Date:         Wed, 25 Feb 1998 09:14:28 -0500
Reply-To:     MICHAEL.RAITHEL@RAITHM49.CUSTOMS.SPRINT.COM
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Michael A. Raithel" <MICHAEL.RAITHEL@RAITHM49.CUSTOMS.SPRINT.COM>
Subject:      (MVS): Re(2): how to send to sleep an MVS SAS Job?

     Tibor PEAK posted the following interesting question:
 
 
     >Does anyone has any idea how to sleep a little bit in a
     >SAS program that runs in an MVS batch Job?  Under OS/2 SAS
     >has a Sleep() procedure, is there any similar under MVS?
     >
     >(We would like to wait for the arriving of an input file
     >if it is not yet available.)
     >
 
 
     Tibor, that is an interesting question!  No less
     interesting was Paul Shipley's cool assembler routine to
     accomplish the feat.  (That posting is a KEEPER)!  By now,
     you know that there _IS NOT_ a sleep() function in SAS
     under OS/390 (MVS).  But, there _IS_ a SAS-based solution
     that you can implement.
 
     I want to draw your attention to an answer that was offered
     when this question was asked in September of 1997.  Paul
     Dorfman posted an elegant solution (elegant because it
     offered two alternatives, and because the first alternative
     was done in fewer lines of code than my own solution
     ((sigh!))) that is a great piece of code!  Here, in part,
     is Paul's posting:
 
     >If you need to cause a delay within a data step you can
     >either use this code excerpt
     >
     >DROP IT; IT = TIME(); DO WHILE(TIME()-IT < 20); END;
     >
     >directly anywhere within the data step hardcoding the
     >number of seconds desired (in this case 20). Alternatively
     >(my preference) one could store a macro like
     >
     >%MACRO SLEEP(S);
     >DROP IT; IT = TIME();
     >DO WHILE(TIME()-IT < &S); END;
     >%MEND;
     >
 
     Tibor, if you want to get Paul's entire posting out of the
     SAS-L archives, here are the vital statistics:
 
     >Date:    Mon, 29 Sep 1997 17:18:50 -0700
     >From:    Paul Dorfman <PDORFMA@UCS.ATT.COM>
     >Subject: MVS equiv of PC SAS sleep() function?
     >
 
     Tibor, best of luck in curing your OS/390 (MVS)
     applications' insomnia, and Paul, thanks again for a great
     piece of SAS code!
 
 
     I hope that this suggestion proves helpful now, and in the
     future!
 
     Of course, all of these opinions and insights are my own,
     and do not reflect those of my organization or my
     associates.
 
     +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
     Michael A. Raithel
     "The man who wrote the book on performance"
     E-mail: maraithel@mcimail.com
     Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the MVS Environment
     +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
     ...to sleep, perchance to dream; aye there's the rub, for
     in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have
     shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause...
     +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++