Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:02:38 -0500
Reply-To: Lou <lpogoda@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Lou <lpogoda@HOTMAIL.COM>
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Subject: Re: How to quickly open project programs and files
"Savian" <savian.net@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:af882b7e-2a4e-4b1c-970c-466c1747524d@x29g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
On Mar 9, 6:33 pm, art...@NETSCAPE.NET (Arthur Tabachneck) wrote:
> I am preparing a powerpoint to present to a local user's group. The
> following is a summary of my presentation. My question to SAS-L: is there
> a better way to solve the problem?
>
> The question: is there an easy way to access the programs and data one has
> stored under various project-specific directories?
>
> My proposed solution is to:
>
> 1) set up desktop shortcuts to all of the directories (i.e., from window's
> explorer point to the directory, right click, then select:
> sendto->desktop (Create Shortcut). And do that for all of one's projects.
Well, I'll go along with creating the shortcuts, but I think the desktop is
a less than convenient place to store them - there are always windows in the
way. I put them all in a (sub)directory on the C:\ drive (I call it
"Tools") and then create a toolbar at the top of the screen to display them
(Right click on the taskbar, click on "Toolbars", click on "New Toolbar..."
and pick a directory. You can place the toolbar wherever you like, and make
it Always on Top and Autohide. If you want to get fancy, you can assign
hover text to each icon, and use something like IconEdit or even Paint to
customize the icon for each shortcut.). When I move the mouse cursor to the
top of the screen, the toolbar drops down and I click on the icon for the
directory I want.
> 2) then, to access those directories, from SAS Enhanced Editor, click on:
> file->open->Desktop->the shortcut to that directory and, of course, the
> desired file.
I dislike the standard Windows Open File dialog - it takes too much time and
has too many steps. You've bypassed some of the steps, but what you're
doing is still mainly useful if your in an application. Instead, I open the
directory using the icon on the toolbar - if I need a file in a SAS session,
I drag and drop that file the program or enhanced editor.
> 3) if one wants to take that a step further and automatically assign a
> libname that points to the chosen directory, I recommend the macro I
> proposed a long time ago:
Projects have numerous subdirectories, for data, programs, results,
documentation, etc., so I don't want to assign a LIBNAME just because I've
opened a file. Instead, programs are written to detect where they reside
and assign the appropriate FILENAMEs and LIBNAMEs automatically (this works
well if you have a standard directory structure for projects - if you don't
it would be more difficult). If I've opened a directory that contains SAS
datasets, chances are I'm going to use the viewer to look at some dataset or
other. If I've opened a directory that contains results, chances are that
I'm going to use Word to look at a document. In a documentation directory,
I may use Word, or a spreadsheet program, or a browser. In most of these
cases, assigning a LIBNAME would not be appropriate.
(snipped)
> Thus, my questions are (a) is the first part still the best way to access
> project files? and (b) is the second part still the best way to assign a
> libname that would point to directories that are selected in the above
> described manner?
>
> Obviously, if better methods are now available, I'd rather suggest them
> over my proposed solutions.
Most people consider that what they're used to as "best". I don't know
offhand if my practice is "better" than what you suggest, but it works well
for me.
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