Using the Interface to View Libraries and Files

The Data Set window is displayed in the workspace and a Library tab is created. The library panel becomes populated with a list of SAS data sets that are located in the library. For each SAS data set, the name, number of observations, and the number of variables are listed. You can open multiple libraries and multiple files within the libraries. You can view a library at any time by clicking the Library tab.

If you double-click any SAS data set in the library, a table panel displays that is populated with the data from the SAS data set. You can open multiple data sets from the library view. Each data set is associated with a Table tab in the Data Set window. In the following example, the table tab INVOICE200 is selected:

A Table menu and table toolbar enable you to view and manipulate the table that is displayed. The table status bar, located at the bottom of the table panel, displays row status, filter status, and sort status.

If you click any SAS data set in the library, a data set schema panel is displayed and is populated with data from the SAS data set that you selected. The data set schema defines the variables (columns) in the SAS data set and their properties. In the following example, the schema for data set HIST1 is displayed:

If your data set is very large, the data might take a long time to load or be too large for the amount of available memory. In either case, you can load and view the SAS data set as a series of pages.

To break your data set into pages, make sure that the Break large data sets into pages box is checked. Enter a value in each of the fields. The second field contains the number of observations that you want to see on one page.

If you choose to break the data set into pages, you can sort and filter the data on each page, but you cannot sort and filter the entire data set. Paging enables you to view data from data sets that would normally be too large to view. If you need to sort and filter across the entire data set, you should deselect the Break large data sets into pages box on the Paging tab.

You can view large data sets without paging by ensuring that the Break large data sets into pages box in the Paging tab is not checked.

When a data set exceeds the specified maximum data set size, the row status is highlighted and page controls become available.

You use the data set scroll bar to scroll the data within a page. You use the page controls to load new pages into memory. The up and down page control arrows without a bar are used to navigate one page at a time. The up and down page control arrows with bars at the tips of the arrow are used to navigate to the first and last page in the data set.

The Go to row page control enables you to go to a specific row in the table. Clicking the arrow to the right of Go to row opens a box in which you can enter the row that will become the first row of a page.

You can view text files such as SAS programs, log files, output listings, and other text files.

To view a SAS program, select FileOpenSAS Program. Select a file that has a .sas extension. You can view the file you select. To execute the SAS program, however, you must have a SAS license and you must open a SAS session.

To view a log file or a listing, select FileOpenLog or FileOpenList.

You can view the properties of a text file by opening the text file and then clicking the Properties tab. You are able to view the attributes, metadata, and time stamps of the text file.