The PMENU Procedure

SELECTION Statement

Defines a command that is submitted when an item is selected.

Restriction:

Must be used after an ITEM statement

Featured in:

Building a Menu Bar for an FSEDIT Application

Creating Menus for a DATA Step Window Application

SELECTION selection 'command-string';

Required Arguments

selection

is the same name specified for the SELECTION= option in a previous ITEM statement.

command-string

is a text string, enclosed in quotation marks, that is submitted as a command-line command when the user selects this item. There is a limit of 200 characters for command-string. However, the command-line limit of approximately 80 characters cannot be exceeded. The command-line limit differs slightly for various operating environments.

Note: SAS uses only the first eight characters of an item that is specified with a SELECTION statement. When a user selects an item from a menu list, the first eight characters of each item name in the list must be unique so that SAS can select the correct item in the list. If the first eight characters are not unique, SAS selects the last item in the list. [cautionend]

Details

You define the name of the item in the ITEM statement and specify the SELECTION= option to associate the item with a subsequent SELECTION statement. The SELECTION statement then defines the actual command that is submitted when the user chooses the item in the menu bar or menu.

You are likely to use the SELECTION statement to define a command string. You create a simple alias by using the ITEM statement, which invokes a longer command string that is defined in the SELECTION statement. For example, you could include an item in the menu bar that invokes a WINDOW statement to enable data entry. The actual commands that are processed when the user selects this item are the commands to include and submit the application.

Note: If you are using PROC PMENU to issue any command that is valid only in the PROGRAM EDITOR window (such as the INCLUDE command), then you must have the windowing environment running, and you must return control to the PROGRAM EDITOR window. [cautionend]

Top of Page