Management of JSL programs

Question

Hi all,

I used and still use Base SAS but JMP is increasingly coming into use as well.

One very big advantage and attraction of using SAS is the separate existence of

1) the SAS program itself, that does a particular job, and

2) the data, to which the program is applied .

Why is this attractive? Because of the re-useability of the SAS programs. It allows a sporadic or less than 100% user like me still to be very productive in terms of data analysis. I can hold on to program for years and go back to them should new data require an analysis, I did some time ago.

Because SAS programs are basically clear text files, they are seachable and can be indexed. This makes retrieval possible, even if the actual name of the program has been forgotten. For example I created years ago a template which was used with proc greplay. It creates a pane of graphs with dimensions that is set in a macro call. I keep forgetting where the macro is, but since I know some specific words in the program a desktop search quickly retrieves it.

I wonder if there is a similar working mode when it comes to JMP Scripts. As of now I can see my colleagues DO NOT re-use and/or save jmp scripts in the same way I do SAS programs. Rather they embed the script in the data table. This is basially OK, but after 6 months time it is very hard to remember which data table (JMP files) has a particular scripts embedded,

Is there any way to 'look inside' a JMP file and see what script is attached, without opening the file and running the script to see what it does?

Could anyone share their experience regarding this topic?

Regards

Poul

Audrey_Shull · Answer

Hi Poul,

There has been a recent addition to the JMP File Exchange for functionality similar to what you are requesting. It is called the Data Summary add-in (free SAS login required), and you can access it via this link:
http://support.sas.com/demosdownloads/downarea_t4.jsp?productID=114380&jmpflag=N

There will be a blog post describing more details about how it might be used posting next week on the JMP blog:

JMP Blog - Data visualization, statistical discovery, design of experiments, predictive modeling and more

The quick description is that the add-in will ask you for a directory of JMP tables, then it will search/parse all the table scripts and return a dialog showing which tables use which JMP platforms. You can also add custom JSL functions/methods to search for. An important note here: it searches inside the table script, not the name of the table script.

I hope this is helpful.

Audrey

unknown · Answer

You can save JMP tables as plain text by copying the table script and saving it as ASCII which includes the formulas saved to the table.  This is an extra step that you have to do each time you have a table and may not be overly desirable.

pmroz · Answer

Must be a style thing.  I rarely attach JMP scripts to data tables.

All of my JSL scripts are in ASCII files, so they are searchable, reusable, etc.

There are many techniques to make JSL scripts more general.  One simple one is to use the following construct:

dt = current data table();

That way you aren't hard coding a particular table in your script.