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What is SAS AppDev Studio?
SAS AppDev Studio is a complete suite of tools that provides the power of SAS software for enterprise application development. SAS AppDev Studio bundles all of the software products that you need for developing client/server and n-tiered Web applications on your Windows PC. Each of these products can be categorized into one of three groups, depending on its purpose.
- Front-end Components, such as webAF software and webEIS software, that can be used to create either thin-client or server-based applications that are Java-based and take advantage of the power of the SAS server on the back end.
- Communication Components, including SAS Integration Technologies, SAS/IntrNet (with htmSQL and Application Dispatcher), SAS/CONNECT, SAS/SHARE, and the SAS AppDev Studio Middleware Server, that you can use to establish and manage communication and data sharing between clients (such as a browser or a webAF or webEIS application) and servers.
- Back-end Components, including Base SAS, SAS/AF, SAS/EIS, SAS/FSP, and SAS/GRAPH, that are used to provide specific functionality. Base SAS and SAS/IntrNet are required on the server from which you deploy your production application. The use of the other products is dependent on the requirements of your application.
With SAS AppDev Studio, your applications can take advantage of the following Web-enabled technologies:
- Common Gateway Interface (CGI) Support. The CGI support included with SAS AppDev Studio enables your Web server to communicate with a SAS application or data server without requiring any base-level CGI programming. Your thin-client applications can use the Application Dispatcher to access SAS programs on the server and can send the results back to a Web browser. You can also use htmSQL, which gives users the ability to make SQL queries, format data, and display results in a browser.
- Java Development. With easy-to-use wizards and drag-and-drop interfaces, webAF provides a complete Java development environment in which you can build Java applets and applications that can instantly connect to a SAS server. You can add access to SAS/AF components, SAS tables, and OLAP engines, using a library of over 100 ready-to-use InformationBeans (JavaBeans that use the data access, computational, and analytical features of SAS software). Other webAF features help you distribute and deploy Java applets and applications across your organization or help you implement Java servlets on your Web server.
- OLAP Reporting. You can deliver robust applications for online analytical processing (OLAP) reporting without writing a single line of code. Using the drag-and-drop environment of webEIS, business analysts can build their own Web-based Java reports quickly and easily. They can access data, drill down on areas of interest, and employ a variety of reporting styles. Users can also take advantage of two pre-built applications for viewing data, including the MetaSpace Explorer for navigating through a SAS data warehouse and the MDDB Report Viewer for HTML-based views of multidimensional databases (MDDBs).
The advantages that SAS AppDev Studio provides go beyond Web-enabled applications development. You can build applications quickly and easily without connecting to remote servers, tying up production resources, or moving files back and forth across your network. You can take advantage of code-free reporting and pre-built applications, or you can develop sophisticated applications that use object-oriented development techniques on both the client and the server. Most importantly, you can develop what your users need to get the most out of SAS software.
If your organization currently uses SAS software, SAS AppDev Studio gives you the ability to encapsulate server-side SAS/AF software and SCL applications in Java so that a client application can utilize them in an open solution without you having to write any specialized code.
If SAS software is new to your organization, you can use SAS AppDev Studio's webAF and webEIS components to quickly develop client/server applications that provide a gateway to the industry-leading decision support and data warehousing features of SAS software.