Main Toolbar (2.4)

Navigation, filtering and command menus

Relates only to version 2.4 

The Omniscope Main Toolbar contains both a series of drop-down command menus on the left and  a selection of navigational command icons and functions used to explore and refresh Omniscope files to the right of the command menus. The command menu options are generally not needed to navigate Omniscope files prepared by others.

Immediately to the right of the Help command is the Add View drop down menu, used to add an additional view to the current display. To remove a view from the display, click on the [X] in the upper right hand corner of the view. To change a window from one view to another, click on the view name and select the view you want from the drop-down menu. If you want to add a view showing another data subset, you can select it using the Data Subset drop-down to the right of the view name in each View Toolbar.There is no upper limit on the number of views you can open in Omniscope, but display screen size limitations encourage using multiple tabbed Report Pages to display different combinations of views, rather than crowding the working display with too many open views. More on creating Report Pages.

Whenever a data file is loaded, to the right of the command menus, the Main Toolbar also displays a selection of navigational command icons and functions used to explore and refresh Omniscope files:

Reset - Omniscope files contain flat tables of structured data organised into records (rows) and fields (columns). Navigating an Omniscope file usually involves either setting Side Bar filters, or Selecting plus either Move or Keep operations to focus on only a certain data subset. The Reset button removes all of the filtering criteria you may have expressed, and returns the current display views to show all the records in the Filtered IN universe. It is very important to always Resetyour data before filtering, so that all qualifying records will be considered in your subsequent query. Unless you configure them otherwise, Report Pages remember their queries/data subsets, so if you want a Report Page to open showing all the data, make sure to Reset all the filters and commit the changes before you save the file. Note: On the Side Bar filter devices it is possible to reset each filter individually, and if a Side Bar filter device is set to Freeze, that filter's settings will survive a globalReset.

Deselect - Removes all records from the Selected data subset and greys-out the option to do Move or Keep operations on selected records. Omniscope power query filtering directly on views (as opposed to Side Bar filtering) involves 4 basic mouse operations: Select (or Deselect), followed by Move or Keep, and then perhaps a Reset. Every view provides ways of selecting one or more records using just the mouse. In most views, you can also Deselect by clicking again on one or more of the selected areas or groups of records. It is not necessary to use this global Deselect on the Main Toolbar unless you wish to clear all selections made simultaneously.

Move - Selecting records is a precursor to deciding whether to Move the selected records, i.e. filtered OUT of further consideration. If you are working from a view of the filtered IN data subset, the grey Move command moves all selected records OUT of consideration, where they stay until they are returned or the display is Reset. The barometer will give you a preview of this on the left side, where selected IN records to be moved will be highlighted. If you are working from the filtered OUT data  subset, the display will change the colour of the Move icon to blue, since moving records from the filtered OUT subset will return them to the filteredIN subset. The barometer will show you the selected OUT records highlighted on the right side. If you are working from a view set to display ALL Data, the barometer will show you the effect of Moves and Keeps, but that specific view will not update as a result, since views showing ALL Data always display all records regardless of whether they are filtered IN or OUT.

Keep - the opposite of Move, the Keep command keeps only the selected records in the filtered IN subset, and moves all other unselected records to the filtered OUT subset. If you are working from a view displaying the filtered OUT subset, the Keep icon will change colour to grey, since the effect will be toKeep the selected records in the filtered OUT subset. If you are working from a view set to display ALL Data, the barometer will show you the effect of Moves andKeeps, but that specific view will not update as a result, since views showing ALL Data always display all records regardless of whether they are filtered IN or OUT.

Back - similar to a browser, if you have performed a filtering operation, you can go back to the previous query state(s) at any time by pressing the Back button.

Controls - this drop-down menu controls display of the two Sidebars, as well as the Cycling Toolbar. For more detail, see the Controls subsection.

Barometer - this very useful indicator depicts the top level query state (records IN and OUT, with currently selected subsets counts) at any given time.  In this example, the data set contains 4,886 total records (rows), of which 4,292 remain in the filtered IN subset, and 594 have been moved to the filtered OUT subset. In addition, 1,719 records have been selected, and the currently highlighted single record is among those selected. Always keep an eye on the barometer before initiating new filtering/queries to ensure that you have Reset (or gone Back) to the correct IN subset.

Queries - this drop-down menu is used to manage defined data subsets associated with Named Queries. Using this menu you can name empty queries ( e.g "Basket" or "Errors") to collect records you add, or you can define complex queries as re-usable Named Queries using patterns of Side Bar filter settings. Each Named Query defined is added to the data subsets that can be displayed in most views. Detailled documentation of the use of the commands on this menu is here.

Auto-refresh settings - Omniscope files can have other Omniscope files as data sources. Activated Omniscopes can refresh the data in an open .IOK/.IOM file from the data in another .IOK/.IOM file accessible over a network. The Auto-refresh drop down menu is revealed by activating the Automatic refresh option from the Tools menu. Once revealed, this menu allows all aspects of the refresh process to be configured, as described here. There is also an option to display a Pause/Resume button (see below).

 Pause/Resume (auto-refresh) - Auto-refresh settings options include displaying a Pause/Resume auto-refresh button on the Main Toolbar.

File-specific help screen - click on this help icon to see what the publisher or re-publisher of a given file may have written to help users understand more about the file. If you are configuring a file for others, the content of this screen may be composed from Help > Edit Help screen.

Corner logo - if you are publishing or re-publishing .IOK/.IOM files, you can replace this logo and link with your own. See Appearance > Branding > Add Corner Logo and Set Publisher link  (for best results, use a logo 19 pixels high).

Close file - click here to close the Omniscope file currently open. Once the data file is closed, the screen will display the Omniscope opening desktop, which includes links to previously opened files, as well as learning resources, embedded demos and other useful resources.