64bit GNU/Linux and Webcams (Logitech Quickcam Express)

I've been trying to get  Skype to work on my home PC, which has 64-bit Debian GNU/Linux installed. I came across the following article, which, with a slight modification, worked perfectly.

https://www.martineve.com/2011/09/25/64bit-gnulinux-and-webcams-logitech-quickcam-express/

Here are the instructions with the modification:

1. As a superuser...
2. For each 32-bit application, create a script in /usr/bin consisting of the following code.
3. Name the code APP-camera-fix, where APP is the software to patch (e.g., skype-camera-fix).
4. Mark the code as executable (I do this in Nautilus via the properties menu).
5. Change each shortcut to the application to the script you just made (e.g., change the Skype shortcut to /usr/bin/skype-camera-fix).
6. Test it out by opening Skype and testing the camera in the Options menu.

Code:

#! /bin/sh

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

The modification is to simply add "32" to the /usr/lib path. Works perfectly!

Check the SAS Log from a Windows Context Menu

Have you ever wanted to check a SAS log from the Windows context menu? Well, now you can with a new script I developed using my CheckLog macro. Here's how:

1. Download the CheckLog SAS macro and save it to a permanent location.
2. Download the CheckLogSendTo.txt file.
3. Open the file and replace the value of the variable CheckLog with the location of the CheckLog SAS macro.
4. Save the file.
5. Change the extension of the file to "vbs".
6. Create a shortcut for the CheckLogSendTo.vbs file. Rename it as "CheckLog".
7. Copy the shortcut to the user's SendTo files here: C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\SendTo, replacing the %USERNAME% variable with the username in question.
8. Right click on a file or directory to check. Go to Send To > CheckLog.
9. Select Yes, No, or Cancel when asked whether you would like to add additional arguments.
1. Yes = Add arguments
2. No = Use the default arguments
3. Cancel = Cancel the check
10. If you said Yes above, enter the additional arguments you would like to use. See the Arguments page for more detail.

Here are some screenshots of the script in action:

Note: VBScript is required, which is unfortunately only available on Microsoft Windows. I hope to develop a platform-independent script sometime. I chose VBScript because it required no additional installation or administrator requirements on the platform I current work on.

This script should save me a lot of time! Normally I would copy the directory and filename of the log into a SAS session and paste it into a CheckLog call. But now it's more automatic, and I get the results faster.

Please feel free to send me feedback about the script!

SAS and Ampersands

I realized I'm a SAS geek today. On my way to work, near the UW and VA hospitals, I saw a street sign that displayed "UW&VA" and I wondered, "What does &VA resolve to?"

What does &VA resolve to?

So you know when you're a SAS geek when you see a sign with an ampersand immediately followed by characters, and wonder, "What does that resolve to?" Bad joke, go to your work library!

Seriously, though, this brings up a good topic: How do you resolve macro variables with special characters in the value? For example, if we have the macro variable parking_sign with the value "UW&VA", and this value is assigned automatically in a data step using the CALL SYMPUT routine or SQL using the INTO statement, neither of which would generate an error in the log regarding the value of the macro variable VA.

There are a couple of solutions to solve this and avoid an error in the log:

1. Define the macro variable VA as "VA" (i.e., %let va=VA;). This is a quick fix that allows the process to continue by creating a value for the macro variable that the code is mistakenly trying to look up. But it does not solve the problem completely, since new strings with ampersands or even percent signs could be introduced into your source data. This process could be automated to generate multiple macro variables for each string with an ampersand found, but it would not work for macro programs (which use percent signs).
2. Edit the source data and mask the characters after the ampersand (or percent sign) with the %STR (or related) function. This solution would work, but it would be rather awkward, and your source data would have a strange-looking value (i.e. "UW&%str(V)A"), which might not be a good solution if you have to use the data in a different way later, in which the %STR function would not execute, leaving the odd-looking raw value. It gets even more complicated when percent signs are involved.
3. Instead of resolving the macro variable with the ampersand, resolve it with the %SUPERQ function. This function is a better solution, since it avoids any special characters problems and does not edit the source. Basically it tells SAS to resolve only the first level of the macro variable, and no further. However, it is not as easy to implement, since it requires replacing all references to the macro variable (e.g., &PARKING_SIGN) with different code (i.e., %SUPERQ(PARKING_SIGN));
4. Use the %SUPERQ function with an additional step that redefines the PARKING_SIGN macro variable (see below). This is the best solution, since the rest of the code does not have to be re-written. The %LET statement is used to immediately redefine the macro variable using the %SUPERQ function, which will not resolve the values any further. Better yet, this is only one line of very simple code, and it fixes the problem forever!

/* Dummy data */

data test;

    input parking_sign $;

    format parking_sign $15.;

    infile datalines;

datalines;

UW&VA

;

run;

/* Generate macro variable */

data _null_;

    set test;

    call symputx('parking_sign', parking_sign);

run;

/* Use macro variable by writing it to the log. */

/* Note: Generates a (w)arning on the first run. */

%put &PARKING_SIGN;

/* Solution: Redefine macro variable */

%let parking_sign=%superq(PARKING_SIGN);

/* Use macro variable by writing it to the log. */
/* Note: This time there is no (w)arning. */

%put &PARKING_SIGN;

This last solution is by far the simplest and least amount of work to fix the problem.

For more on macro variable quoting (the %STR and %SUPERQ functions), see the SAS website:

http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/mcrolref/61885/HTML/default/viewer.htm#tw3514-overvwqt.htm

A New SAS Tool for Checking the Log

SAS just released a new tool for checking the SAS log:

SAS Log Error Checking Tool

It only works on Windows, requiring the .NET framework, and it appears to be a separate executable from the usual SAS program. Further, it seems to only check for ERROR and WARNING messages.

As I've written before, I have a macro, CheckLog, that checks the log, too, and it runs on any operating system, can be used within a current interactive SAS session, and it appears to check for more messages. (See the CheckLog About page for more documentation.)

If anyone tries out SAS's tool, I'd love to hear a comparison of the capabilities!