Custom Tasks for SAS® Enterprise Guide® Using Microsoft .NET

Chapter 1. Why Custom Tasks? 4
• Create user interface as a front-end for a SAS procedure or technique that you use all of the
time, but that doesn't have a built-in task in SAS Enterprise Guide. With the over 250
procedures that SAS offers, plus the extensive programming language, it's no surprise that
there are gaps between what the user interface offers and what SAS can actually do for you.
(For an example, see Chapter 8, "The Top N Report".)
• Connect to a web service to gather data from an external source and import the data into SAS.
(For an example, see Chapter 14, "Running PROCs on Your Facebook Friends".)
• Provide simple access to SAS macros programs used within your organization, making them
more approachable to non-programmers. (For an example, see Chapter 13, "Putting the
Squeeze on Your SAS Data Sets".)
• Provide a sign-in prompt to a proprietary database or server resource without revealing the
SAS code required for this action.
There are a few things that customers often wish they could do with custom tasks, but currently
cannot. These include:
• Automate the SAS Enterprise Guide interface to add to and run parts of your project. You
can accomplish some of this with the SAS Enterprise Guide automation model, which is a
separate mechanism from the custom task APIs.
• In SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1, you cannot use custom tasks to examine project contents and
extract information such as SAS programs. However, there are newer APIs within SAS
Enterprise Guide 4.2 and later that allow this. (For an example, see Chapter 9, "The Task
Property Viewer".)
Who Uses Custom Tasks Today, and for What?
Who uses custom tasks, and what do they use them for? The short answer is: lots of people, for
lots of things. Even SAS Institute uses custom tasks as a way to prototype new features in SAS
Enterprise Guide and to deliver those new features in-between major releases.
Before Custom Tasks: SAS/AF
Custom tasks are not a new concept in SAS. For years, SAS customers have created customized
SAS applications using the SAS application framework (known as the product SAS/AF). SAS/AF
provided an environment to host a full-screen application based in SAS, presenting a custom user
interface and yet provide full access to the power of SAS.
The objectives of SAS/AF are the same as those of custom tasks: provide a simplified, focused user
interface to allow end users perform some task that is specific to their industry, company, or
department. There are still companies that have a large investment in SAS/AF-based applications,
and their end users still interact with SAS in this way.
SAS/AF applications were "just the ticket" when SAS users used to “live” in the SAS Display
Manager session, which acts as the host for SAS/AF. But today, most SAS users access SAS using
Hemedinger, Chris. Custom Tasks for SAS® Enterprise Guide® Using Microsoft .NET. Copyright © 2012 SAS Institute Inc.,
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