Obtaining Metadata Names and Identifiers

Most of the metadata language elements require you to identify an object by its name or identifier. If you need the name or identifier of a single object, and you know where the object is located in SAS Management Console or in SAS Data Integration Studio, then this task is simple. The metadata identifier is shown in the object's properties. For more information, see the Online Help that is available from the product.
Another way to locate an object is to issue the METABROWSE command to open the Metadata Browser window, or issue the METAFIND command to open the Metadata Find window. For more information, select Using This Window from the Help menu in the SAS windowing environment.
To retrieve a series of metadata identifiers programmatically, you can use the METADATA_RESOLVE Function if you are processing within a DATA step.
Another choice is to submit a GetMetadataObjects method call with PROC METADATA, and then use the XML LIBNAME engine to import the procedure's XML output as a SAS data set. For a PROC METADATA example that retrieves object IDs, see Example: Creating a Report with the METADATA Procedure and the XML Engine.