Visokio Knowledge Base

The Knowledge Base contains groups of articles on more technical issues related to installing and using the various editions of Omniscope. Use the search box at lower left to find all references that may be relevant, or use the section and sub-section left-side navigational menu, or else click on the section links in the table of contents below.

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Table of Contents:

1: Installation - Covers installation on Windows and non-Windows operating systems, including Java support issues. Also provides options for centralised, network deployments on administered desktops with sample configuration files and test scripts. For installations accessing the Internet via a proxy server, there is guidance on how to configure your proxy server settings to enable automatic updates, bug reporting etc. to function fully.

2: Activation - Guides you through the process of online activation (which converts free Viewers into activated Standard, Professional or Enterprise Editions) and de-activation, which returns an installation to free Viewer status (there is never a need to un-install). An alternative activation procedure, browser-based activation, can be used whether the machine to be activated has Internet access or not. De-activation permits a machine to be re-formatted/re-built and permits a license key to be moved to another machine (up to 3 times). If you are going to change, re-format, or re-build an activated machine, remember that you must de-activate first to recover your key for re-use.

3: Troubleshooting - Outlines what to do if problems occur at various stages of running Visokio applications. Java update issues, work-arounds for functions requiring Internet access, and a hang diagnosis procedure are covered.

4: Scaling & Performance - Discusses the limits to the practical size of Omniscope data files in terms of cells (rows x columns) depending on the hardware are operating systems in use throughout the reporting/data publication chain. Optimisation options for increasing the scalability and performance of Omniscope files on typical user desktops are also discussed. Due to limitations in Flash, the capacity of DataPlayer .SWF files in terms of records or cells (rows x columns) is much lower than for Omniscope files. Data composition (i.e. long text strings) and other factors affecting the scalability and performance of DataPlayer .SWF files are also discussed.

5: Data Files - Discusses import and export of data to/from supported file formats such as .XLS, .CSV, .TSV, etc. and any known issues and workarounds for importing and exporting data. Also supplements information found in the User Guides relating to international differences in numerical formats, time and date formats etc.

6: Database Connections - Includes topics relating to the direct import of data from relational database views/tables using ODBC or JDBC and the Database Connection wizard. ODBC and JDBC-based examples for use with many popular databases are given. Large-scale deployment of client desktop refresh directly from relational database tables/views 'on-demand' using full ODBC connection strings embedded in Omniscope file(s) is also illustrated.

7: Deployment Options - Discusses various options for sending Omniscope .IOK files to others, including 'zero-footprint' or temporary, 'no-installation' options. Also explains how to display DataPlayer .SWF and downloadable Omniscope .IOK files on your web pages, and how to run Visokio applications from the command line.

8: Automation Options - Some editions of Visokio applications come with automation tools i.e. the Scheduler and Generator, which can be used to automate both recurring and 'on-demand' actions, such as refreshing, merging, and distributing up-dated files or displays. This section documents the use of these tools, as well as options for running them as a Windows service and defining your own scripts using Visokio Action XML syntax.

9: Integration Options - Visokio applications are designed to be part of integrated data management, reporting and publishing solutions. This section discusses the many data import and refresh (both server-side 'push' and client-side on-demand 'pull' options) options available as standard. For example, the automatic refresh feature (new in version 2.3) enables any number of client side desktops to be refreshed automatically over your network or the open web whenever a Source .IOK/.IOM file changes. Web integration options such as web page display of interactive Flash DataPlayer .SWF files generated 'on-demand', and the use of web links and web services integration features of Omniscope files are also discussed.

10: Web Services - Omniscope is a powerful, flexible 'hybrid' web/desktop application that is fully integrated with the web and web services. This section documents some techniques for exchanging user selected/user generated subsets of data with remote web services. The remote web service can be anything which applies additional data and remote processing logic to generate new results for display in Omniscope Web Views (or the default browser). For example, Flash DataPlayers produced by the optional Omniscope DataPlayer Studio plug-in and FeatureFinder Web are rich internet applications (RIAs) in their own right. Responses to requests for web services via Omniscope can include pages containing refreshed, personalised, interactive DataPlayers generated 'on-demand', with links to additional Omniscope .IOK files containing additional web services menus, etc.

11: Maps & Coordinates - Visokio applications can display, select and filter data records containing coordinate pairs using various types of maps, including scalable, multi-layer vector maps available from our Maps Library, online maps provided as web services, such as Google Maps, and Google Earth (experimental), as well as scanned images, such as floor plans or sports fields. This section supplements the information found in the User Guides, providing more technical detail on issues and experimental features relating to displaying, slecting and filtering data on maps.

12: Functions Guide - All Visokio applications enable you to add Formula fields (columns) which calculate the values to display using the values in other fields (columns). Visokio formulae can also incorporate variables, user-defined ranges of assumed values specified in terms of maximum, minimum and default values. Formula fields are defined using standard functions using the same syntax as for Excel. Visokio applications also include a library of special Visokio DATASET functions that operate on entire data sets and are documented in this section. Example formulae useful for accomplishing common tasks are also illustrated in this section.

13: Translation Guide - Visokio applications are capable of supporting all the languages of the world, including any customised modified translations you may wish to create for your own subscribers or organisation. Whether you want to create an entirely new translation based on existing ones, or modify an existing translation, this section describes the process in detail.

14: XML Schema - Visokio applications read and write XML files that conform to the Visokio XML schema, an extremely simple XML schema for structured data somewhat analogous to the comma separated value .CSV delimited text file format. This section documents the Visokio Schema and provides examples of XML files in Visokio schema. Any XML file can be transformed into Visokio schema on import using standard XSL transform files.

15: Flash Skins - Flash .SWF DataPlayers use 'skins' to define their overall look and feel. You can modify the existing skins, or create your own according to the specifications provided in this section.