HAVE YOU EVER WISHED THAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO TYPE OR CHANGE REPORT NUMBERS AND TITLES IN YOUR SAS PROGRAMS?

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1 HAVE YOU EVER WISHED THAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO TYPE OR CHANGE REPORT NUMBERS AND TITLES IN YOUR SAS PROGRAMS? Aileen L. Yam, PharmaNet, Inc., Princeton, NJ ABSTRACT In clinical research, the table of contents in a statistical analysis plan is an evolving document. The table of contents contains a list of tables, listings, appendices and figures that are referred to as reports in this paper. The report numbers and titles are subject to change when analysis requirements change. As a result, programmers need to renumber reports and retype titles in the SAS programs from time to time. This paper describes a programmatic approach of retrieving the report numbers and titles from a common source file. The common source file serves a dual purpose of generating a table of contents in a Microsoft Word document and outputting a SAS data set with report numbers and titles. Statisticians can incorporate the Word document as table of contents in a statistical analysis plan. Programmers can create macro variables from the SAS data set for use as titles in reports. During presentation, a demonstration will be given to show how you can make your wish come true. I. A COMMON SOURCE The goals are to generate a table of contents in a Microsoft Word document for a statistical analysis plan and to output a SAS data set containing the same report numbers and titles as in the Word document. To kill two birds with one stone, a common source is needed. The advantages of deriving a table of contents document and a SAS data set from a common source are: 1. initial data input and changes need to be made once only; 2. validation on spelling and wording needs to be done once only at the common source; 3. the report numbers and titles will be identical in both output; 4. programmers do not need to type or change report numbers and titles in SAS programs; 5. statisticians do not need to check the accuracy of titles on reports word for word. A logical choice appears to be using a word processing document as the common source, since statisticians normally enter the table of contents directly into a word processor, which, in my company, is Microsoft Word. But in order to extract report numbers and titles from a Word document into a SAS data set, precision and patterns are needed. Word documents allow tabs, return keys, spacing and styles in many different ways that are open to interpretations and allow chances for errors when translated into variables for SAS data sets. In Excel, tabs, return keys and spacing are defined by cells, so the standardization of individual styles are intrinsically built in. In addition, Excel has powerful macros and can serve as a good intermediate between Word and SAS software. Therefore, Excel is chosen as the origin of the common source file. If SAS/AF software is licensed at your site, similar ideas can be adapted to create the table of contents via SCL and OLE objects. The common source file is an Excel file that consists of variables for: 1. headers of each section in the table of contents; 2. types of report, such as Table, Patient Data Listing, Figure, or Appendix; 3. report numbers; 4. unique program identifications that distinguish among different reports within the same SAS

2 program, for example, a single program may contain output for Tables 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, etc. and each of these reports is assigned a unique name; 5. SAS program names; 6. titles. For convenience, the default number of title variables is designed as six, so there are six columns for titles. More title variables can be set up if needed. Usually, statisticians enter values for all but the fourth and the fifth variables. These two variables contain unique program identifications and SAS program names, that are supplied by programmers. The freeze pane feature in Excel is used to freeze the first 5 columns before the start of the title columns so that the frozen parts remain static and visible during scrolling and relative rows and columns can easily be identified when titles are entered. An Excel macro using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is written to reshape the information for outputting into a Word document with OLE, and also for outputting into a reformatted Excel file to generate a SAS data set. macro. In an earlier version of Word 95, the program stopped without completing, and the error message was: The command is not available because no document is open. Now the message becomes: Do you want to save the file? after the program finishes running. These messages do not convey the actual problem clearly. The problem is that both Word and Outlook use Word objects and the system is confused as to which document is the active document. Perhaps a description of my experience will help you remember to close all the Word and Outlook windows and files: I first developed these programs at home, and everything worked fine. But whenever the same program and test files were run at work, the error message appeared until one day I worked in the office on a Saturday. Before I started to test individual modules of the program to isolate the problem, I ran the whole program again and there was no error message. An idea then came to me that on weekdays, I always had Microsoft Outlook open to receive , while on Saturday, I did not open Microsoft Outlook and the program worked fine then. I tested this assumption and every time I did not have another Word document or Outlook open, the program worked. II. MAJOR ROADBLOCKS TO OVERCOME There were two major roadblocks: 1. Concatenation in Excel causes the vanishing of the Symbol font into a dominant font from the concatenated text. In other words, if the majority of the text that are to be concatenated from various cells have Arial font, while in only a few places where Symbol fonts are used for laboratory units, the font of the concatenated text string automatically turns into Arial. A solution is to detect and mark the use of Symbol font before concatenation occurs, and to revert the fonts, where marked, back to Symbol font after concatenation has taken place. Besides font changes, other formatting features such as superscript, subscript and underline also disappear after concatenation. The same solution is also applied to the formatting problems. This process slows down the program quite a bit because every character needs to be checked for the font or formats used. 2. When OLE automation is implemented to copy and format the file from Excel into Word, all open Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook applications need to be closed, otherwise a message will appear whenever there is a second reference to ActiveDocument in the Excel VBA III. EXCEL VISUAL BASIC MACRO A custom dialog box called UserForm is built for opening up a table of contents file created with an Excel template, and for selecting options on the kind of output file needed. Via the dialog box, statisticians and SAS programmers can use the Excel VBA macro as a software without having to know the mechanics behind the macro. When a table of contents file is open, the Excel VBA macro has logic to detect if the table of contents file has the correct data structure. The logic checks the first row of the table of contents file against the first row in a temporary worksheet in the Excel VBA macro. The first row in both files must contain the same variable names. The Excel VBA macro then ascertains the maximum number of rows and the maximum number of columns from the table of contents file, since the maximum numbers are different in each clinical study. The maximum numbers give the last row and the last column location of a cell. The location of the last row and the last column is important because Excel does not have a SELECT ALL command for copying and pasting. Once the last row and the last column are identified, the Excel VBA macro copies the table of contents into temporary worksheets for making

3 alterations programmatically before outputting to a Word document or to another Excel file. The initial plan was to allow entry of report numbers and titles into a common source file randomly, and to have the Excel VBA macro sort the report numbers once the data are copied into a temporary area. But because report numbers sometimes have numeric values and sometimes have character values, meaningful sort order cannot be obtained. For example, Prefaces A and B are interspersed between certain listings with numeric sequence numbers. In addition, sequence numbers with one decimal are considered numeric, while sequence numbers with more than one decimal are considered text. In other words, values such as 3.1 and 3.2 are numeric, whereas values such as and are text fields. Besides, reports are organized by sections that are subject to human judgment. So it is decided that the Excel VBA macro takes a what you enter is what you get approach. A. A WORD DOCUMENT FOR THE STATISTICAL ANSLYSIS PLAN Out of the six items listed under the first section of this paper, A Common Source, two columns remain. Items 1 to 3 are consolidated into the first column, with information on section headers, table types and report numbers. The six columns of titles are combined to form the second column. Dashes and spaces are put between the titles as separators. The bold font from the section headers is used to signal the centering of headers. The bold font can be retained by using the Paste Special option after copying since the text from the section headers do not go through concatenation. The Symbol font and the formats from titles, however, cannot be easily retained due to the concatenation problem with Excel mentioned earlier. The Symbol font and the formats are tracked down before concatenation occurs so that all the font and format changes that take place after concatenation can be reverted. Microsoft OLE is used to automate the transfer of the two columns of data from Excel to Word. Before the OLE module runs, it is important to close the Microsoft Word and Outlook applications due to the problem with reference to ActiveDocument mentioned earlier. In OLE to Word, the tasks are: to set the page margins and orientation; to clear default tab stops; to add left indent and first-line indent tab stops for the whole document; to center paragraphs for section headers that are bold; and to take off tab stops where there are underlines. If the tab stops are not removed, the underlines will continue to where the next tab stops are. B. AN EXCEL FILE FOR UPLOADING INTO A SAS DATA SET An intermediate Excel file is created from the Excel common source file. The intermediate Excel file is eventually imported into a SAS data set. The SAS data set is the hub for retrieving report numbers and titles. The intermediate Excel file includes all but the section header information. The Excel VBA macro deletes the rows and columns associated with section headers. Logic is written in the Excel VBA macro to add a column with sequence numbers to keep track of the order of the titles as entered, so that sorting can be done accordingly. Even though six columns are allowed for titles, not all the reports have six titles. The Excel VBA macro counts the actual number of titles in each report, and another column is added to hold the total number of non-blank titles. The total title counts will come in handy for creating a SAS macro variable for the Do Loop in a SAS program to retrieve titles. The Excel VBA macro adds double quotes to the beginning and the end of the title columns to avoid conflicts with macro quoting and reserved keywords when the titles become SAS macro variables. The Autofit method in Excel is used on all the columns in the entire intermediate Excel file. The Autofit method changes the width of columns for the best fit to make it easy for checking whether the program works correctly. C. EVENT AND ERROR HANDLING In Murphy s Law of Coding, we can always assume that something, somewhere, at some time can and will somehow go wrong. The final Excel VBA macro needs to be subjected to thorough testing to respond to specific events and to handle errors. Some of these event and error handlers are: validating whether the user has selected the correct table of contents file; asking for confirmation if the Quit button is selected; alerting the user to close Microsoft Word or Outlook before running the application; changing the appearance of the pointer from I-beam to hourglass when the macro is running and resetting the pointer to I-beam and notifying the user when the job is done.

4 Displaying messages to tell users to wait or to explain why problems occur make the program appear more graceful than leaving the program stall or stomp. IV. IMPORTING DATA FROM EXCEL INTO SAS The intermediate Excel file can be imported into a SAS data set with the Import Wizard in Base SAS software, with PROC ACCESS, or with DDE. The following SAS macro is an example of importing the Excel data file into a SAS data set with DDE: /******************************************************************** *mtocprog.sas - Converts Excel files into SAS data sets with * DDE * INPUT- INLS: defines the linesize of the input data set * PATH: full Excel path name, including directory * name(s), program name, sheet name, * row and column location, * e.g.: %str(excel F:\dirlevel1\dirlevel2 * \[toc_prog.xls]sheet1!r2c1:r180c11) * INXLDS: input Excel file name, e.g. toc_prog.xls * OUTLIB: output libname for the SAS data set * OUTDS: output SAS data set name * DSLABEL: label for output SAS data set * Programmer: Aileen Yam * NOTE 1: Must be used with BATCH SUBMIT and with the * Excel data file open. Because of BATCH SUBMIT, * a libname statement is needed, e.g.: * libname p123d '\\dirlevel1\dirlevel2\...\...'; * SASAUTOS is also needed: options * SASAUTOS=("\\dirlevel1\dirlevel2\...\..." sasautos); * NOTE 2: Default LRECL is ********************************************************************/ %macro mtocprog (inls=100,path=,inxlds=,outlib=, outds=,dslabel=); The NOXWAIT option closes the Excel application automatically when it finishes. The NOXSYNC option is used so that the SAS system does not wait for the application to finish to return to the SAS session. options ls=&inls pageno=1 noxwait noxsync; Invoke Excel, open the intermediate Table of Contents Excel file (TOC_PROG.XLS) and delay the execution of the SAS program for 5 seconds. filename toc dde "&path"; data _null_; x = sleep(5); The squiggles in front of the dollar signs are for preserving the double quotes around titles. data &outds; infile toc missover notab dlm='09'x dsd lrecl=1024; informat tabnum $50. progid $8. progname $8. ttitle1 ttitle2 ttitle3 ttitle4 ttitle5 ttitle6 $150.; input seqno tabnum ~$ progid $ progname $ ttitle1 ~$ ttitle2 ~$ ttitle3 ~$ ttitle4 ~$ ttitle5 ~$ ttitle6 ~$ numtitle; data &outlib..&outds(label="&dslabel"); attrib SEQNO length=8 format=best8. label='sequence NUMBER' TABNUM label='table NUMBER' PROGID label='unique PROGRAM ID' PROGNAME label='program NAME' TTITLE1 label='the FIRST TITLE' TTITLE2 label='the SECOND TITLE' TTITLE3 label='the THIRD TITLE' TTITLE4 label='the FOURTH TITLE' TTITLE5 label='the FIFTH TITLE' TTITLE6 label='the SIXTH TITLE' NUMTITLE length=8 format=best8. label='number OF TITLES' ; set &outds; proc contents data=&outlib..&outds; title "&outlib..&outds"; proc print data=&outlib..&outds; title "&outlib..&outds"; %mend mtocprog; V. SAS MACRO FOR OUTPUTTING REPORT NUMBERS AND TITLES FROM A SAS DATA SET After a SAS data set is created, the following SAS program is a way to put the report numbers and titles into SAS macro variables to be resolved as report numbers and titles in the output: /******************************************************************** * MTITLE.SAS - returns macro variables (&title1, * &title2,...) that contain titles * INPUT- TITLEDS: input data set consisting of report * numbers and titles * PROGID: unique program identification * Programmer: Aileen Yam ********************************************************************/ %macro mtitle(titleds=&derdata..toc_prog,progid=); If a specified unique program identification exists, put the total number of titles in a macro variable and output the observation into a working data set called toc_prog.

5 data toc_prog; set &titleds; if compress(progid)="&progid" then do; %global numtitle; call symput('numtitle',compress(numtitle)); output; end; If the working data set exists, create macro variables for use as titles, otherwise put question marks in titles. %global titlechk; %let titlechk=; %let dsid =%sysfunc(open(toc_prog)); %let titlechk=%sysfunc(attrn(&dsid,nobs)); %let rc =%sysfunc(close(&dsid)); %if &titlechk^=0 %then %do; data _null_; set toc_prog; %global title1; call symput('title1',trim(left(tabnum))); %do i= 1 %to &numtitle; %let j=%cmpres(%eval(&i+1)); %global title&j; call symput("title&j",trim(left(ttitle&i))); %end; %end; %else %do; %put WARNING: The PROGID &progid is not found; %global numtitle title1 title2; %let numtitle=1; %let title1="??????"; %let title2="??????"; %end; %mend mtitle; PROGID is the unique program identification. It is the key to retrieving the correct titles. A warning is provided if the PROGID is not found, and the titles are temporarily padded with question marks. Sometimes footnote-related symbols are needed in the titles of reports, but not in the table of contents. Here are examples to add a footnoterelated symbol such as a pound sign to a title that is retrieved from the SAS data set: data _null_; xtitle2='"' compress(&title2,'"') '#"'; call symput('title2',xtitle2); or %let title2=%substr(&title2, 2, %eval(%length(&title2) - 2)); %let title2= &title2# ; Occasionally, you may want to take out the double quotes in the titles. Here is an example to remove the double quotes: %let title1=%substr(&title1, 2, %eval(%length(&title1) -2)); VI. SUMMARY This paper shows how to extend SAS programming expertise into new areas, and build integrated solutions with SAS software and Microsoft Office software. This is one of a series of papers on the integration of SAS software with Visual Basic for Applications. Please see references below for details on related papers. REFERENCES Yam, Aileen L. (2000), Integrating SAS Software with Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications to Mass- Produce Customized PowerPoint Graphs, PharmaSUG 2000 Conference Proceedings, Yam, Aileen L. (2000), SAS Software and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Make Beautiful Reports Together, Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Annual SAS Users Group International Conference, 25, Yam, Aileen L. (1999), Automating the Production of Customized PowerPoint Presentation Graphs by Integrating the Functionality of SAS Software with Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual SAS Users Group International Conference, 24, SAS, SAS/AF are registered trademark or trademark of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. For additional information, contact: Aileen L. Yam PharmaNet, Inc. 504 Carnegie Center Princeton, NJ

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