| SAS Companion for the OS/2 Environment |
The SAS windowing environment can be customized in several ways: from
the Options pull-down menu, from the Preferences
dialog box, and by using SAS system options.
To choose
a different font or point size for text in SAS windows, select
| Tools |
![[arrow]](../common/images/arrow.gif) |
Options |
|
Fonts |
The Font dialog box will be
displayed. The fonts that are available
depend on what monospace fonts you have installed under OS/2. For example,
you might have the Courier font available. When you select a font or point
size, the Font Sample field displays a sample of
the font that you have selected.
You cannot use Fonts to select
SAS/GRAPH fonts.
- CAUTION:
- Beware of changing certain display characteristics on
low-resolution displays.
If you select large
font sizes on some monitors, you may not be able to see all the text in your
SAS windows at one time. In some windows, such as the SAS/ASSIST window where
there are no scroll bars, large font sizes can cause some choices to be invisible.
For these types of displays, large font sizes are not recommended. This
same problem can occur if you change the OS/2 Appearance properties and select
a thick window border. On low-resolution displays, you should not use thick
window borders.
![[cautend]](../common/images/cautend.gif)
You can configure your SAS session to accommodate the way that you like to
work. For example:
To customize your SAS session, select Options, and
Preferences from the Tools pull-down menu. The Preferences dialog box (shown in
Preferences Dialog Box (Showing the General Tab)) contains
different pages that separate the session settings into different categories.
Click on the tabs that are located along the top of the dialog box to navigate
to the settings that you want to change, and then select the options that
you want. When you are finished, click [OK]. The options
that you select are saved from session to session in the PREFWSAV.WSAVE entry
in your SASUSER.PROFILE catalog.
Preferences Dialog Box (Showing the General Tab)
![[IMAGE]](./images/01132613.gif)
The
following sections describe each page (or tab) of
the Preferences dialog box and how to use these settings to control your SAS
session.
The General Preferences page lets you specify the general
options that control how your SAS session works. These are the general options:
-
Recently used file list
-
specifies whether SAS retains a list of
the files that you have accessed. If this option is selected, you can specify
how many filenames you want to keep in the list in the SAS File menu. Each time that you access a file from a text editor window,
the filename is added to the list. You can then reopen the file quickly by
selecting its name from the list.
-
Confirm exit of SAS
-
specifies whether you want the SAS System
to prompt you for a confirmation before you end your SAS session.
-
Save settings on Exit
-
specifies whether SAS should automatically
save your settings when you exit your SAS session.
-
Submit contents of file opened
-
specifies whether you want to submit the
contents of all files that you open to the SAS System for processing when
you select Open from the File
pull-down menu.
-
Mail current window as attachment
-
specifies whether the active window should
be automatically included as an e-mail attachment when you initiate electronic
mail from within SAS. If you select this option, then you can also specify
whether the attachment should be formatted as plain text or as RTF (rich text
format, which retains font and color information).
The View preferences page allows you to specify the
options that control the appearance of your SAS session. The view options
include the following:
-
Window
-
specifies whether your SAS windows contain
scroll bars and a command line. You can also enable or disable a ScreenTip (the helpful hints that appear when you position your
mouse pointer over window controls).
-
Show
-
specifies whether to show certain aspects
of the SAS interface, including these options:
-
Docking View
-
specifies whether to dock certain windows to the left side
of the main SAS window.
-
Status line
-
specifies which aspects of the status line you want to have
visible in your session. Display message lines
specifies whether to display Help messages from ScreenTips and ToolsTips. Display current folder specifies whether to display the path
name of the current SAS working folder.
The Edit Preferences page controls options that affect
the SAS text editor include the following:
-
Overtype mode
-
specifies whether to insert text or overtype
on existing text when you type text in a SAS application window. You can also
toggle the overtype mode by pressing the INSERT key on your keyboard.
-
Autosave every n minutes
-
specifies whether to automatically save
the contents of the Program Editor, and how often to save it. The contents
are saved to PGM.ASV in the current active folder so that you can recover
your work in the event that your SAS session ends before you save the contents
of the editor.
The Results page allows you to configure how you would like to view
your program output results. The Results page options include the following:
-
Listing
-
specifies that the program output is to be displayed in
the Output window.
-
HTML
-
specifies that the program output is to be displayed in
HTML format.
-
Style
-
allows you to choose the appearance of the program output.
-
Folder
-
specifies a folder to store HTML program output files. You
can either type a folder name or click on [Browse] to search
for a folder.
-
Use WORK folder
-
specifies to store HTML program output files in the WORK
folder. The WORK folder is a temporary folder that is deleted when the SAS
session ends.
The Web Preferences page allows you to specify the preferred
Web browser for your SAS session. These preferences are used whenever you
issue the WBROWSE command (either directly or by selecting a menu item or
tool icon that issues the command). For more information about WBROWSE, see WBROWSE.
The Web options that you can specify are
-
Preferred browser
-
specifies the preferred Web browser to use
when accessing Web information from within SAS. Type a path to the Web browser
or click on [Browse] to search for
the path to the Web browser.
-
Start page
-
specifies the default Web page to which
to navigate when you invoke the Web browser within SAS. By default, the browser
navigates to http://www.sas.com (the SAS Web site).
The Advanced Preferences page allows you to specify
options that can affect your SAS session, including scrolling policy and
other miscellaneous behavior. The Advanced options include
-
Scrolling Options
-
specifies the number of lines that the Log
and Output windows scroll when information is written to them. For example,
a value of 10 scroll lines for the Output window causes the Output window
to scroll only after your program creates 10 lines of output. The default
value for the Log window is 1; the default value for the Output window is
0 (meaning that no output is written to that window while statements are executing
in order to provide the best performance).
Scrolling can increase the length of time that the SAS
System takes to run your program. The less scrolling that the Log and Output
windows have to do, the faster your program will run. The advantage of keeping
the scrolling setting of the Log window at 1 is that the SAS System uses the
Log window to notify you of the status of the running program.
You can also set these values by using the Editor Options
window or the AUTOSCROLL command (described in the SAS online Help).
-
Hide cursor in non-input windows
-
specifies that the cursor will not appear
in windows that do not require text input (such as some SAS/AF programs and
SAS/ASSIST software).
-
Disable scroll bar focus
-
specifies that the scroll bar does not receive
window focus when you click on it. This eliminates flashing problems that
can occur in some SAS applications.
You can use several commands to customize your SAS windowing
environment. This section illustrates using some of these commands.
In the default display configuration of an interactive
session (shown in The Main SAS Window)
the main SAS window displays the Explorer and Results windows as docked windows,
and the Log, Program Editor, and Output windows in the remaining SAS workspace.
Using the Window menu, you can position SAS
windows in the same manner as other OS/2 applications: Restore
All Windows, Cascade, Tile, and Resize. While the default
display configuration is sufficient for efficient SAS System use, you may
want to open a few more windows for easy access and rearrange the windows
on your display. For example, you may want the My Favorite Folders window
open, but minimized, with the windows arranged in a mosaic pattern so you
can see all of them at once. To accomplish this, you click on the minimize
button in the window title bar for the My Favorite Folders window and then
select Tile from the Window
menu.
For more information about SAS commands that have OS/2
dependencies, see SAS Commands under OS/2.
Changing the color of window components
is a shared responsibility
of OS/2 and the SAS System. You change the color of most standard window
parts by changing the Properties of the OS/2 desktop.
Several window element colors are controlled by the
SAS System (such as the color of error message text in the Log window). To
change a window component that is controlled by the SAS System, either type
SASCOLOR in the command bar or select
| Tools |
|
Options |
|
Colors |
The SASCOLOR
window allows you to choose the colors for specific elements. For more information
about the SASCOLOR window, see the SAS online
Help for the window.
Several SAS system options are available to control the windowing
environment within the SAS System. The most commonly used options are the
following:
-
AWSDEF
-
specifies the location and dimensions of
the main SAS window when the SAS System initializes.
-
AWSTITLE
-
specifies the text for the main SAS window
title bar.
-
FONT
-
specifies a font name and point size to
use as the default SAS session font.
-
ICON
-
minimizes the SAS window when the SAS System
initializes.
-
REGISTER
-
enables you to add applications to the SAS Tools menu so that you can execute them by clicking on their
names.
-
SPLASHLOC and NOSPLASH
-
specifies the location of the logo screen
(SPLASHLOC) to display at the start of a SAS session, or suppresses the logo
screen (NOSPLASH).
-
USERICON
-
specifies user-defined icons to be incorporated
into SAS/AF applications.
These options can be specified in your SAS configuration
file or in a SAS command. Some are also valid in an OPTIONS statement. For
details about the syntax of these options and about where you can specify
them, see SAS System Options under OS/2.
The AWSDEF system option enables you to control the
placement and size of the main SAS window when the SAS System initializes.
Suppose you want your SAS session always to occupy the upper-left quarter
of your display. To accomplish this, specify the following AWSDEF system
option in your SAS configuration file:
-awsdef 0 0 50 50
For more information about the AWSDEF system option,
see AWSDEF.
By default, the main SAS title bar contains the text SAS. If you want a different title, you can use the AWSTITLE
option. To set the title to My SAS Session, specify
the following option in your SAS configuration file:
-awstitle "My SAS Session"
The ICON system option causes the SAS System to be minimized
at invocation. If you are running a batch job, you might want to use this
option to save space on your display.
The REGISTER system option enables you to add names
of applications to the Tools menu of the SAS window.
You can execute one of these applications by clicking on its name. The REGISTER
option takes as arguments a menu name and an operating environment command
or a path specification for an executable file. You can also specify a working
folder. For complete information about the REGISTER system option, see REGISTER .
Here is an
example that adds a command to print the
contents of the SASUSER folder:
-register "Contents of SAS"
"dir c:\sas"
When you select Contents of SASUSER
from the Tools menu, the output from issuing the
OS/2 DIR command is displayed in an OS/2 window.
Here is an example of adding an .EXE file to the menu
along with a specification of a working folder of C:\NOTEDATA:
-register "Notes" "notes.exe" "c:\notedata"
This adds Notes to the menu.
When you select Notes, the file NOTES.EXE is invoked.
Note:
The REGISTER system option is valid only as an
invocation option (that is, in a SAS configuration file and in the SAS invocation
command).
To display your own logo when the SAS System starts
-
Create the logo that you want to display and either
save it as a bitmap (which has a .BMP file extension), or compile it as resource
and build it into a dynamic link library (DLL).
-
When you invoke SAS, specify the SPLASHLOC option
with the full pathname of the file that contains your bitmap. If the bitmap
is in a DLL, specify the resource number as well. The default resource number
is 1.
For example, suppose your logo screen is stored in C:\MYBMPS\SPLASH.BMP.
You specify the SPLASHLOC option like this:
-splashloc c:\mybmps\splash.bmp
If your logo was stored in C:\MYDLLS\OPENING.DLL as
resource 101, you would specify the SPLASHLOC option like this:
-splashloc c:\mydlls\opening.dll 101
For more information about the SPLASHLOC system option,
see SPLASHLOC.
The USERICON option enables you to add your own icons
to the SAS System. These icons can be used in SAS/AF and SAS/EIS software.
The syntax for the USERICON option is as follows:
|
-USERICON icon-resource-file
number-of-icons
|
The icon-resource-file argument specifies
the full path to a dynamic link library (DLL) file that contains the user
icons. The number-of-icons argument specifies the number of icons
found in the resource file. For example, the following option specifies that
there are four icons located in an icon resource file named ICONS.DLL found
in the C:\JUNK folder:
-usericon c:\junk\icons.dll 4
The DLL that is used as the icon resource file must
be created using the OS/2 Software Development Kit (and must therefore be
32-bit). For more information on how to build a resource file, refer to the
documentation for the OS/2 Software Development Kit.
You can incorporate icons into your SAS/AF and SAS/EIS
applications using a FRAME entry. For more information, refer to the online
Help for SAS/AF and SAS/EIS software.
Copyright © 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.
