sasjs-adapter

@sasjs/adapter

@sasjs/adapter is the TypeScript library for calling SAS services/jobs from browsers or Node, with a unified API across three server types: SAS9, SASVIYA, SASJS.

Basic setup

import SASjs from '@sasjs/adapter'
 
const sasjs = new SASjs({
  serverUrl: 'https://sas.example.com',

request() - inputs (JS -> SAS)

Signature

• sasJob: relative path (no leading slash) resolved against appLoc, or an absolute path. Becomes the SAS _program parameter.
• data: an object whose keys become work datasets in SAS. Can be null if the service takes no input.
• config: overrides merged on top of the constructor config for this call only.

The data object - tables, not arbitrary JSON

Every key in data must be an array of plain objects. Each key becomes a SAS work dataset named after the key; each object in the array is a row; each property is a column.

On the SAS side these arrive as work.customers and work.config.

Input validation rules

Before sending, the adapter validates data (see validateInput). Violations reject the promise with an ErrorResponse:

• data must be null or a plain object (not an array, not a primitive).
• Every table key must start with a letter or underscore: /^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$/. Numbers at the start are rejected.
• Table names cannot exceed 32 characters (SAS name limit).
• Every value under a key must be an array of objects. Non-object rows are rejected.
• No property in any row may be undefined (it must be null, a string, a number, or a boolean).

How tables are serialized to CSV

Each table is converted to CSV via convertToCSV. The conversion is type-aware:

• String columns: quoted only if they contain commas, tabs, newlines, or quotes. Internal " is escaped as "".
• Numeric columns: emitted unquoted.
• Null / empty in a numeric column: becomes . (SAS missing).
• Column type inference: the adapter scans all rows per column. If a column has both null/number values and special-missing strings (.a-.z, _), the column is typed as best.. Otherwise the first non-empty value determines chars vs number.
• Column format header: the first CSV line is a space-delimited format spec, e.g. name:$char20. id:best. - the SAS side uses this to assign informats.
• Byte-size length check: string values are measured in UTF-8 bytes. If any value exceeds 32765 bytes, the request throws The max length of a string value in SASjs is 32765 characters.
• Formats tables: a key prefixed with $ (e.g. $customers) is treated as a formats definition for the customers table and is not sent as a separate dataset. Its formats property maps column names to SAS formats.

Two transport modes

The adapter picks the transport based on payload size and server type (see WebJobExecutor):

1. Param-based (default for Viya web / SASjs server, small payloads): each table's CSV is appended as a form field named sasjs{N}data (N = 1, 2, ...). A sasjs_tables field lists the table names space-separated. If a single CSV exceeds 16000 chars it is split into chunks: sasjs{N}data0 holds the chunk count, sasjs{N}data1..N hold the pieces.
2. File-upload (SAS 9 always; Viya/SASjs when JSON.stringify(data) exceeds 500000 chars or contains a ;): each table is appended as a CSV file ({tableName}.csv) in multipart form data.

In both cases the body is multipart/form-data with debug params (_debug=131, _omittextlog=false, _omitSessionResults=false) when debug: true.

request() - outputs (SAS -> JS)

Response shape depends on extraResponseAttributes

Default (no extraResponseAttributes): the resolved value is the parsed webout object directly - whatever JSON the SAS service wrote to _webout:

With extraResponseAttributes (e.g. ['log']): the result is wrapped:

ExtraResponseAttributes is 'file' | 'data' | 'log'. Only log is fully implemented in current releases.

Name casing

• Table names in the response are lowercase - this is enforced by the %webout/mp_jsonout macro on the SAS side, not the adapter. The adapter passes the webout JSON through as-is.
• Column names are UPPERCASE - SAS dataset variable names are uppercased by SAS itself, and the adapter does not re-case them.

What the SAS service must produce

The service must write valid JSON to _webout. Conventionally via %webout (from @sasjs/core), which wraps mp_jsonout. The JSON shape is an object whose keys are table names, each mapping to an array of row objects:

Debug mode

When config.debug is true:

• SAS 9: the raw response is a string containing the log plus the webout, delimited by >>weboutBEGIN<< and >>weboutEND<<. The adapter extracts the JSON between the markers.
• Viya (web/JES): the debug response is parsed via parseSasViyaDebugResponse / parseSasViyaLogDebugResponse, which split out the log and the webout JSON.
• Viya (compute API): the log is fetched separately from the compute session.

In all cases, with debug on and extraResponseAttributes: ['log'], the SAS log is available in res.log.

Request history

Every executed request is appended to an in-memory history (capped at requestHistoryLimit, default 10):

sourceCode and generatedCode are only populated when debug: true. The history is a ring buffer - oldest entries are dropped when the limit is exceeded.

Authentication

• SAS 9: sasjs.logIn(username, password) (form-based against the stored process server). Session cookie is managed automatically.
• Viya: OAuth client/secret (client credentials grant) or authorization code flow; tokens are refreshed automatically. Configure via CLI (sasjs add cred) for Node usage. For Node, pass authConfig (client/secret/access/refresh tokens) to request().
• SASJS server: token-based auth against the sasjs/server API.

Key classes / modules

• SASjs - main facade: request(), logIn()/logOut(), uploadFile(), executeScript(), startComputeJob(), deployServicePack()
• RequestClient - HTTP layer; holds the request history (getRequests()), CSRF tokens, and auth headers
• WebJobExecutor - SAS 9 STP, Viya web JES, and SASjs server web (multipart form POST)
• ComputeJobExecutor - Viya compute API (direct code submission on a named context)
• JesJobExecutor - Viya JES API (job submission via the jobs API, not the web app)
• SasjsJobExecutor - SASjs server web execution
• SessionManager - Viya compute session lifecycle
• SASViyaApiClient / SAS9ApiClient / SASjsApiClient - low-level per-platform clients (rarely needed directly)
• file/ utilities - file upload to SAS (binary content handling)

Tips

• Set debug: true to surface the SAS log in responses while developing.
• Always handle response.status / error responses - SAS-side errors (e.g. from %mp_abort) come back in the JSON, not necessarily as HTTP errors.
• For large payloads prefer CSV upload or streamed files over JSON input tables.
• Keep appLoc consistent with the appLoc in sasjsconfig.json used to deploy.
• Column names come back UPPERCASE from SAS. If your frontend expects lowercase, map them in JS rather than trying to force SAS casing.
• null in a numeric input column becomes SAS missing (.); empty string in a char column becomes empty string. Don't use undefined - validation rejects it.

Using the adapter without a bundler (zero-build / strict CSP frontends)

The package root index.js is a UMD bundle exposing a global SASjs. Pattern (from the minimal seed app):

1. "prepare": "cp node_modules/@sasjs/adapter/index.js src/sasjs.js" in package.json (runs on npm i).
2. <script src="sasjs.js"></script> before your app script.
3. Configure via a hidden custom element: <sasjs serverType="SASJS" appLoc="/Public/app/myapp" debug="false"></sasjs> and read attributes with document.querySelector('sasjs'). When the app is streamed by SAS itself, omit serverUrl - same-origin requests just work (CSP default-src 'self' safe).

Limitations

This skill is a static reference for the @sasjs/adapter library - it provides guidance on the API, request/response shapes, authentication, and CSV serialization. It does not execute code, run shell commands, access the filesystem, connect to databases, or make network requests. All code examples are illustrative; the user must integrate them into their own application. References to authentication tokens describe what the adapter library manages at runtime - this skill does not read, write, or access those values itself.