DDE Syntax within SAS

To use DDE in SAS, issue a FILENAME statement with the following syntax:

• FILENAME fileref DDE DDE- triplet <DDE-options>;

where:

fileref

• is a valid fileref (as described in Referencing External Files on page 146).

DDE

• is the device-type keyword that tells SAS you want to use Dynamic Data Exchange.

DDE-triplet

• is the name of the DDE external file.

DDE-options

• can be any of the following:

  • COMMAND

    • allows remote commands to be issued to DDE server applications. For more information, see Controlling Another Application Using DDE on page 276.

  • HOTLINK

    • instructs SAS to use the DDE HOTLINK. For an example of using this option, see Using the DDE HOTLINK on page 280.

  • LRECL= record-length

    • specifies the record length (in bytes). Under Windows, the default is 256. The value of record-length can range from 1 to 1,048,576 (1 megabyte).

  • NOTAB

    • instructs SAS to ignore tab characters between variables . For an example of using this option, see Using the NOTAB Option with DDE on page 279.

  • RECFM= record-format

    • controls the record format. The following are valid values under Windows:

      F	indicates fixed format.
      N	indicates binary format and causes the file to be treated as a byte stream.
      P	indicates print format.
      S370V	indicates the variable S370 record format (V).
      S370VB	indicates the variable block S370 record format (VB).
      S370VBS	indicates the variable block with spanned records S370 record format (VBS).
      V D	indicates variable format. This is the default.

      The S370 values are valid with z/OS types of files only. That is, they are valid in files that are binary, have variable-length records, and are in EBCDIC format. If you want to use a fixed-format z/OS file, first copy it to a variable-length, binary z/OS file.

CAUTION:

• Use caution when using DDE with data values that are blank or missing. For sample code, see Reading Missing Data on page 281.