Advanced Topics for Users

Stored Strings in SYSTEM 2000

When you include a SYSTEM 2000 where-clause in a view descriptor, you can either use where-clause syntax as explained in where-clause in SYSTEM 2000, or you can refer to a SYSTEM 2000 stored string. A stored string is syntax contained in a SYSTEM 2000 database definition that can be invoked by using the string number or name. Either a complete where-clause or a portion of one can be stored. For example, you can store part of a SYSTEM 2000 where-clause in the database, such as

   sex=female

If you assign string number C1001 to the string, when you include a where-clause in a view descriptor, you can refer to the string number, for example,

   department=marketing and *c1001*

When the selection criteria are processed by SYSTEM 2000 against the database, the result is

   department=marketing and sex=female

However, when the interface view engine confronts the view descriptor where-clause, the engine can check for errors only until it encounters the string reference. The engine cannot access the string definition and, therefore, cannot expand the string to validate your syntax. Also, the engine cannot check the syntax that follows the string expansion, which means you must be more careful with the where-clause construction. However, the engine will append a WHERE clause in SAS at the end of the view descriptor where-clause if this was not done before the occurrence of a SYSTEM 2000 string reference.

If you specify a stored string in a view descriptor where-clause, follow these rules in the where-clause syntax after the string reference:

Use only valid SYSTEM 2000 item component names or numbers.
Enter all keywords and any character values in uppercase.
Do not use connecting strings.
Do not use TEXT values that contain significant blanks.

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