A big day today, as I have self-published my 2nd SAS-related book, Power User's Guide to SAS Programming, through Lulu.com. It will, hopefully, be available through Amazon shortly, but in the meanwhile it can only be purchased through Lulu.com. Like my previous book it is a collection of more SAS conference papers on a wide range of topics brought up-to-date with new content for SAS 9.1 and 9.2:

• balancing processing and maintenance efficiency when programming in SAS
• implementing a simple data warehouse using just Base SAS
• using ODS to create spreadsheets, generate report files in parallel, and replay reports
• using R to create content for SAS ODS reports
• accessing SAS ODS through the web using Perl
• building static HTML with Base SAS
• using Enterprise Guide to control structured folders of SAS programs
• a comparison of the functionality of Enterprise Guide with the Java interface to SAS Integration Technologies

Looks like my PROC TEMPLATE book for SAS Press will be my 3rd!

Please let me know if you do buy my 2nd book, and tell me what you think about it.

I have just uploaded a new issue (issue 38, 2007 Q2) of VIEWS News onto the VIEWS web site, [www.views-uk.org], which you can also access via the VIEWS News wiki page.

While it appears that the promised release of SAS software version 9.2 is not now going to happen until 2008, this year is still going to be an interesting one. The announcement of sasCommunity.org at the SAS Global Forum will give everyone a chance to have their say about the future of SAS software development, and will hopefully spread the word about VIEWS News to a wider audience. I have written a report about the SAS Global Forum, and there are previews of 2 other events, the Wisconsin Illinois SAS Users Conference in Milwaukee and the UK Technical Event for SAS Practitioners in London, where I'll be presenting during the summer before the next issue. If you are at any events I'm attending, then please feel free to come up and tell me what you think of VIEWS News.

In this issue of VIEWS News I have a number of articles from well-known sources: a graphics design tip from LeRoy Bessler, an undocumented SAS informat from Peter Crawford and some more useful tips from the Amadeus Software Consultancy Team. I hope you will find them all interesting and helpful.

Having reached the final stages of my book production (see Saving Time and Money using SAS) after 4+ years hard work, I am now looking for 6+ new topic areas to include in a future book.

• Saving Time and Money using SAS includes the following topic areas:
  1. Accessing SAS data from external applications.
  2. Database to SAS/ACCESS performance issues.
  3. Controlling the disk space used by SAS.
  4. Creating transportable SAS/GRAPH image files.
  5. Reading data from databases and spreadsheets without SAS/ACCESS.
  6. Developing SAS applications using Enterprise Guide.
• I have collected together 2 new topic areas, so far:
  1. Customizing ODS Statistical Graphics.
  2. Installing SAS on different platforms.
• I am looking for a wide variety of subjects which could be developed into independent chapters, so any suggestions will be considered for additional topic areas that you think are important.

Thanks in advance........Phil Holland

I have just seen my new book, Saving Time and Money using SAS, in the SAS Press catalog for US/Canada. After 4+ years of hard work, I am very pleased!!

Hopefully it will appear in the SAS Press catalog for the UK shortly.

My book has made it into Authorline! I had the interview for the newsletter in May, but it still reads OK. Unfortunately the book is not yet in the UK catalog, so I'm holding off any advertising push until it is actually available here.

I've just uploaded the latest issue of VIEWS News (issue 43, 2008 Q3) to the VIEWS News page, and I've copied the Editorial section for you below:

Enjoy........Phil

Would you like to create a web page promoting your interests and views on SAS software?

I've created a group for SAS users on Squidoo, which is crying out for new content. I have 3 of my own SAS-related web pages, or "lenses" as they are called on Squidoo, but I'd like to see more lenses there than just me. It's not too difficult to create a lens, as it's just a matter of selecting and filling out 2 or more modules and "publishing" it. A module can be a list of links, Amazon books/software/etc links, eBay auctions, just a piece of text, or a wide variety of other supplied features. If you'd like to give it a try, then go to this link and start creating, and if you need any help then just email me, and I'll be happy to give you a hand.

It has been nearly a year since I had something significant to report, so here goes:

• I've now started serious work on a new book with Kevin Smith from the SAS Institute on PROC TEMPLATE. He is the "author" and is writing about the text templates, like ODS Tables and Styles, and the new Lists and TextBlocks due in SAS 9.3, and I'm writing about ODS Statistical Graphics and Graphics Template Language. I've had 2 papers accepted for PhUSE 2008 in Manchester (UK) on book-related topics, which has given me a kick to start writing.
• I've recently discovered Squidoo, a collection of single page web sites (called "lenses"), and created 4 lenses about SAS-related topics. Each lens can include a range of different modules, like Amazon book links, links to sites, blogs, polls, RSS feeds and picture galleries. Feel free to visit the lenses and, maybe, make one of your own:
  • Saving Time and Money Using SAS - by Philip R Holland is about my published book, with information and links to sellers.
  • Holland Numerics Limited - SAS consultancy is about my SAS consultancy company, with relevant links.
  • sas.answers @ Holland Numerics is about my company's web-based SAS help desk, with information and relevant links.
  • SAS software users Headquarters is a Group lens for other lenses of SAS-related topics, where members can add to, and vote for, the lists of books, tips and sites.