Invoke SAS Code Policy Example

This example demonstrates the use of data objects passed as macro variables used in the following simple SAS program:

data shoeSales;
   set sashelp.shoes end=final;
   retain total 0;
   total = total + &var;
   if final then call symputx('result', total);
run;

This example defines the following variables:

shoeSales

is the name of the column in the shoes data set.

var

is a macro variable whose value is passed to the SAS code from a source workflow data object.

result

is the macro variable that holds the return value used to populate the target workflow data object.

If this code is hosted by a Web application server and the file is named invokeSASCodeTutorial.sas, then the file is accessible at http://host-name/invokeSASCodeTutorial.sas.

Note: Versions 7.0 and higher of Microsoft Internet Information Services do not handle unrecognized file types, so a MIME type must be added for the .sas file extension.

First, define the relevant workflow and data objects. In the following example, the data objects are associated with the activity and are visible in the entire subtree:

Data Object Label	Type	Value
Total	Short Text	0
Total Category	Short Text	`sales`

Next, associate the policy definition with the activity.

Policy Parameter	Value
Event	Process Started
Action	Invoke SAS Code
Description
Source URI	`http://localhost/InvokeSASCodeTutorial.sas`
Logical Server Name	SASApp – Logical Workspace Server
Repository Name	Foundation
Result Macro Variable	result
Return Data Object	InvokeSASCode Tutorial/Tutorial Activity/Total
Pass all root process data objects	disabled
Parameter 1 Data Object	InvokeSASCode Tutorial/Tutorial Activity/Total Category
Parameter 1 Macro Variable	var
Policy Label	Process SAS Code`->`Invoke SAS Code

The parameters for this policy example include the following:

Source URI

is the location of the SAS code as served by the Web application server.

Logical Server Name

is the name of the Logical Workspace Server that executes the SAS code.

Repository Name

is the name of the metadata repository in which the specified logical server is defined.

Result Macro Variable

is the macro variable (result) in the SAS code that contains the value that is returned to the workflow in the specified data object.

Return Data Object

is the workflow data object (Total) that holds the value from the Result Macro Variable.

Parameter 1 Data Object

is the workflow data object (Total Category) whose value is passed to the SAS code in the macro variable specified by Parameter 1 Macro Variable (var).

The final workflow definition is as follows:

process diagram and process tree for process with one activity

Up to five data objects can be passed to the SAS code via corresponding macro variables. Because this example only requires one, the following line of code is prepended to the SAS code prior to execution:

%let var=sales;

See the examples provided with SAS Workflow Studio for details of this example.