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Overview

Typically, to make user-defined formats available for selection in SAS Business Intelligence clients such as SAS^® Information Map Studio and SAS^® Data Integration Studio, you place a catalog named formats.sas7bcat in a designated directory on each machine that is hosting a SAS Workspace Server.

• For SAS^® 9.2, the designated location is typically SAS-config-dir\Lev1\SASApp\SASEnvironment\SASFormats. ("SASApp" is the default subdirectory name.)



• For SAS^® 9.1 (TS1M3 SP4), the designated location is typically SAS-config-dir\Lev1\SASMain\SASEnvironment\SASFormats. If the SAS Workspace Server is not on the same machine as the SAS Metadata Server, then the location is typically SAS-config-dir\Lev1\SASApp\SASEnvironment\SASFormats.

After following the instructions in this note, restart your object spawner so that you are working with a new SAS session.

This note contains the following topics:

• About the configuration files
• Specifying a format catalog with a different name
• Referencing additional format catalogs
• Storing format catalogs in a different directory
• Adding a new format to a catalog

Note: When building cubes in the Cube Designer, you can type in the name of a user-defined format; however, a list of available formats is not presented.

About the configuration files

Version 9.2

In SAS 9.2, there are two related configuration files for the workspace server: sasv9.cfg and sasv9_usermods.cfg. Typically, these files are located in C:\SAS\EntBIServer\Lev1\SASApp. In the initial configuration, the sasv9.cfg file has the following lines:

-set APFMTLIB "SASEnvironment/SASFormats" -insert fmtsearch APFMTLIB

Do not make changes directly to the sasv9.cfg file. Instead, as explained in this note, use the sasv9_usermods.cfg file to override the default settings.

Version 9.1

In SAS 9.1, you make your modifications directly to the sasv9.cfg file. Typically, this file is located in C:\SAS\EBI36\Lev1\SASMain. In the initial configuration, the sasv9.cfg file has the following line:

-set library ("SASEnvironment/sasFormats")

Specifying a format catalog with a different name

SAS expects your format catalog to be named formats. If your catalog is, for example, named usrfmt instead of formats, then you can modify the configuration files to specify the correct name.

Version 9.2

Locate the sasv9_usermods.cfg file for the workspace server. For example, the location might be C:\SAS\EntBIServer\Lev1\SASApp. Open the sasv9_usermods.cfg file in a text editor, and add the following line to point to the correct catalog.

-insert fmtsearch APFMTLIB.usrfmt

Version 9.1

Locate the sasv9.cfg file for the workspace server. For example, the location might be C:\SAS\EBI36\Lev1\SASMain. Beneath the -set library ("SASEnvironment/sasFormats") line, add the following line, where usrfmt is the name of your formats catalog.

-fmtsearch (library.usrfmt)

Referencing additional format catalogs

If you have more than one format catalog, place a copy of each catalog in the designated directory along with the formats.sas7bcat catalog. Then, modify the configuration files to specify the additional catalogs.

Version 9.2

Locate the sasv9_usermods.cfg file for the workspace server. For example, the location might be C:\SAS\EntBIServer\Lev1\SASApp. Open the sasv9_usermods.cfg file in a text editor, and add the following line to point to your other format catalog. In this example, two additional catalogs are referenced: formats2 and formats3.

-insert fmtsearch (APFMTLIB.formats2 APFMTLIB.formats3)

Version 9.1

Locate the sasv9.cfg file for the workspace server. For example, the location might be C:\SAS\EBI36\Lev1\SASMain. Beneath the -set library ("SASEnvironment/sasFormats") line, add the following line, where formats2 is the additional catalog. Specify other catalogs as needed, separated by a space (see previous example).

-fmtsearch (library.formats library.formats2)

Storing your format catalogs in a different directory

If you do not want to store your format catalogs in the default SASFormats directory, you can specify a different location.

Version 9.2

Locate the sasv9_usermods.cfg for the workspace server. For example, the location might be C:\SAS\EntBIServer\Lev1\SASApp. Open the file in a text editor and add the following lines to point to your preferred catalog location. Enter a fully qualified path (as shown in the example), not a relative path.

-set APFMTLIB "C:\Program Files\SAS\SASFoundation\9.2\Formats" -insert fmtsearch APFMTLIB

Version 9.1

Locate the sasv9.cfg file for the workspace server. For example, the location might be C:\SAS\EBI36\Lev1\SASMain. Open the file in a text editor. Edit the directory path in the -set option to point to your preferred catalog location. Enter a fully qualified path (as shown in the example), not a relative path.

-set library ("C:\Program Files\SAS\SAS 9.1\Formats")

Adding a new format to a catalog

The following code provides a simple example of how to add a user-defined format to a catalog. The code adds a user-defined character format named $GENDER to formats.sas7bcat in the APFMTLIB library, which is located at C:\SAS\EntBIServer\Lev1\SASApp\SASEnvironment\SASFormats.

libname APFMTLIB 'C:\SAS\EntBIServer\Lev1\SASApp\SASEnvironment\SASFormats';

proc format library=APFMTLIB;
  value $ gender 
  'F'='Female'
  'M'='Male'
  ' '='Other'
  ;
run;

To add the new format to a different catalog in that location, you can append the catalog name to the libref, as shown next.

proc format library=APFMTLIB.formats2;

Additional Documentation

The SAS Workspace Server is defined within a SAS Application Server, which is logical container for a set of application server components that execute code.) For more information about the SAS Application Server, see Overview of SAS Application Servers (version 9.2), or What Is a SAS Application Server? (version 9.1).

For more information about the FMTSEARCH option, see FMTSEARCH= System Option

For more information about creating formats, see PROC FORMAT Statement.

For information about using a configuration file to define a list of format catalogs, see Create a User-Defined Formats Configuration File.

For information about managing format catalogs on multiple machines, see the following references: Managing Data and Catalogs for Servers on Multiple Machines (version 9.2), or Data and Catalogs for Servers on Multiple Machines (version 9.1).

For information about why user-defined formats might not appear in SAS® Information Map Studio, see SAS Note 40181.

Operating System and Release Information