Date:         Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:57:17 -0800
Reply-To:     Jack Hamilton <jfh@STANFORDALUMNI.ORG>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Jack Hamilton <jfh@STANFORDALUMNI.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Trivia - Logging custom NOTE, WARNING, and ERROR.
Comments: To: "Richard A. DeVenezia" <rdevenezia@WILDBLUE.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <l6Kjj.66$6J3.18451@news.sisna.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Two other options for generating log messages don't seem to be as well
known.

PUTLOG is almost the equivalent of   FILE LOG   followed by a   PUT
statement.  If you already have an another output file open, PUTLOG lets
you keep it open while writing to the log.  The statement     putlog
'WARNING: this is a warning';    writes a warning message to the log.

ERROR is almost the equivalent of   FILE LOG   followed by   PUT   and
_error_ = 1   .  If you want the word "error" to appear in the log, you
must specify it explicitly:  error 'ERROR: this is an error';   .  If
you don't explicitly start the text with ERROR:, it won't get error
highlighting in the log.

I say "almost the equivalent" because my recollection is that PUTLOG and
ERROR don't have all the power of the regular PUT statement.  I don't
have any documentation for this, and neither need nor curiosity has
compelled me to investigate.




On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:04:23 -0500, "Richard A. DeVenezia"
<rdevenezia@WILDBLUE.NET> said:
> Many people know that they can log their own NOTEs and have them color
> highlighted in the SAS DMS, or EG log viewer.
>
> A log line, emitted by macro, that starts with the tag NOTE:, WARNING: or
> ERROR: may have the tag replaced with spaces when the text that follows
> the
> tag starts with dashes, or some spaces followed by some dashes.
>
>     options nosource;
>     data _null_;
>         put "NOTE: This is my message. It has special coloring in the log
> window.";
>         put "WARNING: This is my message. It has special coloring in the
>         log
> window.";
>         put "ERROR: This is my message. It has special coloring in the
>         log
> window.";
>     run;
>
> * It should be obvious that the log window renderer is examing the log
> contents and applying colors according to its internal rules;
>
> * The same technique can be used in MACRO via the %put statement;
>
>     %put NOTE: This is my message. It has special coloring in the log
> window.;
>     %put WARNING: This is my message. It has special coloring in the log
> window.;
>     %put ERROR: This is my message. It has special coloring in the log
> window.;
>
> * In some cases I like to sandwich the custom note between dashed lines
> to
> make it more obvious;
>
>     data _null_;
>         put "NOTE: -------------------------";
>         put "NOTE: This is my message. It has special coloring in the log
> window.";
>         put "NOTE: -------------------------";
>     run;
>
> * The TRIVIA. When this technique is applied from within the macro
> environment, the SAS executor will replace the NOTE: text in the lines
> with
> the dashes with five spaces.
>
>     %put NOTE: -------------------------;
>     %put NOTE: This is my message. It has special coloring in the log
> window.;
>     %put NOTE: -------------------------;
>
> The same replacement occurs when doing WARNING or ERROR.
>
> In some other cases, the sandwich material is replaced with spaces!
> Experimentation shows this happens when the 'bread' is an ampersand, or a
> macro var containing only macro quoted double quotes or macro quoted
> single
> quotes.
>
> %macro logging_check(tag=NOTE, lower=32, upper=127);
>   %do code = &lower. %to &upper.;
>     %let char = %qsysfunc(byte(&code.));
>     %let string = %sysfunc(repeat(&char.,24));
>
>     %put %str( );
>     %put code=&code.;
>     %put &tag.: %superq(string);
>     %put &tag.: This is a message for %superq(char);
>     %put &tag.: %superq(string);
>   %end;
> %mend;
>
> %logging_check(lower=32, upper=64);
>
> * some final experiments;
>
> %put ------------;
>
>     %put NOTE:-;
>     %put NOTE:-a;
>     %put NOTE:-ab;
>     %put NOTE:-abc;
>
>     %put NOTE: -;
>     %put NOTE: -a;
>     %put NOTE: -ab;
>     %put NOTE: -abc;
>
>     %put NOTE:  -;
>     %put NOTE:  -a;
>     %put NOTE:  -ab;
>     %put NOTE:  -abc;
>
> %put ------------;
>
>     %put NOTE:--;
>     %put NOTE:--a;
>     %put NOTE:--ab;
>     %put NOTE:--abc;
>
>     %put NOTE: --;
>     %put NOTE: --a;
>     %put NOTE: --ab;
>     %put NOTE: --abc;
>
>     %put NOTE:  --;
>     %put NOTE:  --a;
>     %put NOTE:  --ab;
>     %put NOTE:  --abc;
>
> %put ------------;
>
> --
> Richard A. DeVenezia
> http://www.devenezia.com/


--
Jack Hamilton
Sacramento, California
jfh@alumni.stanford.org