February 22 RTSUG Meeting at RTI

Our next RTSUG meeting will be held Wednesday, February 22nd, from 2:30-5:00 in the Cox Multi Purpose Room on the RTI campus.

WHY: For an afternoon of networking, light refreshments, and learning.

WHEN: February 22nd, from 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM.

WHERE: RTI, Cox Multi Purpose Room

Register

Please register online here: rtsug.org/rsvp.htm

Agenda

2:30-2:50 PM		Light refreshments and networking
2:50-3:00 PM		Announcements
3:00-3:20 PM		David Abbot: "Use %WordLoop to Replace Cookie-Cutter Code"
3:20-3:40 PM		Christine Davies: "Multidimensional Arrays Used for a Quality Control Process"
3:40-4:00 PM		Break
4:00-4:30 PM		Chris Speck: "Diverse Report Generation with SAS® Dictionary Tables and PROC REPORT"
4:30-5:00 PM		Prizes - bring a business card to drop in the hat!

Abstracts

David Abbot
Use %WordLoop to Replace Cookie-Cutter Code

Using SAS Macro language Word Loop Macro The fit between you and the SAS language is apt to be imperfect at times, especially if you have experience with multiple programming languages. You want to do X but the SAS only supports Y. Bummer! ut you don't always have to just tolerate this situation; sometimes, you can make the fit better by clever use of the SAS macro language. In this talk I illustrate how I created the %WordLoop macro to replace cookie cutter code with code easier to maintain and read.

Christine Davies
Multidimensional Arrays Used for a Quality Control Process

Nearly 100 tables are delivered to the National Science Foundation annually, as part of the quality control process all row/column relationships within each table and between all tables must be verified. To automate the process, multi-dimensional arrays were used to store table data for quality control processing. Since the array size varies depending on the table layout, SASHELP.VTABLE was used to determine number of rows and columns for the arrays created. In addition, the SAS code generates a text file listing out any quality control issues that need to be addressed, so that the user can easily identify what needs to be corrected without reviewing the LOG file.

Chris Speck
Diverse Report Generation with SAS® Dictionary Tables and PROC REPORT

Automation is often the goal of SAS programming. If we could all just hit “Submit” and watch our program generate all our tables and listings while making the right decisions at run time we could get a lot more accomplished. Of course, with the SAS macro facility, we can already do this…up to a point. We can equip our macros with macro logic, we can feed them different parameters, and then watch as they produce one output after another. This works great when all your outputs are based on the same dataset and require the same number of columns.
But what if they don’t? What if you need to automate report generation from a large number of different datasets? What if you must allow for any number of columns? Developing such a program using macro logic would be cumbersome indeed. You would need %IF %THEN blocks for every contingency, and your program would get so bogged down in logic that you’d be better off without automation at all.
This paper will demonstrate how SAS programmers can easily and gracefully automate Diverse Report Generation. The methods discussed in this paper use patient profiles as a primary example and will make use of PROC REPORT and SAS dictionary tables.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Directions

• From the east via I-40, take Exit 280, Davis Drive. At the top of the exit ramp, turn right onto Davis Drive. At the first traffic light, turn left onto Cornwallis Rd. Turn left at the first traffic light onto Institute Drive (This is RTI). Take your 3rd left turn following the signs to the Gertrude M. Cox Statistics Building. This is a 3-story, yellow brick building with a glass front.
• From the south (really west) via I-85, take Exit 172 to go south on NC 147 (the Durham Freeway). Take Exit 6, Cornwallis Road. At the top of the exit ramp, turn left onto Cornwallis Rd. At the first traffic light at Institute Drive, turn right (This is RTI). Take your 3rd left turn following the signs to the Gertrude M. Cox Statistics Building. This is a 3-story, yellow brick building with a glass front.
• From the west via I-40, take Exit 280 onto Davis Drive. At the top of the exit ramp, turn right onto Davis Drive. At the second traffic light, turn left onto Cornwallis Road. At the first traffic light, turn left into Institute Drive (This is RTI). Take your 3rd left turn following the signs to the Gertrude M. Cox Statistics Building. This is a 3-story, yellow brick building with a glass front.
• From the north via I-85, take Exit 177B for NC 55 East, Roxboro Road, and NC Central University. Go east (really south) on NC 55. When it intersects NC 147 (the Durham Freeway), go south on NC 147. Take Exit 6, Cornwallis Road. At the top of the exit ramp, turn left onto Cornwallis Rd. At the first traffic light, turn right into West Institute Drive (This is RTI). Take your 3rd left turn following the signs to the Gertrude M. Cox Statistics Building. This is a 3-story, yellow brick building with a glass front.
• From the south via NC 55, get on I-40 going east. Take Exit 280, Davis Drive. At the top of the exit ramp, turn right onto Davis Drive. At the second traffic light, turn left onto Cornwallis Road. At the first traffic light, turn left into Institute Drive (This is RTI). Take your 3rd left turn following the signs to the Gertrude M. Cox Statistics Building. This is a 3-story, yellow brick building with a glass front.