SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 6th Edition

The following window appears for the Air data set:

4. In the Description field of the General tab, you can enter a description of the data

set. To save the description, click OK.

5. Select other tabs to display additional information about the data set.

Working with VIEWTABLE

Overview of VIEWTABLE

To manipulate data interactively, you can use the SAS table editor, VIEWTABLE. In the

VIEWTABLE window, you can create a new table, and view or edit an existing table.

Opening a SAS Data Set in a VIEWTABLE Window

You can open an existing SAS data set in a VIEWTABLE window by double-clicking on

the SAS data set icon in the SAS Explorer window, or by specifying the VIEWTABLE

command in the SAS Display Manager command line. The following sections provide

details about using either of these two methods.

Using the SAS Explorer Window

Here are the steps for using the SAS Explorer window to open a SAS data set in a

VIEWTABLE window:

1. Open SAS Explorer and double-click on the icon for the library that contains the

target data set.

2. Select the desired data set and double-click on its icon.

382 Chapter 17 • Managing Your Data in the SAS Windowing Environment

3. The VIEWTABLE window should appear, populated with data from the data set.

4. Use the scroll bar on the VIEWTABLE window to view all of the data.

Using the VIEWTABLE Command

You can also open a data set in a VIEWTABLE window by using the VIEWTABLE

command in the SAS Display Manager command line.

1. Specify the VIEWTABLE command in the SAS Display Manager command line

using the following syntax:

VIEWTABLE data-set-name <-options>

2. Here is an example:

viewtable cars

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Displaying Table Headers as Names or Labels

When you open a data set that contains labels in a VIEWTABLE window, SAS

automatically displays the table headers as variable labels rather than the variable names.

You can change the way SAS displays table headers by using the VIEWTABLE pop-up

menu or by using the VIEWTABLE command.

• Using the VIEWTABLE pop-up menu to change the way table headers are

displayed:

1. Open a data set in VIEWTABLE (to access the VIEWTABLE pop-up menu, you

must have an active VIEWTABLE window open).

2. Make sure that the VIEWTABLE window is active.

3. Select View ð Column Names or View ð Column Labels from the drop-down

View menu.

4. Once this selection is made, the opened table, and all tables that are subsequently

opened, will display table headers based on this setting in the VIEWTABLE pop-

up menu. When you exit VIEWTABLE, or exit SAS, the preference for column

labels or column names is saved. When you open VIEWTABLE or invoke SAS

again, the preference that you chose is automatically selected.

This feature is available in SAS 9.4M1 and later releases.

• Using the VIEWTABLE command to change the way table headers are displayed

when a table is opened:

1. Specify the COLHEADING= option on the VIEWTABLE command in the SAS

command line using the following syntax.

VIEWTABLE data-set-name -<COLHEADING>=NAMES | LABELS>

2. Here is an example:

viewtable cars colheading=names

384 Chapter 17 • Managing Your Data in the SAS Windowing Environment

Customizing SAS Explorer for Opening the VIEWTABLE Window

You can customize SAS Explorer to open a VIEWTABLE window so that column

headings are displayed as either names or labels every time that the table is opened from

the SAS Explorer window. To do this, add the COLHEADING= option to the Action

Command in the SAS Explorer Options dialog box.

1. With the SAS Explorer window active, select Tools ð Options ð Explorer to open

the Explorer Options window.

2. Select the Members tab.

3. Select Table in the list of registered types, and then click Edit to open the TABLE

Options dialog box.

4. Select the &Open Action Command in the list of actions, and then click Edit to

open the Edit Action dialog box.

5. In the Edit Action dialog box, add -COLHEADING=<value> to the end of the

VIEWTABLE command:

VIEWTABLE %8b.'%s'.DATA colheading=names

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