\HeaderA{read.ssd}{obtain a data frame from a SAS permanent dataset, via read.xport}{read.ssd}
\keyword{file}{read.ssd}
\begin{Description}\relax
generates a SAS program to convert the ssd contents to SAS transport format
and then uses \code{read.xport} to obtain a dataframe
\end{Description}
\begin{Usage}
\begin{verbatim}
read.ssd(libname, sectionnames, 
   tmpXport=tempfile(), tmpProgLoc=tempfile(), sascmd="sas")
\end{verbatim}
\end{Usage}
\begin{Arguments}
\begin{ldescription}
\item[\code{libname}] string defining the SAS library (usually a directory reference)
\item[\code{sectionnames}] vector of strings giving member names. These are
files in the `libname' directory. They will usually have a `.ssd0x' or
`.sas7bdat' extension, which should be omitted.
\item[\code{tmpXport}] string: location where temporary xport format archive should reside --
defaults to a randomly named file in /tmp, which will be removed
\item[\code{tmpProgLoc}] string: location where temporary conversion program should reside --
defaults to a randomly named file in /tmp, which will be removed
\item[\code{sascmd}] string: defaults to "sas"
\end{ldescription}
\end{Arguments}
\begin{Details}\relax
creates a SAS program and runs it
\end{Details}
\begin{Value}
a data frame if all goes well, or NULL with warnings and some
enduring side effects (log file for auditing)
\end{Value}
\begin{Note}\relax
error handling is primitive
\end{Note}
\begin{Author}\relax
VJ Carey \email{<stvjc@channing.harvard.edu>}
\end{Author}
\begin{SeeAlso}\relax
\code{\LinkA{read.xport}{read.xport}}
\end{SeeAlso}
\begin{Examples}
\begin{ExampleCode}
## if there were some files on the web we could get a real
## runnable example
## Not run: 
R> list.files("trialdata")
 [1] "baseline.sas7bdat" "form11.sas7bdat"   "form12.sas7bdat"  
 [4] "form13.sas7bdat"   "form22.sas7bdat"   "form23.sas7bdat"  
 [7] "form3.sas7bdat"    "form4.sas7bdat"    "form48.sas7bdat"  
[10] "form50.sas7bdat"   "form51.sas7bdat"   "form71.sas7bdat"  
[13] "form72.sas7bdat"   "form8.sas7bdat"    "form9.sas7bdat"   
[16] "form90.sas7bdat"   "form91.sas7bdat"  
R> baseline<-read.ssd("trialdata","baseline")
R> form90<-read.ssd("trialdata","form90")
## End(Not run)
\end{ExampleCode}
\end{Examples}

