Using Display Manager commands allow you to create pop-up boxes which enable you to issue bespoke messages to the user.
Create a 'utility' macro program which will be used to generate the message box:
%macro msgbox(msg) ; %local sq ; %let msg = %sysfunc(compress(&msg,%str(%'%"))) ; %let sq = %bquote(%sysfunc(byte(39))) ; dm "postmessage &sq.&msg.&sq." ; %mend msgbox ;
The first %LET statement removes any quotation marks form the submitted message as both will be used in the Display Manager command to be submitted. The second %LET generates a macro-quoted single quotation mark which is then placed before and after the message to be submitted.
The macro program can then be called to create interactive messages:
%msgbox(Your code has run. Click OK to continue.)
To better see this in action use the macro to generate messages at the beginning and end of a program:
%macro biglong ; %msgbox(This code runs for a long time. Do not issue any commands until you see the Code Completed message.) %do i = 1 %to 500 ; putlog 'Nothing to see here...' ; dm 'cle log' ; %end ; %msgbox(Code completed successfully.) %mend biglong ; %biglong