Altair SLC™ VS Code Extension

This is the official Altair SLC™ VS Code extension, providing the ability to edit and execute programs written in the language of SAS using Altair SLC.

Features

• Start an Altair SLC session using a locally installed copy of Altair SLC. Note that Altair SLC is not included with the VS Code extension, this must be separately installed and licensed.
• Submit SAS language programs or snippets to the Altair SLC session for processing.
• View the Altair SLC execution log.
• View generated ODS output.
• Open and view data sets or views available via the Altair SLC session.
  • View metadata (columns, details of indexes and so on)
  • View the data in the data set
  • Apply a filter to display only a subset of records
• VS Code Notebook support
  • Execute SAS language cells using Altair SLC
  • See execution log and ODS HTML output
• Integration of SLC language server providing
  • Semantic token highlighting
  • Hover support for selected language elements
  • Completion support for selected language elements
  • Code parsing and limited error highlighting

Start an SLC session

To start an Altair SLC session, create a Connection Profile. A Connection Profile defines how Altair SLC is run. It defines the location of the Altair SLC installation and any required startup system options. You can create multiple connection profiles, but only one Altair SLC session can run at a time.

When the extension is first activated, it automatically creates connection profiles for any Altair SLC installations it detects. To use an installation added later, create a new connection profile that references the installation or specify a custom installation location.

An SLC session can start automatically when the extension is activated. Configure the connection profile to start automatically at either the workspace or user level.

Startup System Options

System options can be set at startup by editing the connection profile.

• From the command palette, run the "SLC: Manage SLC Connection Profiles" command.

• At the prompt, select "Edit connection profile"

• In the settings.json editor, add the startupOptions property to the appropriate connection profile. The value of this should be an array of objects, each of which has a name and a value property. The value is always required and is always a string. For "keyword" system options, the name should be the base system option name, and the value should be the option name, with or without the NO prefix as appropriate. For example:

          "startupOptions": [
          {"name": "DATE", "value":"NODATE"},
          {"name": "CAPS", "value":"CAPS"},
          {"name": "OBS", "value":"999"}
        ]
  
  

Autoexec Programs

The Altair SLC VS Code extension also supports autoexec scripts. Note that this is separate from the normal autoexec file support provided by Altair SLC, this is configuration that is part of the connection profile.

An autoexec program can be provided as a text string, or as a reference to a file. Multiple autoexec programs can be provided.

Autoexec programs can be defined by editing the connection profile:

• From the command palette, run the "SLC: Manage SLC Connection Profiles" command.

• At the prompt, select "Edit connection profile"

• In the settings.json editor, add the autoExec property to the appropriate connection profile. The value of this should be an array of objects, each of which has a type property with the value text or file, and then either a text property or a filePath property appropriately. For example:

        "autoExec": [
          {
            "type": "text",
            "text": "%put Hello from autoexec;"
          },
          {
            "type": "file",
            "filePath": ".\\autoexec.sas"
          }
        ]
  

Execute source code and browse results

Use an SLC Notebook

A new SLC notebook file can be created with the "SLC: New SLC Notebook" command.

Executing cells in an SLC notebook will use the same SLC session as executing code from a standard source file. The log and ODS HTML output from executing the cell will be included as output to the cell in the notebook.

SLC Language Server

The SLC VS Code extension includes integration with the SLC language server.

By default, the latest version of the SLC language server is automatically downloaded on starting the VS Code extension. It can be updated using the "SLC: Check for updates for the SLC language server" command.

The version of language server can be constrained using the slc.languageServerVersion configuration setting. This is a semantic version range expression as defined by the semver npm package. The slc.languageServerPath configuration setting can also be used to use a specific language server executable that is then managed externally.

Telemetry

The SLC VS Code extension includes some simple telemetry to gather information on feature usage and errors to help improve the extension. Telemetry is controlled by the standard VS Code telemetry.telemetryLevel user setting, as described here.

Supported Platforms

The Altair SLC VS Code extension and the associated Altair SLC language server are supported on Windows, Linux and macOS. The Altair SLC language server is supported on the following minimum platform versions.

The language server is made available for Windows x64, and for Linux and macOS on both x64 and arm64 architectures.

The Altair SLC VS Code extension can be installed on any platform supported by VS Code if the language server is disabled in the configuration settings.

Support

Support for this extension is provided through the GitHub Issue Tracker.

Legal Notices

Trademarks

Altair SLC™ is a registered trademark of Altair Engineering, Inc. (r) or ® indicates a Community trademark.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner.

General Notices

Altair Engineering, Inc. is not associated in any way with the SAS Institute.

Altair SLC is not the SAS System.

The phrases "SAS", "SAS language", and "language of SAS" used in this document are used to refer to the computer programming language often referred to in any of these ways.

The phrases "SAS program", and "SAS language program" used in this document are used to refer to programs written in the SAS language. These may also be referred to as "SAS scripts", or "SAS language scripts".