Definedoc™ - definepdf

definepdf

Generate a document containing metadata of information use to generate DEFINE.PDF

%definepdf (data = SAS data for documentation,
                         keys = key fields,
                         fmtlib = format library,
                         source = source data path,
                        outlib = output libname,
                         varlst = variable list report,
                         output = output documentation );

Where

Is Type...

And represents...

data

C (40 chars)

This is a two level dataset specification as in: libname.dataset separated by spaces. If only a one level libname is specified, all the datasets in the libname will be captured.

If the _DEFINE dataset is specified, it will generate the documentation based what was captured and stored in the _DEFINE.
If no data set is specified and the OUTLIB has the definition previously captured, it will regenerate the file specified by the OUTPUT without updating the _DEFINE definition.

keys

C (200 chars)

Key fields that resides in the dataset. Fields names are separated by spaces. In addition to these specified keys; if the dataset is sorted, the sorted by variables are considered keys.

fmtlib

C (optional)

The two level name of the format library. By default, the value is: library.formats

source

C (200 chars optional)

Source path location to the source datasets. If this were to be left blank, the feature will not be implemented.

outlib

C (200 chars optional)

The %definepdf will create an output dataset named _DEFINE and an audit trail dataset _DEFINEA. This will be placed in the location of the OUTLIB library. If this were to be left blank, it will place these datasets at the same location as the DATA parameter.

varlst

C (3 chars optional)

The variable list report is optionally produced at the bottom of the DEFINE.PDF or DEFINE.RTF. This report lists all the variables from the selected datasets. It displays those variables that appear in more than one datasets side by side for your review of the attributes. Valid values include:

Yes (default)
No

This is not generated for DEFINE.XML since the XML structure does not support a variable list report.

output

C (200 chars)

The name of the output file. This can be in PDF, XML, RTF, and XLS format. If none is specified, the default would be DEFINE.PDF.

Details
This tool generates an excel spreadsheet or a RTF file with two sections including data and variables.

Data - A listing of the dataset names with hyperlinks to the associated variable sections. The dataset names are accompanied by the dataset labels. This will be listed alphabetically.
Variables - A list of the variables in each dataset is displayed with the key fields listed first followed by the rest of the variables alphabetically. Attributes listed include:
- variable name
- variable label
- type
- decoded formats - format names are displayed. If it is a user defined format, a decoded format code will be displayed.
- origins - This will have the value of either "CRF page" or "derived". An algorithm is used to estimate if it is derived. If the variable is within a dataset has matching attributes with a variable in a dataset from the source path, it will be considered "CRF page". Otherwise, it is considered derived.
- role - this will be either key or blank.

An example definepdf.xls is shown here:

Data Path:	c:\temp\mypath
Data Name:	ae
Data Label:	Adverse Event

Variable	Label	Type	Length	Format	Format Code	Origins	Role
AE	ADVERSE EXPERIENCE	Char	100	$char100
AEND	ADVERSE EXPERIENCE ND	Char	2
AEPAGENO	ADVERSE EVENT PAGE NUMBER	Num	8
AESEQNO	SEQUENCE NUMBER	Num	8
BODYNAME	BODYNAME	Char	35

If the %definepdf macro is called without any parameters, a dialog box is displayed as shown here:

A dataset named _DEFINE is created or updated capturing all the metadata. An additional dataset named _DEFINEA is created capturing the audit trail of the edits performed.

The edit button will allow you to edit the existing definition if it already has been previously captured. The user name and time stamp will be captured documenting the last edit applied.

For SAS version 8.2, it is required that the hotfix 82BB97 (windows version) be applied before the DEFINE.PDF version can be generated with proper hyperlinks.

Example

libname dataware 'c:\mypath\to\data';%definepdf (data =dataware,
                       source=C:\path\to\source\data,
                       fmtlib =library.formats,
                       output =define.xls,
                       keys =ptid);

*** Generate the OUTPUT file from existing definition ***;

%definepdf (outlib=mylib, output = c:\mydir\define.pdf);