Work Directory in ODBC Connection is empty

 "Work Directory in ODBC Connection is empty, unable to proceed."

 That was the error I was getting today when I was trying to load a table from MDS using Wherescape Red. At first I didnot understand why there is a work directory needed. When I looked at the MDS cnnection settings The default Load was set to Native ODBC and the work directory was not set as shown below.

 

 As soon as I have set the directory to c:\ the loading of the table worked.

 Because the Native ODBC load reads all the data and creates temporary tables, this method of data loading requires a work directory to be specified so that the data is written in batch mode rather than one row at a time similar to ODBC load. When the reading a writing takes place one row at a time we need not specifiy the work directory. But the native ODBC load is faster because of a batch write process.

Ensure that a process for deleting the temporary tables is in place if you are loading using Native ODBC.

If you are using the ODBC Load there is no need to specify the work directory.

ERROR 22-322: Syntax Error is SAS code

I have been in hibernation for too long now. I have changed jobs and now hjaving an opportunity to work on SAS code after nearly 11 years. Today I was running a SAS program and got the following error.

ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: a name, -, :, FORMAT, INFORMAT, LABEL, LABEL, LENGTH,

To resolve this as the error suggested there was a syntax error in my code where I was not using the proper syntax in the ATTRIB statement I was using

Name label 'Employee Name';

Here the label statement needs an '=' so when I change this to the following statement

Name label = 'Employee Name' ;

the sas code was executed successfully.

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Here is a link to a huge collection of free ebooks posted by Eric Ligman from Microsoft.  Hope you will find these books useful in your career development.

I thought I will start updating my blog after a bit hibernation.


So here is a tip for getting rid of the blank page that appears if you use a Next Page After setting in the group section as shown below.

Use the formula Not Onlastrecord


To do this click on the formula section against the Next PAge After setting and type in Not Onlastrecord

Save the report and the last blank page will disappear.