to control when log copies are opened and closed, and how they are named based on real-time events such as time, month, and day of the week.
APPEND system option
has the following enhancements:
  • valid in the OPTIONS statement and the OPTIONS window.
  • supports inserting the AUTOEXEC and SET system options.
APPLETLOC system option
specifies the location of Java applets.
EMAILSYS system option
is valid in the OPTIONS statement and the OPTIONS window.
FILESYNC system option
has a new SAVE argument, which specifies that the buffers are written to disk when the SAS file is saved
FONTRENDERING system option
The HOST_PIXEL argument of the FONTRENDERING option is not supported on z/OS. If HOST_PIXELS is specified, SAS uses FREETYPE_POINTS as the value for this option.
INSERT system option
has the following enhancements:
  • valid in the OPTIONS statement and the OPTIONS window.
  • supports inserting the AUTOEXEC system option.
MSGCASE system option
is supported in the national language support (NLS) formats.
UTILLOC system option
The debug_utilloc command can determine whether the syntax of the UTILLOC system option is valid.

New SAS System Options

The following SAS system options are new:
CLIENTWORK system option
specifies dynamic allocation options for creating client work libraries in a SAS server environment.
DLCREATEDIR system option
creates a directory for a SAS library that is specified on a LIBNAME statement if the directory does not exist.
FILETEMPDIR system option
specifies the parent directory for FILENAME TEMPFILE.
VALIDMEMNAME system option
specifies the rules for naming SAS data sets, data views, and item stores.

Deprecated SAS System Options

The following SAS system options have been deprecated:
  • PRODTOC
  • DB2PKCHK
  • DLHFSCREATEDIR

Documentation Enhancements

SAS Windows and Commands are now documented in the following three sections:
  • Windows in z/OS Environments
  • Host-Specific Windows of the FORM Subsystem
  • Host-Specific Window Commands
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