SAS/ACCESS 9.2 for Relational Databases: Reference, Fourth Edition

434 CONNECTION TO Component 4 Chapter 13CONNECTION TO ComponentRetrieves and uses DBMS data in a PROC SQL query or viewValid in: PROC SQL step SELECT statements (when accessing DBMS data usingSAS/ACCESS software)SyntaxCONNECTION TO dbms-name | alias (dbms-query)The CONNECTION TO component specifies the DBMS connection that you want touse or that you want to create (if you have omitted the CONNECT statement).CONNECTION TO then enables you to retrieve DBMS data directly through a PROCSQL query.You use the CONNECTION TO component in the FROM clause of a PROC SQLSELECT statement:PROC SQL;SELECT column-listFROM CONNECTION TO dbms-name (dbms-query)other optional PROC SQL clausesQUIT;You can use CONNECTION TO in any FROM clause, including those in nestedqueries—that is, subqueries.You can store an SQL pass-through facility query in an SQL view and then use thatview in SAS programs. When you create an SQL view, any options that you specify inthe corresponding CONNECT statement are stored too. So when the SQL view is usedin a SAS program, SAS can establish the appropriate connection to the DBMS.On many relational databases, you can issue a CONNECTION TO component in aPROC SQL SELECT statement directly without first connecting to a DBMS. (See“CONNECT Statement” on page 427.) If you omit the CONNECT statement, animplicit connection is performed when the first PROC SQL SELECT statement thatcontains a CONNECTION TO component is passed to the DBMS. Default values areused for all DBMS connection arguments. See the documentation for yourSAS/ACCESS interface for details.Because relational databases and SAS have different naming conventions, someDBMS column names might be changed when you retrieve DBMS data through theCONNECTION TO component. See Chapter 2, “SAS Names and Support for DBMSNames,” on page 11 for more information.