Date:         Fri, 16 Dec 2005 23:29:33 +0100
Reply-To:     Frank Poppe <Frank.Poppe@ZONNET.NL>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Frank Poppe <Frank.Poppe@ZONNET.NL>
Subject:      Inspect and edit your SAS format entries
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu

Hi,

Over the years that I have been using SAS I kept double clicking on the
format entries in a SAS catalog, intuitively expecting to get some
meaningful information about those entries. Each time it annoyed me that
that is not the case.

Some time ago I saw, on Richard A. DeVenezia's web site, how you can change
the action taken when you double click on an item in the SAS Explorer
(http://www.devenezia.com/downloads/sas/actions/). This inspired me to try
and do something about this.

I now have a first version of an application that comes into action if you
double click a format entry.
It shows the content of a format entry, more or less organised in the way
the PROC FORMAT code would look like. You can edit the fields, and you can
ask the application to generate the PROC FORMAT code to rebuild the format.
If you say so, the code will also run upon exiting the application.

The little SAS program here
(http://frank-poppe.xs4all.nl/SAS/download/edit_format.sas) will download a
transport file, unpack it, and register the application with SAS so that the
SAS Explorer knows what to do in the future with those format entries.

I have checked the program only on Windows XP Home, but I see no reason why
it should not run on other platforms as well.
Of course, it still may contain bugs. Run it at your own risk!
If you experience any bugs, or have suggestions for improvements, please let
me know.
But: I cannot guarantee that I can do something about it...

Frank Poppe