Date:         Sun, 16 Feb 2003 21:08:08 -0500
Reply-To:     lpogoda <lpogodajr292185@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         lpogoda <lpogodajr292185@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Re-ordering the positions of columns

Peter Crawford wrote in message ...
>I have to agree with the solution you adopted,
>May I suggest a possible cause of the column order problem.
>
>One possible weakness of the v6-based solution model is that v8 stores
>variables on a different basis from v6 which stored in the order of the
>logical datastep data vector. If you use the data dictionary, or proc
>contents information, NPOS (label='Column Position') in v8 you do _not_
>get the datastep data vector order controlled by the "retain statement
>column ordering method".
>In v8, the order of storage ( and so NPOS ) is predictable, but, more
>helpfully, there is a v8 information item, which _is_ in data step data
>vector logical order VARNUM (label='Column Number in Table'
>
>My guess is that that old macro master used NPOS !

As I have repeatedly stated, the ordered list of variable names is a
parameter.  It is not generated by anything within the macro, it is
SPECIFIED by the programmer.  NPOS and VARNUM has nothing to do with it.
And trust me, "the old macro master" wouldn't know what "NPOS" or "VARNUM"
meant, or even that such things existed.

I've posted an example of the macro call a couple of times already tonight
and frankly don't feel like doing it again.  I'm sure you'll see it.





>
>Regards
>Peter Crawford
>
>
>lpogoda <lpogodajr292185@comcast.net> writes
>>
>>John Whittington wrote in message
>><5.1.0.14.2.20030215030543.04644870@pop3.powernet.co.uk>...
>>>At 21:46 10/02/03 -0500, lpogoda wrote (in part)
>>>
>>>> >Data new ;
>>>> >   Retain &orderedVars ;
>>>> >   Set test ;
>>>> >Run ;
>>>>
>>>>In version 8, I've run into at least one case where using RETAIN this
way
>>>>does not reorder the variables in the resulting dataset.
>>>
>>>As someone whose name seems to have somehow 'become associated with' this
>>>method of re-ordering, I'd be very interested if you could expand a
little
>>>on this case in which it doesn't work in v8.  Thanks.
>>>
>>Sure.  I work for a small full-service CRO in Philadelphia.  Been there
>>about three years.  The guy who had my position before me was macro
happy -
>>one of those people who, when you came to him with a problem, would call
up
>>SAS, type "%macro" on the first line of the program window, then ask you
>>what the problem was.  Over the years, he wrote a ton of macros with the
aim
>>of reducing the time it took to write some more or less standard,
recurring
>>processing task, all in version 6.
>>
>>Anyway, the purpose of one of these macros was to generate a listing - to
>>take a SAS dataset, figure out the optimum print length of each variable,
>>generate and execute PROC REPORT code that would produce the listing.  And
>>since in these listings the order the variables appeared in was important,
>>one of the parameters fed to the macro was a list of variables in the
>>desired display order.
>>
>>For my money, it was probably the single most useful macro he wrote there,
>>you could generate all the listings for a study in a day or less.  You fed
>>it the name of the dataset, the list of variables, the location of the
>>output, and there was your listing, every time.
>>
>>Only the first time I tried it under version 8, it didn't work.  Oh, you
got
>>a listing of the request dataset showing the requested variables, but the
>>variables weren't in the correct order across the page.  Other programmers
>>tried it on other machines, using different data sets and alternate
>>destinations, and it didn't work for them either.  Digging into the guts
of
>>the thing, it turned out that he was controlling the print order by
>>rewriting the dataset according to the variable order parameter, and doing
>>it in exactly the way you suggested at the top of this post, with a RETAIN
>>statement followed by a macro variable.
>>
>>And when we pulled the macro apart and ran things step by step manually,
we
>>found that even though the macro variable was correctly valued, when the
>>dataset was rewritten this way, the variable order didn't change.  And so
>>the listing that was produced showed variables in whatever order they
>>happened to occur in the dataset rather than in the order requested.
>>
>>Well, the simplest, quickest, least intrusive thing to do was to chuck the
>>DATA step and RETAIN business, and replace it with a SELECT clause in PROC
>>SQL.
>>
>>We're running under Windows 2000.
>>
>>
>
>--
>Peter Crawford