Macro XEDIT (from Fraktal SAS Programming)

What it does

This SAS Macro opens a Program Editor Window in the SAS Display Manager and loads the file specified by parameters xpath and xentry.

• When xpath is not supplied, the macro XSET is called to get the user's home directory and then uses this path.
• When xentry is not given, the macro calls XDIR to list the directory content in the LOG screen.

Annotated Code

Code executed	Function performed
%MACRO xedit(xentry,xpath);	Start macro definition with name and positional parameters xentry and xpath.
%LOCAL xpath;	Declare scope for xpath to be local.
%IF %LENGTH(&XPATH.) = 0 %THEN %DO;	Start branch for condition "xpath not specified".
%XSET(homeshare);	Call macro XSET to obtain user's home directory.
%LET xpath = &HOMESHARE.;	Populate xpath with content from homeshare.
%END;	End branch for condition "xpath not specified".
filename path "&XPATH";	Create file reference using xpath.
%IF %LENGTH(&XENTRY.) != 0 %THEN %DO;	Start branch for condition "xentry is not empty".
DM "PGM";	Open Program Editor window in SAS display manager.
DM "inc path(&XENTRY.)";	Load text file specified by xentry from directory specified by xpath.
%END;	End branch for condition "xentry is not empty".
%ELSE %DO;	Start branch for condition "xentry is empty".
%XDIR(&HOMESHARE.);	Call macro XDIR to show content in user's home directory.
%END;	End branch for condition "xentry is empty".
filename path clear;	Clear fileref pointing to xpath.
%MEND xedit;	Finalize macro definition with name.

Special Effects

1. The macro makes use of the 'pipe' type file reference. When used appropriately, this returns a list that is instantly generated by an OS command that is given as the statement's argument.

1. As an alternate text processing instance the macro uses a SYSTASK statement to call the windows component 'Wordpad'. Since each paticular windows installation uses its own path structure, the macro makes use of the 'windir' environment variable.