A
SAS view is a type of SAS data set that retrieves data values from
other files. A SAS view contains only descriptor information such
as the data types and lengths of the variables (columns), plus information
that is required for retrieving data values from other SAS data sets
or from files that are stored in other software vendors' file formats.
SAS views are of member type VIEW. In most cases, you can use a SAS
view as if it were a SAS data file.
There are two general
types of SAS views:
is a SAS view that
is created either with a DATA step or with PROC SQL.
is a SAS view that
is created with SAS/ACCESS software. An interface view can read data
from or write data to a database management system (DBMS) such as
DB2 or ORACLE. Interface views are also referred to as SAS/ACCESS
views. In order to use SAS/ACCESS views, you must have a license for SAS/ACCESS software.
Note: You can create native views
that access certain DBMS data by using a
SAS/ACCESS dynamic LIBNAME
engine. See
SAS/ACCESS Views, or the
SAS/ACCESS documentation for your DBMS for more
information.