Web Publishing

Web deployment of Omniscope

Distributing stand-alone files and embedded, browser-only interactive visualisations

There are various options for building web-based reporting "dashboard" solutions combining Omniscope with your own web-based applications and infrsstructure. Please note that the options below are not mutually exclusive, they can all be used together to achieve seamless integration with existing web-based reporting and publishing systems.

Omniscope Web Server (2.9+)

HTML5/JavaScript interactive visualisations that display in web portals/pages, as will as mobile tablet devices that do not support Java such as iPads, Android tablets and Chromebooks.

Downloadable Omniscope files with links 

Using the Omniscope outside browser feature and automation options, personalised Omniscope .IOK files can be downloaded from intranet work group or extranet partner/customer web pages and used by anyone with an Omniscope free Viewer, just like other open document/file formats. In a few special instances, the web server must be configured for Omniscope .IOK files, as shown in the article on Web Server Configuration. Omniscope files can be fully integrated with related 'dashboard' content displayed on web pages using links and the Web View.

Java Web Start no-install Viewer deployment option

External publishers of Omniscope files can encounter the situation where file recipients do not have install privileges for the Omniscope free Viewer. Although it is possible for Omniscope Server Edition publishers to embed Omniscope as a Java applet within a web browser, there are much more effective approaches than Applets for integrating with the web, for reasons discussed in the article on Applet Limitations.

The Java Web Start deploymnet option permits 'zero-footprint' or 'temporary install' client-side deployments of both the Omniscope free Viewer and .IOK data files using standard Java Web Start technology. Web Start deployment is intended to be a somewhat temporary solution, 'bridging' the time that recipients need to gain approvals to install the general-purpose free Viewer.

Limitations: due to restrictions imposed by Java, when running as a temporary, no-installation instance, deployed Web Start Viewers do not have access to Excel or PowerPoint, so only generic .csv and image screenshots can be exported if the Viewer is running from Web Start, rather than fully locally-installed free Viewers. For more on using Web Start, see the article on Web Start Issues.

Integration with Web Services 

Omniscope can act as a universal local client for remotely hosted web services. Users interacting with Omniscope can send input to configured Web Services  to provide remote functionality on request, based on data submitted from Omniscope. Omniscope permits the user to select/submit a single string input to (like a search phrase), or submit a column of selected references, or even submit a table of selected/input values (contact us for more details) for remote processing. The remote web service response pages can be viewed either in Omniscope's integrated Web View windows, or the users' default browser.  For more information see the KnowledgeBase sections on Configuring Web Services and Communicating with Web Services.

Flash DataPlayers (legacy)

Using an activated Omniscope and the DataPlayer View to create exportable Flash .SWF DataPlayers is the simplest option for displaying interactive, filterable data directly on the web. Although suitable for most 'dashboard'-style reporting, Flash files currently do not scale up to achieve the multi-million record counts, functionality and data handling capabilities of Omniscope. For more on how to publish DataPlayer .SWF files in web pages, see Publishing .SWFs