I use SAS enterprise guide to analyze my survey data. I can open an ODBC connection from SAS to the SQL database, and have access to all of the tables. Which is great. However, if I try to set up a SAS library, I cannot see the old (deactivated) survey files. I suspect that that names are too long for SAS (over 32 characters). I can, however, add the active survey files to the library. But, when I try to open an active survey, SAS does not like the column names starting with a number (the survey ID). So I can't set up a library link to the survey results. I can set up a library link to the other tables, like lime_questions and lime_answers. In SAS, this is a safer way to set up a connection than ODBC.

I was thinking of adding a character to the beginning of the column names, and shortening the deactivated file names. How dangerous is this? Is there a reason why the column names start with a number (other than the obvious survey ID link)? Since I can get at my data through the ODBC route, I don't need to make any changes unless it is relatively easy.

Version 1.53

Thanks.

Columns in lime_survey_12345 start with numbers because this are codes that are used to connect answers to questions, see manual -> SGQA identifier.

Adding a character will probably break limesurvey!

A solution might be to clone the original limesurvey database and set up a new one where you edit the column names for SAS usage while keeping the original database untouched.