Now you can extend the power of the SAS System throughout your organization -- in the form of customized, point and click applications created with SAS/AF software. This interactive applications development environment lets you harness the power of the SAS System for data access, management, analysis, and presentation.

Use SAS/AF software to create user-friendly interactive windowing applications that give users quick, easy access to current information. Develop point-and-click applications that can be invoked using only a mouse or function keys. Both new and experienced users can put the SAS System to work without writing any code or knowing the SAS language.

And, since the SAS System is portable across hardware platforms, applications developers need only create an application once. You can do all your development work on one platform, then port the completed application to other environments with little or no modification.

Object-Oriented Graphical User Interfaces

SAS/AF software offers an object-oriented applications development environment. By incorporating many of the concepts and tools of object-oriented programming, SAS/AF software gives you a faster, easier, more flexible approach to developing applications.

Create your own graphical user interfaces (GUIs) using window elements such as graphics, icons, pull-down and pop-up menus, command buttons, scroll bars, and sliders. With GUI-based SAS/AF applications, users can point-and-click their way through a series of choices using a mouse.

SAS/AF software provides a set of pre defined graphical and text objects for window design. You can customize these objects to create your own object types. The object-oriented approach lets you treat application components as objects that can be shared and reused. Development tools are available in the latest release of the SAS System to further strengthen access to different data sources. These tools enable you to create an even friendlier interactive environment and to provide source management performance analysis capabilities.

Powerful Screen Control Language

SAS/AF software includes a programming language designed to facilitate the development of interactive applications. SAS Screen Control Language (SCL) provides the power and flexibility to build all types of applications, from simple programs that automate an end users workload to sophisticated systems that integrate features of multiple procedures and components.

Applications developers can use SCL to:

Create data entry applications
Display tables, menus, and selection lists
Generate SAS source code and submit it to the SAS System for execution
Generate code for execution by the host operating systems command processor
Rapid Applications Development

With SAS/AF software, you can quickly prototype an applications basic functions to verify the functionality and appropriateness of that application. Because prototypes are developed using the applications development facilities of the SAS System, the time spent modifying and delivering a complete application can be minimized. You can use SAS/AF software to:

Significantly reduce development time for new applications
Quickly create flexible and powerful applications
Easily maintain and enhance even the largest applications.
Incremental development and testing allows you to verify that the system meets your needs throughout its development, rather than after its completion.