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I just discovered by accident a new “feature” in SAS 9.4, one that apparently wasn’t glamorous enough to be mentioned back at SAS Global Forum last spring.
Starting with SAS 9.4, by default, PROC REPORT runs in noninteractive mode.
In other words, you no longer have to specify the NOWINDOW option in order to avoid that clunky interactive REPORT window. If you are one of the half dozen people who actually want that window, you can still open it by specifying the WINDOWS option on the PROC REPORT statement. (Be sure you type that S because it’s WINDOWS not WINDOW.) But since I have always detested the REPORT window, you won’t find me doing that. So you would think I would be happy. Instead, this change leaves me feeling conflicted and confused.
This is the kind of change that makes programmers cheer—and technical writers cringe!
Why, oh why, couldn’t the good developers at SAS have defenestrated the REPORT window back with SAS 9.3 so that we could have incorporated this change into the newest edition of The Little SAS Book? Arrrrg! The Fifth Edition is only one year old and already obsolete—though fortunately only slightly so.
If you want more information, you can find this change documented in the What’s New in Base SAS 9.4 Procedures Guide.
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