What's New Table of Contents |
What's New in the SAS 9.0 and 9.1 Companion for OpenVMS Alpha
Overview
New and enhanced features in Base SAS improve ease of use and SAS performance under the OpenVMS Alpha operating environment:
- SAS is built to take advantage of the OpenVMS Alpha 64-bit architecture.
- Your site administrator can restrict system options for your site.
- You can create filenames similar to those on UNIX and Windows by using Extended (ODS-5) Syntax on ODS-5 enabled volumes.
- Support for cluster-level logicals has been incorporated into SAS in all areas where multi-level logical definitions were previously supported.
- SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is now the default for sending mail from within SAS.
- This section describes the features of SAS software under the OpenVMS Alpha operating environment that are new or enhanced since SAS 8.2.
-
z/OS is the successor to the OS/390 operating
system. Throughout this document, any reference to z/OS also applies to OS/390,
unless otherwise stated.
Migrating Your Existing SAS Files to SAS 9.1
Starting in SAS 9.0, SAS is built to take advantage of the OpenVMS Alpha 64-bit architecture. The following list explains the compatibility of your existing SAS files with SAS 9.1:
- All of your Version 7 and Version 8 SAS files (except SAS catalogs) are compatible with SAS 9.1. To take advantage of the new SAS®9 features and access your existing SAS catalogs, convert your Version 7 and Version 8 files by using the MIGRATE procedure.
- SAS 9.1 only supports input processing for Version 6 data files using the V6 read-only engine. To access all of your Version 6 files in SAS 9.1, you need to migrate your Version 6 data libraries.
You can use the MIGRATE procedure to convert all of your SAS files to the SAS 9.1 format. For more information about the MIGRATE procedure, see the Migration Community at support.sas.com/rnd/migration.
If you use Remote Library Services (RLS) to access SAS files on a server, see the SAS/CONNECT User's Guide for information about accessing Version 6 SAS files.
Restricted System Options
Your site administrator can restrict SAS system options at three levels: for your site, for a specific group, or for an individual user. Because these options are restricted, you cannot change a value that is specified in the restricted configuration files. Use the new RESTRICT option for the OPTIONS procedure to see all of the system options that have been restricted. For information about creating a restricted configuration file, see SAS System Configuration Guide for OpenVMS.
Support for Extended (ODS-5) Syntax on ODS-5 Enabled Volumes
SAS supports the Extended (ODS-5) Syntax on ODS-5 enabled volumes. The ODS-5 syntax allows longer filenames, supports more characters within filenames, preserves case within filenames, and supports deeper directory structures. These extended file specifications enable users to create filenames similar to those in UNIX and Windows. The ODS-5 and Windows file-naming conventions are similar. For example, if a filename exists in all uppercase, then any lowercase or uppercase reference to that file will resolve to uppercase.
When using the ODS-5 syntax, you must issue an X statement before using a DCL command in SAS.
Support for Cluster-Level Logicals
OpenVMS 7.2 introduced the new concept of clusterwide logical definitions. Support for cluster-level logicals has been incorporated into SAS in all areas where multi-level logical definitions were previously supported. See the OpenVMS documentation for more information about cluster-level logical definitions.
SAS will use a clusterwide logical when you:
- specify a cluster-level configuration file
- specify a cluster-level autoexec file
- use the GETLOG function.
Specifying an Additional Configuration File
You can specify the CONFIG= system option inside a configuration file to point to an additional configuration file. Because the options specified in this additional file are processed at the point of the CONFIG= specification, their precedence will be lower than the next option listed in the original configuration file.
Functionalities That Are Unavailable from a Captive Account
Functionalities that require either a detached process or a subprocess are unavailable from a captive account. These functionalities are:
- host-specific commands that are executed asynchronously from the SYSTASK statement
- the PIPE device in the FILENAME statement
- remote sign-ons using SAS/CONNECT
- the SAS Help and Documentation in the SAS windowing environment
- the SAS Session Manager (xsassm)
- X commands that cannot be executed in the current process.
Changes to SAS E-mail
- The default mail handler is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which supports attachments.
- The BCC option in the FILENAME statement enables you to send blind copy e-mails during a SAS session.
-
Using the Send Mail dialog box, you can now do
the following:
- include the contents of an active SAS text window (such as the Program Editor or Log) in the body of your e-mail.
-
attach the contents of
a non-text window to your e-mail. Examples
of non-text windows include a graph generated by SAS/GRAPH and an image in
your PROC REPORT output.
Note: The VMS e-mail facility does not support attachments.
Accessing External Shareable Images
Shareable images are executable files that contain one or more routines written in various programming languages. Shareable images store useful routines that might be needed by many applications. Using the MODULE family of SAS CALL routines and functions, you can invoke a routine that resides in an external shareable image from within SAS. You can access the shareable images by using a DATA step, the IML procedure, and SCL code.
Engines
The following features are new or enhanced:
- The new V6 read-only engine enables you to read your Release 6.12 data sets. For more information about the V6 read-only engine, see SAS Language Reference: Concepts.
- The V5 and V6TAPE engines are no longer supported. Because of this, neither the V5 nor the V6TAPE options are valid in the LIBNAME statement or in the ENGINE= system option.
SAS Resources
-
The following resources are new:
- SAS.startSessionManager specifies whether SAS automatically starts the session manager when a new SAS session is started.
- SAS.suppressTutorialDialog specifies whether SAS displays the Getting Started Tutorial dialog box at the start of your SAS session.
- SAS.useNativeXmTextTranslations specifies whether any XmText widget translations are inherited by all instances of the Text, Combo Box, and Spin Box widgets used by the SAS X Motif user interface.
- SAS.VMSdisplay controls how often SAS yields processing to the X windowing environment.
- The SAS.webBrowser resource is no longer supported. The SAS.helpBrowser now specifies the pathname of the World Wide Web browser for use when viewing the online help or when the WBROWSE command is issued.
SAS Language Elements
Commands
- The X command now breaks DCL commands that are longer than 256 characters into smaller chunks before sending them to the operating environment for processing.
Functions
- To call a specific routine or module that resides in a shareable image, you can use the MODULE function.
- You can store the contents of a memory address in a numeric variable on 32-bit and 64-bit platforms by using the PEEKLONG function. This function replaces the PEEK function, which was valid only on 32-bit platforms.
Procedures
- To see all the system options that have been set by your site administrator, use the RESTRICT option in the OPTIONS procedure.
Statements
- The following options are new in the %INCLUDE statement:
- The V5 and V6TAPE options are not accepted by the LIBNAME statement.
System Options
-
The following system options are new:
- You can specify the location of the Program Editor autosave file by using the AUTOSAVELOC= system option.
- To specify that the asynchronous host command use a detached process, use the DETACH system option. The default is DETACH.
- If you create a customized table of contents and index for the SAS Help and Documentation, use the HELPTOC= and HELPINDEX= system options to specify the file location.
- SSLCALISTLOC, SSLCRLLOC, SSLCERTLOC, SSLPVTKEYLOC, and SSLPVTKEYPASS are authentication security options that are under the OpenVMS Alpha operating environment. For details, see the SAS/CONNECT User's Guide.
-
The following system options have been changed
or enhanced:
- SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the new default for the EMAILSYS= system option. SMTP supports sending attachments.
- V9 is a new value for the ENGINE= system option. V5 and V6TAPE are obsolete and not accepted as valid values.
- The SAS$USER logical, the default for the SASUSER= system option, now defaults to the SASUSER91 subdirectory of the SYS$LOGIN directory.
- MAX is the new default value for the SORTSIZE= system option.
- The value of <stack-size</span> for the STACK= system option must be an integer between 65,535 and 5,242,880. The default value for most procedures is now 1,048,576 bytes.
- The following system options are obsolete or are no longer supported: