Query SAS Data Sets Data in DataGrip

DataGrip is a database IDE that allows SQL developers to query, create, and manage databases. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for SAS Data Sets, DataGrip can work with live SAS Data Sets data. This article shows how to establish a connection to SAS Data Sets data in DataGrip and use the table editor to load SAS Data Sets data.

Create a New Driver Definition for SAS Data Sets

The steps below describe how to create a new Data Source in DataGrip for SAS Data Sets.

1. In DataGrip, click File -> New > Project and name the project
2. In the Database Explorer, click the plus icon () and select Driver.
3. In the Driver tab:
   • Set Name to a user-friendly name (e.g. "CData SAS Data Sets Driver")
   • Set Driver Files to the appropriate JAR file. To add the file, click the plus (), select "Add Files," navigate to the "lib" folder in the driver's installation directory and select the JAR file (e.g. cdata.jdbc.sasdatasets.jar).
   • Set Class to cdata.jdbc.sasdatasets.SASDataSets.jar
   Additionally, in the advanced tab you can change driver properties and some other settings like VM Options, VM environment, VM home path, DBMS, etc
   • For most cases, change the DBMS type to "Unknown" in Expert options to avoid native SQL Server queries (Transact-SQL), which might result in an invalid function error
4. Click "Apply" then "OK" to save the Connection

Configure a Connection to SAS Data Sets

1. Once the connection is saved, click the plus (), then "Data Source" then "CData SAS Data Sets Driver" to create a new SAS Data Sets Data Source.
2. In the new window, configure the connection to SAS Data Sets with a JDBC URL.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the SAS Data Sets JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.sasdatasets.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   Set the following connection properties to connect to your SAS DataSet files:

   Connecting to Local Files

   • Set the Connection Type to "Local." Local files support SELECT, INSERT, and DELETE commands.
   • Set the URI to a folder containing SAS files, e.g. C:\PATH\TO\FOLDER\.

   Connecting to Cloud-Hosted SAS DataSet Files

   While the driver is capable of pulling data from SAS DataSet files hosted on a variety of cloud data stores, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE are not supported outside of local files in this driver.

   Set the Connection Type to the service hosting your SAS DataSet files. A unique prefix at the beginning of the URI connection property is used to identify the cloud data store and the remainder of the path is a relative path to the desired folder (one table per file) or single file (a single table). For more information, refer to the Getting Started section of the Help documentation.

3. Set URL to the connection string, e.g., jdbc:sasdatasets:URI=C:/myfolder;
4. Click "Apply" and "OK" to save the connection string

At this point, you will see the data source in the Data Explorer.

Execute SQL Queries Against SAS Data Sets

To browse through the SAS Data Sets entities (available as tables) accessible through the JDBC Driver, expand the Data Source.

To execute queries, right click on any table and select "New" -> "Query Console."

In the Console, write the SQL query you wish to execute. For example: SELECT name, borough FROM restaurants WHERE cuisine = 'American'

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for SAS Data Sets and start working with your live SAS Data Sets data in DataGrip. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.