Using the Workspace Manager

Note: It is recommended that you use the Object Manager interface in order to use the new features that are available with SAS®9 SAS Integration Technologies. The Workspace Manager is provided for legacy programs.
The SAS IOM components are arranged in a hierarchy, and the root of the hierarchy is a workspace object. A workspace represents a session with the SAS System, and is functionally equivalent to a SAS Display Manager session or the execution of Base SAS software in a batch job.
The SAS Workspace Manager is a component that executes on the client machine, and it is used to create and manage workspaces on IOM servers. The Workspace Manager uses IOM server definitions that are administered separately from the application. This enables, for example, a client application to connect to a server simply by using a logical name. The definition for this server can change as required without affecting the application.
The Workspace Manager can create a workspace in one of these three ways:
  • through local COM if the SAS Server runs on the same machine as the client
  • through DCOM if the SAS Server runs on another machine that supports DCOM
  • through the IOM Bridge for COM (SASComb.dll) if the SAS Server runs on another machine that does not support COM/DCOM functionality (UNIX [Solaris, HP-UX, AIX] or z/OS)
With the Workspace Manager, you can perform the following tasks:
  • launch workspaces
  • select between running workspaces
  • share IWorkspace pointers within a process
  • access a workspace from within Web pages
  • use ADO within a workspace
  • store and retrieve definitions by using a flat file
The Workspace Manager can be used from Visual Basic, C, C++, and VBScript (with the help of Scripto).