Installing Web Help in SAS 6.12

SAS 6.12 adds the WBROWSE Display Manager command which invokes your web browser in its own window. If you type the command 
WBROWSE
alone in the Display Manager command box, your web browser accesses the SAS Institute page, http://www.sas.com. You can access any other page by giving the web address, in quotess, following the WBROWSE command, e.g., 
WBROWSE 'http://www.psych.yorku.ca/lab/sas/'
(The quotes are important.) If you assign this string to a function key (Alt-F1, for example) in the Keys window, you'll go directly to that page just by pressing the assigned function key. Going a step further, you can also invoke a web page whose address is contained in a SAS macro variable. Assign a default web address to the macro variable WEBHELP in your autoexec.sas file: 
%let WEBHELP=http://www.psych.yorku.ca/lab/sas/;
and then assign the function key as 
WBROWSE "&WEBHELP"
Then, different applications or macros can temporarily reassign the WEBHELP macro variable to contain a different web address, to provide a sort of context-sensitive Web Help facility.

The %webhelp macro

If you are using SAS 6.12 on Hebb (or on your own computer) the %webhelp macro provides a more general help faciltiy.
%webhelp();
Invokes the web browser with the default help page
%webhelp(?);
Gives usage information, and lists several shortcuts
%webhelp(doc);
Invokes the web browser with a specified URL. If doc is a single word (rather than a full URL) the macro considers it to be the name of a SAS macro for which help is desired.

Non York Users

The %webhelp macro was designed for use in the York Psychology Computer Lab. Non-York users are requested not to install %webhelp as is, but rather to change the supplied shortcuts and URLs with links to their own local documentation. For example, the following statements define the shortcut links recognized by the program: 
%let keylist=%str(
sas      http://www.sas.com/,
lab      http://www.psych.yorku.ca/lab/,
sasinfo  http://www.psych.yorku.ca/lab/sas/,
psy3030  http://www.psych.yorku.ca/lab/psy3030/,
psy6140  http://www.psych.yorku.ca/lab/psy6140/,
);
Michael Friendly