Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 22:22:26 -0800
Reply-To: David L Cassell <davidlcassell@MSN.COM>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: David L Cassell <davidlcassell@MSN.COM>
Subject: Re: Simple URL Filename Access Problem
In-Reply-To: <200512190225.jBJ1W4Pf014930@mailgw.cc.uga.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
KMyers@PROCOMINC.NET replied:
>It turns out that the experimental fix mentioned in
>http://support.sas.com/techsup/unotes/SN/011/011102.html is exactly what it
>takes to fix the problem discussed in this thread. Furthermore, this
>problem appears likely to occur when accessing data via URL on any web
>servers that have been upgraded to Windows 2003. Apparantly this issue is
>corrected in SAS 9.1.2. It seems like a fix with this much potential
>impact
>should be upgraded to an officially supported hotfix...
>
>Thanks very much to George Fernandez for providing additional information
>regarding this issue!!!
Bad news, Kevin.
There are other things which can make your attempts with the URL engine of
the FILENAME statement go astray. This is not the most robust tool SAS has
built. It may not do all the IE/FireFox/Nyetscape/... tricks of adjusting
the url if
needed. It will not automatically handle ports for you if needed. It
probably
will not handle a page which has dynamic programming. It may not be able to
get past a robot-rejector. It may not handle a proxy server properly.
You may be a lot better off using a tool like curl in a pipe, so you can get
the
text fed into a data step.. or at least read off the errors that get spit
back.
I like using Perl, preferably with something like the LWP::Simple module to
handle simple stuff, or one of a dozen other modules for further trickiness.
But you knew I was going to say the word 'Perl' in there somewhere...
:-)
David
--
David L. Cassell
mathematical statistician
Design Pathways
3115 NW Norwood Pl.
Corvallis OR 97330
_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE!
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
