Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 20:39:36 +1200
Reply-To: Mark Bodt <markbodt@STSS.CO.NZ>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From: Mark Bodt <markbodt@STSS.CO.NZ>
Subject: Re: Coloured SCL (Tool does it all for u)
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
At 08:46 28/08/98 GMT, you wrote:
>Can anyone assist me in colouring my SCL?
>I know you can make comments different colours and so on but I can't see
>the option to do this, even in the "Fonts" dialogue box.
>
>I'm using SAS 6.12 TS020 on NT4.
>
>Cheers,
>Stew.
>--
>The opinions expressed in this communication are my own and do not
>necessarily reflect those of my employer.
>
I see that there have been a number of replies to your posting on this
topic. Here's my belated 2 cents worth. (just come back from a weeks
snowboarding holiday). I too like to code my scl with different colours for
comments, SCL and submitted SAS code.
Over the years I have used the suggestions made in the other postings
(color mtext, Esc B etc etc). More recently, I have put together a nice
tool that will colour code the SCL for you. Well actually I've put together
2 tools:
1) A Do-End linking tool.
This tool analyses the SCL entry and graphically links all the dos and
ends, selects and ends etc. (ie draws lines to show where the related dos
and ends are). It helps debugging where there is a mis-placed do or end
statement and assists in understanding the program flow. The graphical
display of the 'linked' SCL entry is 'colourised', showing the different
components (Comments, SCL code & Submitted SAS code) in different colours.
It also highlights any do-end linking errors. Some of the other features of
this tool are:
- Drag and drop selection of colours for colourising from a colour palette.
- Hard copy output of the 'linked' code.
- Rich Text Format file creation of the linked and colourised code for
importing into a word processor (and retaining the colour information)
- Upto 10 levels of nesting (This would be easy to increase)
- The graphical linking can handle poorly indented code.
- Point & click interface.
- Analyses both SCL code and any submitted SAS code within the scl entry.
- Retention of user preferences (catalog selection , colours etc) from one
session to the next.
2) A colourising tool.
This tool, at the click of a button will analyse the SCL entry and apply
colour attributes to the code. i.e. you can code the entire SCL in yellow,
then run this tool and it will convert the colours to colours appropriate
for the function (Comments, SCL code & Submitted SAS code). This tool
actually writes the color attribute information to the SCL entry.
I am thinking about making these tools available as free-ware at some
stage. I may present a paper on these and other tools at the next SUGI...
we'll see.
Attached is a sample screen print from the Do - End linking tool. It shows
the colourised code and the do-end linking.
BTW, Version 7 will have a form of colourising. I spoke to the developers
at the last SUGI in Nashville, and was told that there is no do-end linking
tool in V7.
Mark.
DOEND.GIF [image/gif]
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| Mark Bodt | |
| Sunken Treasure Software Systems Ltd | SAS Institute(NZ) Ltd. |
| Specialising in SAS(R) Software | Quality Partner. |
| Consultancy in the Asia / Pacific Region | |
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