The SAS Session Manager (motifxsassm) in UNIX :: SAS(R) 9.3 Companion for UNIX Environments

What Is the SAS Session Manager?

The SAS Session Manager for X (motifxsassm) is an X client that is run by SAS when you use the SAS windowing environment. The SAS Session Manager is automatically minimized when you start SAS. The SAS: Session Management dialog box for the SAS Session Manager appears as shown in the following display:

SAS: Session Management Dialog Box

The SAS: Session Management dialog box lists the following information:

which SAS session it controls
the host computer from which the SAS session was invoked
the UNIX process identifier of the SAS session

Features of the SAS Session Manager

The buttons in the SAS: Session Management dialog box enable you to do the following tasks:

Minimize

maps and minimizes all windows of the SAS session. This function is performed with standard X library calls and will work with most X window managers.

Restore

restores all of the windows that are open in the SAS session that is controlled by that SAS Session Manager. This function is performed with standard X library calls and will work with most X window managers.

Interrupt

sends a UNIX signal to SAS. When SAS receives the signal, it displays the Tasking Manager dialog box (see Interrupting a SAS Session).

Terminate

displays a dialog box that asks you to confirm whether you want to terminate the SAS session.

Help

provides Help for the SAS: Session Management dialog box.

Interrupting a SAS Session

When you click Interrupt in the SAS: Session Management dialog box, and if no PROC or DATA step is executing, the following Tasking Manager dialog box appears:

Tasking Manager Dialog Box

If a PROC or DATA step is executing, the following Tasking Manager dialog box appears:

Tasking Manager Dialog Box: DATA Step or PROC Step Executing

Click one of the following buttons in the Tasking Manager dialog box:

1

causes the current PROC or DATA step statements to be deleted.

2

causes the current PROC or DATA step to receive a request to interrupt processing. You are prompted to confirm this action.

C

closes the dialog box without affecting SAS processing.

T

forces SAS to terminate the SAS session. You are prompted to confirm termination.

The following Confirm Termination dialog box appears:

Confirm Termination Dialog Box

If you click OK, the SAS Session Manager sends a UNIX signal to the SAS session that forces the session to terminate.

CAUTION:

Terminating your SAS session might result in data loss or data corruption.

Before terminating your SAS session, you should attempt to end SAS using one of the methods described in Methods for Exiting SAS.

Using the Host Editor from within Your SAS Session

When you issue the HOSTEDIT command, SAS passes the request to the SAS Session Manager, which then invokes your host editor, so the SAS Session Manager must be running for the HOSTEDIT command to take effect. When you issue the HOSTEDIT command, SAS creates a temporary file that contains the data from the active SAS window and passes this file to your host editor. (These temporary files are stored in the directory specified by the SAS WORK option.) When you save your file in the host editor, the file is copied back into the SAS window if the window is able to be written to, and the temporary files are deleted when the SAS session ends. For more information, see Configuring SAS for Host Editor Support in UNIX Environments.

Closing the SAS Session Manager

If you close the SAS: Session Management dialog box, you cannot retrieve the SAS Session Manager. To display the SAS Session Manager again, you can reinvoke !SASROOT/utilities/bin/motifxsassm with the -pid or the -sessionid arguments. Execute these commands at the UNIX prompt or use them with the X statement:

!SASROOT/utilities/bin/motifxsassm -pid pid

!SASROOT/utilities/bin/motifxsassm -sessionid integer

Disabling the SAS Session Manager

You can disable the SAS Session Manager in the following ways:

Select ToolsOptionsPreferences.

On the General tab, deselect the Start Session manager check box.
Specify the following X resource, in lowercase, on the SAS command line at invocation:
```
 sas -xrm 'SAS.startSessionManager: False'
```
Specifying the sas.startSessionManager X resource will deselect the Start Session manager check box in the Preferences dialog box.

Note: SAS saves the settings in the Preferences dialog box when it exits. If you have disabled the SAS Session Manager during your session, then the next time you invoke SAS, the SAS Session Manager will not run. To start the SAS Session Manager, select the Start Session manager check box in the Preferences dialog box or specify the following command, in lowercase, on the SAS command line at invocation:

sas -xrm 'SAS.startSessionManager: True'