Creating Channels

A channel is a topic or identifier that acts as a conduit for related information. The channel carries the information from the publishers who created it to the subscribers who want it.

Channels have a name, a description, a subject, key words, reference keys, and archive paths associated with them. This information is used by search facilities in the subscription manager to help users locate channels that are of interest to them and are also used in the administrator application to locate specific channels for administration purposes. Channels will also have subscribers (including subscriber groups) associated with them.

Each association of a subscriber to a channel is a subscription. A subscription enables the information that is published to a channel to be delivered to the interested (subscribed) subscribers. Note that, although you can associate a group to a channel, only the members of the group that are also (and separately) identified as subscribers will receive the published content.

Administrators should create a channel for each distinct topic or audience. For instance, users of a particular application may want a channel for discussion and data exchange, while the programmers of that application may want another channel to discuss technical problems and future enhancements. Although the topic is the same application, the discussion and data exchanged will be very different, so two separate channels would probably best serve the needs of the two groups of users.

The SAS Integration Technologies Administrator provides a graphical user interface that allows you to create a channel object with the specified attributes on the LDAP server. For general instructions, see Using IT Administrator.

To create a new channel using IT Administrator:

Open IT Administrator.
Select Publish Framework in the Manager Bar.
Select the Channels folder in the tree view.
Click the New button (). A dialog box appears requesting property information for the new channel.
Enter the name, description, and subject of the channel.

Channel names must be unique, and are limited to 40 characters. They cannot contain a comma (,) or a forward slash (/).

Users that publish information and users that receive information may later search for these items. Therefore, meaningful and concise entries are important. In particular, the channel should have a meaningful name so that users of the subscription manager can easily discern the type of information that will be distributed via that channel.

For example
```
Name: Conversion Tool Users
Description: User discussion of the conversion tool
Subject: sgml2html
```
Add subscribers to the channel from the Subscribers tab by selecting the Add button and selecting the subscribers and groups from the Add Subscribers window. If you add a group as a subscriber to a channel, make sure that every member of the group is also defined as a subscriber. Group members that are not defined as subscribers will not receive content.
You cannot deliver information on the channel until you define subscribers. See Creating Subscriptions for more information.
Enter any keywords or reference keys from the Advanced tab.
Keywords enable you to describe the channel beyond the description and subject, and are used in keyword searching.

Reference keys are usually assigned programmatically to associate a channel with another object. For example, SAS/Warehouse Administrator uses reference keys to associate a channel with an object in a data warehouse. When information is published from the warehouse, the warehouse software can locate associated channels by searching the LDAP server for channels that have matching reference keys. Reference keys do not usually contain meaningful information for a user, but are provided as a debugging aid.

To enter multiple keywords or references, press Return between each entry. Specifying keywords and references enables you to specify a wide range of values for which you can later search.

To delete a keyword or reference that is already entered, select it and press the Delete key.
When you are finished entering information in the fields, select OK. The new channel appears in the tree view.
If you want to create an archive path for the channel, select the channel in the tree view and select File New Archive Path. The New Archive Path window appears, where you can enter details about the path. When you finish, the definition is placed below the level of the channel in the tree view.
If you want to assign one of the archive paths you created as the default for the channel, select the channel in the tree view and select the Advanced tab in the properties window. Select the Select button under Default Archive Path. The Select Default window appears and lists all of the archive paths currently assigned to the channel, as well as the selection <none>. If you have not assigned any archive paths to the channel, <none> will be the only selection. Select the archive path and select OK. If you select <none>, the channel will not have a default archive path.
The selected archive path appears in the Default Archive Path field.

Note: When writing SAS programs that use the Publish Package Interface, to use the default archive path, you must include the ARCHIVE_PATH property in the PUBLISH_PACKAGE call routine and leave the value blank.

Certain channels may deliver information that should be restricted to a particular audience. The publication administrator must work with the LDAP administrator to configure the access permissions for restricted channels. If a subscriber does not have read access to a particular channel, the channel will not appear as a selection when they run the subscription manager applet.