57
The following table shows some excerpts of Visual Basic code and their SCL
equivalents.
Table 9.4 Visual Basic Code Samples and Their SCL Equivalents
Visual Basic Code
OLE Automation in SCL
Launch Excel and make it visible
Set excelobj = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
excelobj.Visible = True
hostcl = loadclass('sashelp.fsp.hauto');
call send ( hostcl, '_NEW_', excelobj, 0,
'Excel.Application');
call send (excelobj,'_SET_PROPERTY_',
'Visible','True');
Create a new worksheet
Dim wbsobj, wsobj As Object
Set wbsobj = excelobj.Workbooks
wbsobj.Add
Set wsobj = excelobj.ActiveSheet
call send(excelobj,'_GET_PROPERTY_',
'Workbooks', wbsobj);
call send(wbsobj, '_DO_', 'Add');
call send(excelobj,'_GET_PROPERTY_',
'ActiveSheet', wsobj );
Set the value of a cell
wsobj.Cells(row + 1, col).Value
=var
r=row+1;
call send(wsobj,'_COMPUTE_', 'Cells', r, col,
retcell);
call send(retcell,'_SET_PROPERTY_',
'Value' ,var);
Close the Excel application object
excelobj.ActiveWorkbook.Close
("False")
excelobj.Quit
call send(excelobj,'_GET_PROPERTY_',
'ActiveWorkbook', awbobj);
call send(awbobj, '_DO_', 'Close', 'False');
call send(excelobj,'_DO_', 'Quit');
call send(excelobj,'_TERM_');
Using OLE Custom Controls (OCXs) in Your
SAS/AF Application
Overview of Using OLE Custom Controls (OCXs) in Your SAS/AF
Application
An OLE custom control is a special type of OLE object or collection of OLE objects that
has an interface to expose its own properties and methods. You can control these objects
through its graphical interface and with SCL code.
OLE custom controls differ from other OLE objects in these ways:
• They generate events based on user actions, which you can respond to in your
FRAME entry. Note that the object's SCL label is not run by default when you
activate an OLE control.
• They assume ambient properties (such as color and font) based on the environment
in which they are used.
OLE controls are packaged in their own dynamic linked library (with a file extension of
OCX). Using SCL code, your FRAME entry can respond to events generated by the
Using OLE Custom Controls (OCXs) in Your SAS/AF Application
251
40
OLE control (mouse clicks, key presses, and so on). The events exposed by OLE
controls vary among controls. For a list of events, see the documentation for the control
that you are using. After inserting the control into the FRAME entry, you can view the
event map by selecting Object Attributes for the OLE control object and then Event
Map.
Note: The OLE controls that SAS provides require 32-bit containers, which makes them
unusable with Windows applications that offer only 16-bit container support. Also,
because SAS is a 32-bit container, you cannot use 16-bit controls with it.
Inserting an OLE Control in a FRAME Entry
To insert an OLE control in a FRAME entry:
1. From the COMPONENTS window, select the V6 objects item to expand the object
tree.
2. Double-click OLE - Insert Object from the Selection List. The Insert Object dialog
box appears. You can also drag OLE - Insert Object from the Selection List to the
BUILD window. When you release the mouse button, the Insert Object dialog box
appears.
3. Select the Create Control radio button to display a list of registered OLE custom
controls. If the OLE control that you want to use is not listed here and you have it on
your system, you need to register the control. For more information, see “Registering
OLE Controls” on page 252 .
4. Select the name of the OCX control that you want to insert.
Registering OLE Controls
Before you can use any OLE control in Windows, the control must be registered with
Windows. SAS ComboBox and SAS Edit, the two OLE controls provided with SAS, are
automatically registered when you install SAS.
If you want to install other controls for use with SAS or other applications, you must
register the control with Windows (unless the control was installed by a process that
performed the registration for you). The OLE control is not available from the Insert
Object dialog box until it is registered.
To register an OLE control:
1. Complete steps 1-4 as described in “Inserting an OLE Control in a FRAME Entry”
on page 252 to invoke the Insert Object dialog box with the list of registered
controls.
2. Click Add Control to invoke the Browse file selection dialog box.
3. Use the dialog box to select the control (which usually has a file extension of OCX)
that you want to register.
When you click OK, the control is added to the list of registered controls in the
Insert Object dialog box.
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Accessing OLE Control Properties
Overview of Accessing OLE Control Properties
OLE controls have properties that you can set or retrieve using SCL methods. Some
controls make some of their properties available through a properties page, which lets
you set or retrieve the data interactively.
Accessing the OLE Control Properties Page
To invoke the properties page for a control, click on the right mouse button within the
control's region in the BUILD: DISPLAY window and then select Properties from the
pop-up menu. The properties page for the control appears. Figure 9.4 on page 253
shows an example of a properties page for an OLE control.
OLE controls provide a Properties verb, which you can use with the _EXECUTE_
method in SCL to bring up the Properties page for the control. Or, you can access the
pop-up menu for the control, and then choose the cascading menu with the control's
name. The Properties verb is available off that cascading menu.
Figure 9.4 An Example Properties Page
You can use the properties page to view or change settings for some of the exposed
properties.
Note that the control is not active (you cannot interact with its interface) while you are in
DISPLAY mode. The control becomes active in TESTAF mode.
Accessing Properties Using SCL Code
When you use OLE controls in a SAS/AF application, you can access the properties of
the control programmatically. Also, an OLE control might not expose all of its properties
in a properties page. You can access the properties of a control by using the
_SET_PROPERTY_ and _GET_PROPERTY_ methods.
Before you can access a property, you must know:
• the object label of the OLE control in your SAS/AF FRAME entry
• the name of the property that you want to access
• the type of data that the property holds.
For example, suppose you have a combo box control named sascombo in your FRAME
entry, and you want to set the list style to simple (represented by the integer 1):
Using OLE Custom Controls (OCXs) in Your SAS/AF Application
253
41
call notify ('sascombo', '_set_property_',
'Style', 1);
If you want to retrieve data from a property, you must use a variable that is of the same
type as the data that you want to read. For example, if you want to learn what text the
user specified in the edit portion of a combo box, include the following code:
length text $ 200;
call notify ('sascombo', '_get_property_',
'Text', text);
Interacting with the OLE Control Using SCL Methods
OLE controls support methods that control their content and behavior. You use either the
_DO_ or _COMPUTE_ SCL methods to send a message to an OLE control telling it to
implement one of its methods.
• Use the _DO_ method in SCL when the OLE control method performs some action
but does not return a value. For example, the SAS ComboBox OLE control has a
method that clears all items from the list:
call notify('sascombo', '_DO_', 'Clear');
• Use the _COMPUTE_ method in SCL when the OLE control method returns a
value. You specify a variable in the SCL code that contains the return value when the
method ends. For example, the SAS ComboBox OLE control has a method that
returns an item at a specified position in the list:
length item $ 80;
call notify('sascombo', '_COMPUTE_',
'GetItem', 2, item);
When this call returns, item contains the text of the item at position 2 (the third item
in the list).
Responding to OLE Control Events
Overview of Responding to OLE Control Events
OLE controls generate events that you can respond to in your SCL code. You can create
a label in your SCL code for OLE events just like you do for SAS/AF events.
• “Assigning SCL Code to an OLE Control Event” on page 254
• “Retrieving Argument Values from Events” on page 255
• “Example: Mapping OLE Control Events to SCL Code” on page 256
• “Example: Subclassing an OLE Custom Control” on page 256
• “Adding an Item to a Combo Box List” on page 257
• “Finding an Item in a Combo Box” on page 257
• “Retrieving the Text Value of the Control” on page 257
Assigning SCL Code to an OLE Control Event
To assign SCL code to run when an OLE control event occurs:
1. Select the OLE control object in the BUILD window.
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2. Select Object Attributes from the pop-up menu for the object.
3. Select Event Map from the Object Attributes dialog box. The Event Map dialog box
appears (shown in Figure 9.5 on page 255 ).
4. In the Event Map dialog box, select the event that you want to respond to using SCL
code.
5. Specify the SCL, FRAME, or PROGRAM source entry and (if applicable) the SCL
label where the event-handling code resides.
Note: You can specify the same SCL source entry that is stored with the FRAME
entry. However, in addition to compiling the code with the FRAME entry, you
must also compile the SCL entry outside of the FRAME context (outside of the
BUILD: SOURCE and BUILD: DISPLAY windows) in order for the event
handler to recognize the SCL label. It is more efficient to store event-handling
code for OLE controls in an SCL source entry that is not associated with a
FRAME entry.
Figure 9.5 Event Map Dialog Box
Note: Many OLE controls include a LostFocus event, which they generate when the
control loses window focus. Because of how SAS/AF software communicates with
the control, mapping the LostFocus event sometimes has the effect of placing focus
back on the control that just lost it. Although you can still respond to the LostFocus
event in your FRAME entry, this action might cause unusual focus behavior.
Retrieving Argument Values from Events
Some OLE control events also include parameters that you might find useful. For
example, the SAS ComboBox control generates a KeyPress event that also reports the
ASCII value of the key that was pressed. If a particular event passes an argument back to
the FRAME entry, the type of value returned is indicated in the Event Map dialog box. A
numeric value is indicated with an N; a character value is indicated with a C.
To retrieve the value returned by an OLE control event, you must define a method (using
the METHOD statement in SCL) in the event-handling code. In the argument list for the
METHOD statement, specify a variable of the type that you expect the OLE control to
return. This variable contains the value returned by the event. You can then use that
variable inside your event-handler.
For example, suppose you want to retrieve the value of the key that triggered the
KeyPress event in the SAS ComboBox control and then report it as an ASCII character.
The KeyPress event returns an integer that represents the ASCII value of the key
pressed. Your event-handling code would look like the following:
/* Label specified in Event Map dialog box */
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52
KEYPRESS:
/* Define a method with an
integer argument */
method keyval 8;
/* Convert the integer to an
ASCII character */
keychar=byte(keyval);
put keychar=; /* Output the character */
endmethod;
Example: Mapping OLE Control Events to SCL Code
When mapping OLE control events, you can do one of the following:
• Map each event in the Event Map window to a different labeled section of SCL code.
Each piece of code performs different actions.
• Map all of the events in the Event Map window to a single labeled section of SCL
code, use the _GET_EVENT_ method to detect which event was triggered, and act
accordingly.
• Use a combination of these strategies by assigning one event (such as the Click
event) to SCL code that runs the object's label (using the _OBJECT_LABEL_
method), and map the remaining events to a single label that uses the
_GET_EVENT_ method to determine the event and appropriate action. The object's
label is not run by default for OLE controls.
The following example shows how to structure the SCL code when all events for an
OLE control are mapped to a single label, which in turn runs the object's label to
determine the event and act accordingly:
length event $ 80;
/* All OLE control events are mapped to
this label */
RUNLABEL:
/* Call the object's label */
call send(_self_, '_OBJECT_LABEL_');
return;
/* This is the label of the OLE control */
OBJ1:
/* Determine the last event */
call notify('obj1', '_GET_EVENT_', event);
select (event);
when('Click') put 'Click received';
when('DblClick') put 'DblClick received';
otherwise put event=;
end;
return;
Example: Subclassing an OLE Custom Control
If you create SAS/AF applications that make frequent use of one or more OLE custom
controls, you might want to write your own methods to abstract the methods that the
control recognizes without having to specify the intermediate _DO_ and _COMPUTE_
methods in SCL.
You can write methods by creating a subclass of the OLE class and adding methods to
your derived class. When you insert the OLE control into your FRAME entry, be sure to
insert it as an instance of the new class that you define (instead of OLE - Insert
Object). The examples provided here contain sample code that you can use to abstract
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Chapter 9 • Using OLE in SAS/AF Software under Windows
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the methods of a control. They do not include details about how to create subclasses. For
information about creating subclasses of a SAS/AF class, see the online documentation
for SAS/AF software.
Adding an Item to a Combo Box List
You can use this method to add a new item to the list portion of the SAS ComboBox
control. The SAS ComboBox control uses zero-based numbering to indicate the
positions of the list items (the first item is at position 0, the second is at position 1, and
so on). The following method lets you specify the position numbers such that position 1
holds the first item.
/* Add a new item to a ComboBox list. */
ADDITEM:
method text $200 row 8 rc 8;
/* adjust for zero-based index */
ocxrow = row-1;
call send(_self_, '_COMPUTE_', 'AddItem',
text, ocxrow, rc);
if ( rc = 0 ) then
_MSG_="ERROR: Could not add item to list.";
endmethod;
Assuming you mapped this code to a new method called ADD_ITEM, you would use
this syntax to add a new item to the control:
/* Adds 'Item 1' at the first position */
/* in the control */
length success 8;
call notify('sascombo', 'ADD_ITEM',
'Item 1', 1, success);
Finding an Item in a Combo Box
The following method finds the specified item and returns its position in the list. As in
the previous example, this method adjusts the position number to be one-based instead
of zero-based.
FINDITEM:
method text $200 row 8;
call send(_self_, '_COMPUTE_', 'FindItem',
text, row);
row = row + 1; /* adjust for zero-based */
endmethod; /* index */
Assuming you mapped this code to the FIND_ITEM method, you would then use it as in
this example:
length position 8;
call notify('sascombo','FIND_ITEM',
'Lost Item', position);
Retrieving the Text Value of the Control
Both the SAS ComboBox and SAS Edit controls have Text properties, which you can
access using the _GET_PROPERTY_ method with the property name. For easier and
more intuitive access from your OLE subclass, you can override the _GET_TEXT_
method and map it to this code:
GETTEXT:
method text $200;
Using OLE Custom Controls (OCXs) in Your SAS/AF Application
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9
call send(_self_, '_GET_PROPERTY_',
'Text', text);
endmethod;
You would then access the Text property of a control the same way you access the text of
other SAS/AF widget objects:
length text $ 200;
call notify('sasedit', '_GET_TEXT_', text);
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Chapter 9 • Using OLE in SAS/AF Software under Windows
31
Chapter 10
Controlling SAS from Another
Application Using OLE
Introduction to Automating SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Creating an Instance of SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Getting Feedback from the SAS Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Examples of Automating SAS with OLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Examples Using Visual Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Creating a SAS Automation Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Determine Whether the SAS Session Is Busy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Toggle the SAS Session between Visible and Invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Set the Main SAS Window Title of the SAS Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Assign a SAS Library and Run a SAS Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
End the SAS Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Methods and Properties for Use with a SAS OLE Automation Object . . . . . . . . . 262
Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Command Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
QueryWindow Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Quit Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Submit Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Top Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Properties for Controlling a SAS Automation Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Introduction to Automating SAS
SAS can perform as an OLE automation server. You can use an application that can act
as an OLE automation controller (such as Visual Basic) to create a SAS session. You can
control it using the methods and properties that SAS makes available.
Many Windows applications use Visual Basic or Visual Basic for Applications as the
scripting language for automation. All examples that are provided in this document use
Visual Basic, but you can achieve the same results with any application that can act as an
OLE automation controller.
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43
Creating an Instance of SAS
To create an instance of SAS (that is, invoke a SAS session), you must create an OLE
object by using the SAS program identifier as it is listed in the Windows registry. The
SAS program identifier is SAS.Application. Here is a Visual Basic example that
instantiates (creates an instance of) a SAS session:
Dim OleSAS as Object
Set OleSAS = CreateObject("SAS.Application")
This example sets the identifier OleSAS to the new SAS session. You can then use this
identifier to access the methods and properties that SAS makes available.
If you want to control an existing SAS automation object by using OLE automation, you
can use your automation controlling language. In Visual Basic, you can use the
following:
Dim OleSAS as Object
Set OleSAS = GetObject(,"SAS.Automation")
Note that this code does not create an instance of SAS if one does not already exist.
Also, the existing SAS session must have been created as an OLE automation object (for
example, using CreateObject in Visual Basic). You cannot use OLE automation to
control a SAS session that you invoked by using another method (for example, by using
the Start menu).
Getting Feedback from the SAS Session
SAS provides two properties, RC and ResultString, that make it possible to pass
information from the SAS session that you are automating back to the application that is
controlling it. RC can contain a number; ResultString can contain a text string.
To set the values of these properties from within the SAS session, use the SETRC
function with this syntax:
error=SETRC("result-string", rc-number);
where result-string is the value to be assigned the ResultString property, and rc-number
is the value to be assigned to the RC property.
For example, you can use the Submit method to submit DATA step code that returns an
error code as part of its processing. You can then check the value of that error using the
RC or ResultString property. Here is a Visual Basic example of this:
Private Delcare Sub Sleep Lib “kernel32” (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
Using Visual Studio 2010 vb.net, I had to change this to:
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
Handles Button1.Click
Dim OleSAS As Object
Dim x = 0
Dim Response
OleSAS = CreateObject("SAS.Application")
OleSAS.Submit("data _null_;error=setrc('Error string', 2.0);put error; run;")
Sleep(500)
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Chapter 10 • Controlling SAS from Another Application Using OLE
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