Date:         Wed, 14 Feb 1996 17:32:54 EDT
Reply-To:     rhoadsm1@WESTATPO.WESTAT.COM
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Mike Rhoads <rhoadsm1@WESTATPO.WESTAT.COM>
Subject:      Re: SCL Functions in DATA Steps (??)

In response to my posting from earlier today (see below), I have been
informed by a very reliable "little birdie" that being able to access SCL
functions from the DATA step is indeed experimental under 6.11.  More
information about this is expected to be able at next month's SUGI
Conference.
 
          Mike Rhoads
          Westat
          rhoadsm1@westat.com
 
<<original posting>>
Was anyone else as intrigued as I was by the code below that Mark Shephard
posted earlier this week as one way of determining the number of variables
in a SAS data set?
 
49   data _null_;
50     dsid = open('sasuser.mactnq1','i');
51      obs = attrn(dsid,'NVARS');
52     dsid = close(dsid);
53     call symput('obs',put(obs,3.));
54     stop;
55   run;
 
Doubting Thomas that I am, I tried this in 6.11 for Windows, and it does
work!  I had heard that there was a long-range effort underway at the
Institute to bring the Screen Control Language and DATA step functionality
closer together, but I certainly wasn't aware that SCL functions could now
be used in DATA steps.  Does anyone know whether this is just experimental
in 6.11, or is it documented someplace that I may have missed?  Any
"gotchas" that folks should know about?