3
CHAPTER
1
Overview of SAS/ACCESS
Software for Relational
Databases
About This Document
3
Methods for Accessing Relational Database Data
3
Selecting a SAS/ACCESS Method
4
SAS Views of DBMS Data
5
About This Document
This document provides conceptual, reference, and usage information for Version 9
SAS/ACCESS software for relational database management systems (DBMSs). The
information in this document applies generally to all of the relational database
management systems that are supported by SAS/ACCESS software. Because the
availability and behavior of SAS/ACCESS features vary from one interface to another,
you should use this general document in conjunction with the documentation for your
SAS/ACCESS interface. There is an individual document for each supported DBMS,
and those documents are sold separately.
This document is intended for applications programmers and end users who
are familiar with the basics of their DBMS and its SQL (Structured Query
Language)
know how to use their operating environment
can use basic SAS commands and statements.
Database administrators might also want to read this document to understand how the
interface is implemented and administered.
Methods for Accessing Relational Database Data
SAS/ACCESS software for relational databases is a family of interfaces (each of
which is licensed separately) that enable you to interact with data in other vendors’
databases from within SAS. SAS/ACCESS provides the following methods for accessing
relational DBMS data:
The LIBNAME statement enables you to assign SAS librefs to DBMS objects such
as schemas and databases. After a database is associated with a libref, you can
use a SAS two-level name to specify any table or view in the database and then
work with the table or view as you would with a SAS data set.
The Pass-Through Facility enables you to interact with a data source using its
SQL syntax without leaving your SAS session. The SQL statements are passed
directly to the data source for processing.
