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. Alternatively, you can use a file URL if it is local to the middle tier server( for example, file:////temp/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 local because they are associated with the task:

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

Next, associate the policy definition with the task.

Policy Property	Value
Name	Task Started`->`Invoke SAS Code
Description	This policy sends the `var` parameter value to the hosted SAS code example and assigns the result to the Total data object.
Event	Task Started
Action	Invoke SAS Code
SAS Source Code	http://host-name/invokeSASCodeTutorial.sas
Server	SASApp – Logical Workspace Server
Repository	Foundation
Pass all root workflow data objects	disabled
(Output) Data Object	InvokeSASCode Tutorial/Tutorial Task/Total
(Input 1) Data Object	InvokeSASCode Tutorial/Tutorial Task/Total Category
(Input 1) Macro Variable	var
(Output) Macro Variable	result

See Invoke SAS Code for more information.

The final workflow definition is as follows:

workflow diagram and workflow tree for workflow with one task

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

%let var=sales;

Only a single return variable is supported. See the examples provided with SAS Workflow Studio for details of this example.

Last updated: March 5, 2020