Problem Note 16659: "ERROR: Format xxx.. is incorrect for variable xxx" in the VIEWTABLE
window
If you attempt to assign a user-defined format to a column displayed in
the VIEWTABLE window via the Format window, which you access through the
Column Attributes window, you may receive the following error message
after clicking on the Apply button:
ERROR: Format myfmt.. is incorrect for variable myvar.
This error message will be written to the SAS Log only if you use the
Format window to make the assignment. The Format window is opened by
clicking on the ellipsis button to the right of the Format field in the
Column Attributes window.
When you select the custom format from the list of available formats in
the Format window, the value displayed in the Width field is ".". Any
attempt to increment this to a valid value fails. If you blank out the
"." from the Width field, you get the following error dialog when you
attempt to close the Format window:
ERROR: Invalid data was entered. Please specify another value.
If you replace the "." in the Width field with a valid width for the
format (ie. "6."), the format will be successfully applied to the
column.
An alternate way to circumvent this problem is to assign the custom
format in the Format field within the Column Attributes window and not
by clicking on the ellipsis button to open the Format window. In the
Format field within the Column Attributes window, you do not have to
specify a width for the format.
Operating System and Release Information
| SAS System | SAS/AF | Microsoft Windows XP Professional | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft Windows NT Workstation | 9.1 TS1M0 | |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft® Windows® for 64-Bit Itanium-based Systems | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft Windows 2000 Server | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| 64-bit Enabled AIX | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| OpenVMS Alpha | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| 64-bit Enabled HP-UX | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| HP-UX IPF | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Linux | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| 64-bit Enabled Solaris | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
| Tru64 UNIX | 9.1 TS1M0 | 9.2 TS1M0 |
*
For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed
Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be
fixed.
| Type: | Problem Note |
| Priority: | medium |
| Date Modified: | 2005-12-13 11:37:49 |
| Date Created: | 2005-12-09 09:23:46 |