How to create Visio diagrams from SAS Data Sets Data

Automate the process of entering data into Visio diagrams and keeping your diagrams up to date with the CData ODBC Driver for SAS Data Sets. The driver surfaces SAS Data Sets data as an ODBC data source that can be accessed by applications with built-in ODBC support like Microsoft Office. This article shows how to create a simple diagram to start brainstorming about Visio projects linked to SAS Data Sets data.

Connect to SAS Data Sets as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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.

Connect SAS Data Sets Data to Diagrams

Follow the steps below to use the Data Selector Wizard to import data into your diagram.

1. Open Visio and click File -> New. Open the Brainstorming template.
2. On the Data tab, click Link Data to Shapes.
3. Select the ODBC option and select ODBC DSN.
4. Select the DSN for SAS Data Sets, select the table you want to import, and finish the wizard. This article uses restaurants as an example.

Link SAS Data Sets Entities to Shapes

Follow the steps below to create a simple diagram that shows how to create shapes from your data, one of the ways to link SAS Data Sets entities to shapes:

1. Click Brainstorming Shapes and drag a main topic onto the drawing page. Enter restaurants as the text of the main topic.
2. Click Topic.
3. Select a row in the External Data window and drag it onto the drawing page.
4. Right-click the Topic shape and click Data -> Edit Data Graphic.
5. Click New Item.
6. In the Data Field menu, select a column. In the Displayed As menu, select how to display them.
7. Drag a few other SAS Data Sets entities onto the drawing page and add association lines back to the main topic, restaurants. New topics have the same configuration: Numeric columns displayed in data bars stand out in contrast to other restaurants entities.

You can refresh your diagram from the Data tab, synchronizing your shapes with the external SAS Data Sets data.