Moving or modifying columns in the "Select" panel on SAS® Studio Flows might cause issues with calculated column data types or overwritten columns


An issue might occur for specific versions of SAS Studio where simply moving any column or modifying properties like label/format/informat/name for calculated columns can cause the following problems:

The issue appears when moving any regular or calculated columns but shows up on only calculated columns.

Examples

Calculated Column Data Type Change

The example below contains a simple flow with a numeric calculated column:

SAS Studio flow column select panel

If you move the column up one space in Select, issues will occur for all calculated columns. The screenshot below shows the state after moving the column:

SAS Studio flow column select panel

Then, if you try to modify the Column1 label, the column data type changes from Numeric to Character:

the column datatype changes from numeric to character

Overwriting with Multiple Calculated Columns

Similar behavior occurs when multiple calculated columns are involved. For example, the following screenshot contains two calculated columns:

SAS Studio flow column select panel

If you move both columns up one space and then modify the label of one column, the same issue occurs where the column type changes to Character.

The column Type changes to Character.

Then, the screenshot below shows the results after you complete the following steps:

  1. Modify the expression of the same calculated column by right-clicking the column in the Columns panel on the left.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Modify the expression, and save the calculated column.

The column appears duplicated and has—in fact—overwritten the first calculated column.

One calculated column appears to be overwritten, and it looks like the columns are duplicated.

Note that this issue occurs when you simply “touch” a column. You do not actually need to move the column for this issue to occur. Clicking and holding the column without changing its position re-creates this problem.

Workaround

There is currently no direct workaround for this issue.

You cannot move columns on the Select panel in any manner in SAS Studio flows in unpatched versions when calculated columns are present. If this occurs, you must close the flow without saving and reopen it in an earlier saved version.

The issue is resolved with patches for all supported versions of SAS Studio on SAS® Viya® and is present in only the unpatched versions listed below.

The issue was fully resolved in SAS Studio on SAS® Viya® Stable 2025.12.

Affected Versions

Fixed Versions