How can I create an ODBC connection to SAS?

Question

I'm writing a program that needs to access SAS data. I've downloaded the ODBC drivers for SAS and installed them, but I need to be able to create ODBC connections on the fly, programmatically. The following code (in Python) seems like it should work:

import ctypes

ODBC_ADD_DSN = 1        

def add_dsn(name, driver, **kw):
    nul, attrib = chr(0), []
    kw['DSN'] = name
    for attr, val in kw.iteritems():
        attrib.append('%s=%s' % (attr, val))

    return ctypes.windll.ODBCCP32.SQLConfigDataSource(0, ODBC_ADD_DSN, driver, nul.join(attrib)) == 1

print add_dsn('SAS Test', 'SAS', description = 'Testing SAS')

But it pops up the SAS ODBC configuration dialog, sets the datasource name, and waits for the user to enter the information and dismiss the dialog. How can I avoid that?

Answer 1

In order to get ODBC access to SAS data, you need to connect to a running SAS session of some kind; you can't access SAS data table files directly with the SAS ODBC drivers.

See the SAS ODBC drivers guide, section "What Software Do I Need?".

Your question doesn't state that you are trying to access SAS data through a running SAS product. The SAS ODBC drivers guide should tell you how to set up the connection based on the SAS product you will make the connection through.

Answer 2

I know this question is ancient but it probably comes up often enough that I will share the answer I know. The easiest way to achieve what you are trying to do is create what's called a "DSN-Less Connection."

Briefly, you create a connect string that you use when opening a connection, that identifies the driver and includes all the parameters you'd normally fill in in creating a DSN for that driver.

This technique has been around for a very long time-- I was using it in 2001, and it's older than that.

Here is a series of sample DSN-Less connection strings for accessing SAS data via ODBC:

Using Server ID Provider=sas.ShareProvider;Data Source=shr1;

SAS/SHARE Using Server ID and node (network name) Provider=sas.ShareProvider;Data Source=shr1;Location=lambchop.unx.sas.com;

SAS/SHARE Specifying user and password Provider=sas.ShareProvider;Data Source=shr1;Location=lambchop.unx.sas.com; User ID=myUsername;Password=myPassword;

SAS/SHARE Server requires a password Provider=sas.ShareProvider;Data Source=shr1;Location=lambchop.unx.sas.com; User ID=myUsername;Password=myPassword; SAS Server Access Password=myServerPassword;

These are from: https://www.connectionstrings.com/sas-share/

A SAS support page discusses this more-- I found it here: http://docslide.us/documents/opening-an-ado-connection-object.html