Date:         Wed, 7 Sep 2005 14:22:44 -0400
Reply-To:     Steve Raimi <steven.raimi@GM.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Steve Raimi <steven.raimi@GM.COM>
Subject:      SAS/Access for ODBC frustration

I've gotten and installed SAS/Access for ODBC in order to get information
from a SQL Server database.  My program depends heavily on the dictionary
table, but info about the tables in ODBC apparently doesn't show up there.
I can use the "Special ODBC Queries" in the documentation
(ODBC::SQLAPI "parm1", "parm2",...) using the "connect to odbc" syntax, but
not the libname.  It's very slow going translating my program's queries
into the API calls.

All the other Access products (as far as I've seen) make you go through
various hoops to get data from other sources, <em>after which you can treat
the data like any other SAS library/dataset</em>.  My program takes the
dictionary table results and uses it to loop through descriptive
information about the database, its tables, and its columns.  It's a first
cut at letting the programmer (and/or data analyst downstream) begin to
learn the data.  Apparently, I have to reprogram every query to create a
ODBC::SQLAPI equivalent to the dictionary queries I thought would be
universal.

I guess this is mostly a rant, but can anyone tell me why you can't query
ODBC information through the standard dictionary tables, and, just as
importantly, why doesn't the SAS documentation clearly tell you (ideally
before you shell out for the product) that ODBC access won't work that
way?

Steven Raimi
GMAC Insurance