Summary of Strategy Features

Here is a summary of the features of each strategy that you can use to move or access SAS files.

Summary of Strategy Features for Moving or Accessing SAS Files

Features	Strategies That Can Be Used
Features	Cross-Environment Data Access (CEDA)	PROC CPORT and PROC CIMPORT	XPORT Engine with DATA Step or PROC COPY	XML Engine with DATA Step or PROC COPY	SAS/CONNECT DTS	SAS/CONNECT RLS and SAS/SHARE RLS
SAS Member Types Supported	Data File, PROC SQL views1, SAS/ACCESS views (Oracle and Sybase), MDDB1	Library, Data Set, Catalog, Catalog entry	Library, Data Set	Data File	Library, Data Set, Catalog, Catalog entry, PROC SQL view, MDDB, External third-party databases3	Library, Data Set, Catalog2, Catalog entry2, PROC SQL view, MDDB, DATA Step view, SAS/ACCESS view, External third-party databases3
Dynamic Translation or Create a File Format	Dynamic	Transport4	Transport4	XML	Dynamic	Dynamic
SAS Versions Supported	SAS 8 and later	SAS 6 and later	SAS 6 and later4	SAS 8.2 and later	SAS 6 and later	SAS 6 and later
Regression from a Later to an Earlier SAS Release	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Limited to Operating Environments that Use Directory-Based File Structures	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
SAS Product License Required	Base SAS	Base SAS	Base SAS	Base SAS	SAS/CONNECT	SAS/CONNECT or SAS/SHARE
1Data set (files) can have read, write, and update access. PROC SQL views and MDDBs are read-only.
2SAS 9 does not support cross-operating environment access to catalog entries or catalogs in operating environments that are incompatible. For information about architecture groups, see the SAS/CONNECT User's Guide or SAS/SHARE User's Guide.
3SAS/CONNECT supports external text files and binary files. SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE support third-party external databases by means of the Remote SQL pass-through facility, but you must have a SAS/ACCESS license to access these databases.
4The XPORT engine does not support features that were introduced in SAS 8 (such as long file and variable names). If the XPORT engine is used to regress a SAS 8 or later SAS file to an earlier release, the features that are exclusive to SAS 8 and later are removed from the SAS file. Also, the transport formats that are produced by the XPORT engine and PROC CPORT are not interchangeable.

For complete details about relational databases, see SAS/ACCESS for Relational Databases: Reference. For details about nonrelational databases, see SAS/ACCESS Interface to ADABAS: Reference, SAS/ACCESS(R) 9.3 Interface to IMS: Reference, SAS/ACCESS DATA Step Interface to CA-IDMS: Reference, or SAS/ACCESS Interface to SYSTEM 2000: Reference, as appropriate.