Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 11:13:43 -0700
Reply-To: Jack Hamilton <jfh@STANFORDALUMNI.ORG>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Jack Hamilton <jfh@STANFORDALUMNI.ORG>
Subject: Re: SCL/AF
In-Reply-To: <4aaded6f-63df-4edc-8a18-17c8622b8c51@x31g2000prc.googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
On Apr 4, 2009, at 9:11 am, Savian wrote:
> The SAS/ACCESS to PC Files product provides read/write access to
> binary Excel workbooks on Linux and UNIX platforms via the "PC File
> Server":
>
> Availability of the Import/Export Wizards and Procedures
> http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/acpcref/61891/HTML/default/a003094743.htm#a002597415
>
> This is only access to data, not marked up procedure output.
It seems that I'm unsuccessful at conveying the idea that I don't want
Windows involved in the creation of the document.
"If you are running SAS on UNIX, Linux, or 64-bit Windows system, you
must use the PCFILES LIBNAME engine and also have the SAS PC Files
Server installed and running on a 32- bit Windows system." <http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/acpcref/61891/HTML/default/a003293791.htm
>
And that doesn't even mention the possibility of creation on a z/OS
platform.
(FWIW, my current employer has licensed all the products needed to do
this, but has decided against installing a Windows server - this is
not just a theoretical problem to me.)
> An Open Office file is a ZIP archive full of XML files. So it is
> binary, but not in the sense of the old Microsoft Excel XLS files.
> Microsoft has followed suit, and the default file format for Office
> 2007 is a ZIP archive full of XML files. Yes, you can save an Excel
> file in the old binary format, but you will lose any functionality
> that is not available in the earlier version of Excel. It is
> pointless do to any further development based on the old, binary
> format.
I'm not asking for an OpenOffice file, I'm asking for the ability to
control OpenOffice.org from SAS in a straightforward fashion. What
file formats are supported would be controlled by OpenOffice.org, not
by SAS. OO.o can write native format Excel 5, 95, 97, 2000, and XP.
It is a problem that OO.o doesn't support Excel 2007 (and its
increased number of rows), but I suspect that it will happen someday.
> R&D efforts to create a Flash-based version of Enterprise Guide are
> underway. If it becomes a product, it will work cross platform, with
> whatever limitations are imposed by Flash/Web browser.
Interesting idea.
