Date:         Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:32:32 -0500
Reply-To:     Kevin Viel <citam.sasl@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Kevin Viel <citam.sasl@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: SAS and Internet: where to start

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:30:13 -0800, Savian <savian.net@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>On Jan 21, 7:32 am, citam.s...@GMAIL.COM (Kevin Viel) wrote:
>> I have read two papers, "SAS(r) and the Internet for Programmers" by Ward
>> and "Rich Internet Applications Using SAS/IntrNet(R) and Microsoft
>> Silverlight" by Churchill and Henderson.  I will be obtaining more of
these
>> papers, but I cannot access Lex's site from work.  Somewhere among the
>> disarray that is my desk, I have a SAS book, too.  I am looking for
>> recommendations for further reading.
>>
>> Our goal is to provide results via the web, potentially dynamically.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kevin
>
>Kevin,
>
>Obviously, I prefer Silverlight for lots of reasons.
>
>Silverlight offers the following:
>
>- web development in .NET
>- 200x faster than JavaScript
>- cross platform, cross browser
>- integration (via .NET) to Office, all major DBMSs, SharePoint, LOB
>apps galore
>- Open source (that's right)
>- Free graphing
>- Massive amount of technical articles on how to make it work
>
>Ok, how do you enable it?
>
>I would use SAS/IntrNet. Why? Because it is simply fast at brokering
>data to and from SAS. SAS Integration Technologies has appeal but I
>don't think you need it.
>
>One way to make it happen:
>
>1. Download Visual Studio Express for C#
>2. Install Silverlight SDK
>3. Install Silverlight Toolkit
>4. Install SAS and allow it to be accessible via IntrNet
>5. Call IntrNet from C# using a REST protocol:
>
>    (ex.) http://myserver/CallSas?_program=GetData
>
>6. Display your data.
>
>Is there a learning curve? Sure, there is but it isn't too bad.I would
>ignore HTML/JavaScript if building a new site. They are old school and
>suffer lots of problems.
>
>I am currently displacing an IntrNet site's UI with a Windows client
>calling IntrNet via a REST query (REST = standard internet query from
>a browser). You can call it that way or get more sophisticated using
>WCF/Web Services. I would go REST and work your way elsewhere.

Thanks, Alan.  Whereas I would rather strengthen my statistical skills,
basic science knowledge, or medical knowledge, I have to admit that the
ability to present data is essential, requiring a certain aesthetics beyond
its importance for some audiences.  Can you recommend a book or course?  I
have some gift certificates for the latter and potential training funds for
the latter.  I am familiar with HTML, having parsed and wrote some code,
but I'd say my last forray into XML was not so successful (a damn shame
because of the amount of genomic data using that format).

Thanks,

Kevin