Introduction

How to Use this Document

This document is an introduction to SAS for Windows. SAS is a large software package with scores of modules and utilities. It is impossible to present all its features in a brief document so we focus on the basics of getting started. If you do not own a personal copy of SAS for Windows, you may access the software from various UITS Student Technology Centers (STC's). Vendor-supplied documents are available for reference at the Swain Hall, Business/SPEA and Education Libraries' Reserve Collections, IUPUI University Library, and at the UITS Center for Statistical and Mathematical Computing (Stat/Math Center). Faculty, staff, and students at Indiana University can access the complete SAS 8 documentation online from: http://www.indiana.edu/~statmath/stat/sas/sashtml/onldoc.htm.
Faculty may arrange special introductory workshops for their classes in using SAS for Windows by contacting the UITS Stat/Math Center. If you want to buy a copy of SAS for Windows at an educational discount to install on IU owned PC's, contact the UITS Stat/Math Center.

What is SAS?

The SAS System is a comprehensive and flexible information delivery system that supports data access, data management, data analysis, and data presentation. At IU, SAS is available at several locations.

SAS for Windows is a complete implementation of the SAS System. It enables you to perform many analyses on your PC that were once possible only on much larger machines. Windows enables you to communicate between applications. SAS for Windows also reads data files from a variety of file formats including Excel, dBase, Lotus, and ASCII Text.

Launching SAS

The first task is to access SAS for Windows. If SAS for Windows is installed on your computer, start the Windows session and click the SAS for Windows icon. If you are accessing SAS for Windows from a computer in one of the UITS Student Technology Centers:

1. Find an available workstation.
2. Click Start/Programs/Statistics-Math/SAS 8.0/The SAS System for Windows V8. It may take a couple of minutes to load SAS.
3. If you have a data disk, place it in drive A.

Windows in SAS for Windows

The SAS System under the Windows environment consists of three types of windows:

SAS Application Workspace (AWS)

The SAS Application Workspace (AWS) contains all SAS windows that are open, including those that have been minimized. The only exceptions are the Command dialog box and the Toolbox, which can be moved outside the SAS AWS. The main function of the SAS AWS is to provide a framework for all SAS application windows.

Child windows

The child windows are individual windows within the SAS AWS, such as the PROGRAM EDITOR, LOG, and OUTPUT windows. These windows behave like any other windows in that you can maximize, minimize, scroll, and resize them. But because they are child windows of the SAS AWS, you cannot move them outside the boundaries of the SAS AWS window.

Dialog boxes

Dialog boxes appear when the SAS System needs more information to complete a task. For example, when you issue a command to exit your SAS session, a dialog box asks if you are sure you want to terminate the session. There are scores of instances a dialog box might appear. When a dialog box appears, you may have to respond to the query before you can proceed.

Menus in SAS for Windows

The SAS AWS menu bar is just above the LOG window. Depending on which window is active, you may access the File, Edit, View, Tools, Run, Solutions, Window, and Help features of the SAS System from the SAS AWS menu bar. Each of these items has a pull-down menu which presents you with other options.

In the following section three pull-down menus (File, Window, Help) are briefly discussed. For detailed information on SAS AWS pull-down menus refer to the vendor-supplied manual, SAS Companion for the Microsoft Windows Environment.

File Menu

The File pull-down menu offers a number of choices. A few of the choices are:

1. Open enables you to copy a program into the EDITOR window. This selection will display an Open dialog box. The Open dialog box, like the Open dialog box in other Windows applications, permits you to select filename, drive, and directory of the file you want to copy into the EDITOR window. Choose OK to copy the program to the EDITOR. You can click the Submit button from the Toolbar to run the program.
2. Save As enables you to save a text file to a disk. The Save As dialog box cannot be used to save graphics files.
3. Print enables you to spool output to the Print Manager.
4. Printer Setup enables you to choose and configure your default printer to be used with the SAS System.
5. Exit enables you to end your SAS session.

Note that many child windows of the SAS AWS (such as EDITOR and OUTPUT windows) also have a pull-down menu that is similar to that of SAS AWS File pull-down menu.

Window Menu

The Windows pull-down menu shown here offers the following choices:

1. Minimize (Restore) all Windows enables you to minimize all open SAS windows or to restore minimized windows to full size.
2. Cascade arranges the open SAS windows in layers
3. Tile Vertically and Tile Horizontally arrange the open SAS windows in different formats.
4. Resize returns the display configuration to the last saved configuration.

A list of all open SAS windows is displayed below the Resize option. The windows in the open window list are in order of the time they were opened (i.e. most recent first). The active window is indicated by a check mark. To change the active window, click on the name of the window you want to activate. If more than nine windows are open concurrently within the SAS session, the last item on the Windows pull-down menu is More Windows...

Help Menu

The Help pull-down menu offers:

1. SAS System Help provides general information about features of the SAS System.
2. Using This Window displays help for the use of the active SAS AWS window.
3. Books and Training provide access to the SAS online document and SAS online tour.
4. Getting Started with SAS Software introduces the basics of the SAS program.
5. SAS on the Web connects the user to the SAS website.
6. About SAS System includes information about the SAS System copyright, as well as details of your system configuration.

Pop-up Menus

To see the pop-up menus for a given SAS window, click the right mouse button while in a SAS window. After the menu appears, you can click your menu selections just as you would with menu bars. Selecting a pop-up menu may lead you to a series of cascading menus. You may choose pop-up menus, menu bars, command line or command dialog box to issue SAS commands. Refer to SAS Companion for the Microsoft Windows Environment (available online) for further information on pop-up menus, and other methods of issuing commands during a SAS session.