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.
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.
Using the Omniscope outside browser [1] feature and automation options [2], 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 [3]. Omniscope files can be fully integrated with related 'dashboard' content displayed on web pages using links and the Web View.
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 [4].
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. [5]
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 [6] and Communicating with Web Services. [7]
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 [8].
Extension: .iok
MIME type: application/vnd.visokio.omniscope-iok
(or use the generic binary mime type application/octet-stream if this causes problems)
Omniscope Desktop and Server/Publisher Editions can still export legacy minimalist HTML display pages containing the DataPlayer .SWF files ready for display on the open Internet. DataPlayers produced by licensed copies of Omniscope can be displayed on any inter/intranet domain.
Note on managing images: Although DataPlayer .SWF files can incorporate images for use in Tile View, they will be fixed in size and often reduced resolution. The original, higher resolution images can also be displayed on the web in the DataPlayer Details View, but only if the entire folder containing the original, larger/higher resolution images is also uploaded to the web server in the same relative directory location as when the image set was originally specified in the .IOK configuration file from which the DataPlayer was exported.
Once you have configured an Omniscope DataPlayer .IOK project file, previewed the .SWF on your desktop and saved all your configuration settings in the .IOK data file, you are ready to export your DataPlayer SWF file set for display on the web. Just click the 'Save for Web' button on the Save Settings and SWF page. When you click 'Save for Web', the DataPlayer is exported within a web-ready file structure with a minimalist HTML display page in the top level of the directory structure.
Once DataPlayer/FeatureFinder Studio has finished exporting the web file set containing the DataPlayer, open the resulting HTML display page (bearing the name of the project, in the top directory of the file structure) with a standard HTML editor such as Adobe DreamWeaver or Microsoft FrontPage. You will see that the exported display page is minimalist, with only enough mark-up to display the DataPlayer .SWF in a browser. The minimalist page has none of the final HTML layout, scripting or content (with which you or your web master will want to surround the DataPlayer) for display on the web.
Suggestion: Good practice at this point is to make a copy of the top-level, minimalist HTML display page, change its name and put the copy into the same location alongside the original. From then on, only paste your own mark-up, scripting etc. into the re-named copy. This way, if you modify the DataPlayer and re-export its file set, the original minimalist display page is overwritten, not your own elaborated version. The underlying DataPlayer files referenced in your own version of the display page are all updated, and they are still referenced properly assuming their relative position in the directory structure has not changed.
When you are happy with the look of both the DataPlayer and your own HTML mark-up and scripting surrounding it, upload the entire file set and the original images folder (if any) to your web server (preserving the directory structure).
Warning: If you are using UNIX/LINUX web hosting, remember that all file names/references will be case-sensitive. Check all the references in the files produced by Omniscope against your own namings to make sure that upper and lower case is being used consistently in the file names and all references to the files.
Links:
[1] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/outside-browser
[2] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/automation-options
[3] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/web-server-config
[4] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/problemwithapplets
[5] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/web-start-issues
[6] http://kb.visokio.com/web-services
[7] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/web-services
[8] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/publish-swf