Using the Sidebars

Display instant filtering query devices and tools

{update to version 2.5 in progress...}

The sidebars are used to display filter/query devices and other options on either the right or left-hand side (or both) depending on the tab-specific settings on the Main Toolbar: Toolbars options, which manage the display of the sidebars.

[2.5 Main Toolbar: Toolbars menu commands]

Sidebar Display

Whenever either Side Bar opens, there are three menus displayed at the top; the Devices drop-down menu, the Tools drop-down menu, and the right corner [X] to close the Side Bar. The first time the Side Bar opens, three configurable display options (Reports, Search All, and Exclusions) plus filter devices for all fields (columns) in the data set will be ticked and therefore visible on the Side Bar.

To configure or re-configure the Side Bar, click on the Devices drop-down menu on the upper left:

Except in a general 'Data Set' tab intended to show everything, you will probably not want filter devices for ALL the fields (columns) to be displayed on most pages. Some field values may not be relevant to the message or useful for selecting/filtering the displays on a given page. Use the Devices drop-down menu to untick those fields to hide their filter devices. Use the drag hands at the right to move filter devices up-wards or down-wards to achieve the desired display on the Sidebar. You can also move the filter devices themselves into a new order by dragging and dropping them with the mouse up-wards or down-wards on the Sidebar.

The three configuration options at the top of the Devices list (Reports, Search All and Exclusions ) will be displayed on the Sidebar only if you leave them ticked. Otherwise, untick these boxes and Report Page tabs will display across the top of the Main Toolbar (the default), Exclusions (Move and Keep with history) will show on the Main Toolbar (without history), and Search All will be available in the Portal View, when open.

Note: Side Bar settings are specific to each Reports Page, and must be changed page-by-page inside Reports Mode. Side Bar settings established outside Reports Mode (always hit Escape to make sure you are not working in a specific Report tab) will apply outside Reports Mode. If you create one or more Report Pages, you can either keep your existing Side Bar settings the same or change them to suit each Report Page.  More on creating Report Pages.

Using Sidebar features

If you leave all three display configuration options ticked, the top of your Sidebar will look something like this:

Displaying Exclusions on the Sidebar has the advantage that you can expand the Exclusions device and monitor the history of your Moves and Keeps (see image below). This is especially useful when you are recording a power query sequence of  Moves and  Keeps to send to someone else as a query file for use with their copy of the file (see below for more on query files).

Displaying Reports on the Sidebar is useful when there are very few, or when there are many Report Pages that need to be arranged in groupings.

Like Search All above, any Sidebar text filter can be expanded to reveal a virtual keyboard for text search entry, with ANY and ALL multi-term search options. Omniscope text search works like a search engine, on one, several or all fields (columns)simultaneously. In any text filter, if you enter a single text string with no spaces, Omniscope will perform a prefix match, highlighting all records with text beginning with the search string. If you enter two text strings separated by a space and do not enclose them in "double quotes", you can search a field (column) of the data file for either one or both of the strings using the ANY or ALL search options. You can expand your search criteria to include values in other columns by simultaneously entering text strings in more that one filter device. To the right of each device you will see the hits in that column and at the top, in the barometer will show the combined record count.

Closing the Sidebar

Notice that whenever a query device is actively filtering the data set, the device panel colour turns orange:

Closing the Sidebar with filters set will prompt a message either to reset all the filters, or to convert the query settings to Exclusions. If you wish to keep the same record set in the IN Universe with the Side Bar closed, you must choose Convert to Exclusions, which means that the filter settings will be translated to the equivalent   Moves and  Keeps that you can manage directly in the open views without the Sidebar.

Sidebar Tools Menu

The Sidebar Tools drop down menu displays commands that affect the data and/or all other Sidebar query devices. The first three of these are especially useful when managing the creation of Report Pages and using them in live presentations.

Reset variables- Variables are input values not contained in a column of the data set that you can include in formula fields to facilitate dynamic modelling and sensitivity analysis. When you specify a Variable, you define a minimum, maximum and a default value in the range. Each variable defined in a file can display a Sidebar slider enabling users to change the assumed value. Clicking on Reset variables returns all variables to their default values. For more on defining and using variables, see Formulas & Variables. Reset filters (query)- Clears all filter settings and returns all records to the IN universe...does the same as the Reset on the Main Toolbar.

Reset configuration (views & layout) - returns the current view to a 'pristine' state, with all views closed and the Sidebar reset to opening default settings. Usually used to recover from confusing combinations of views and layout when constructing Report Pages.

Clear colour-by - each device has a small colour-by icon in the upper left. Clicking the device icon imposes the colouring scheme for that field (column) on all the open views that use colouring, like the Table View, the Tree View, etc. This command removes all overriding colouring schemes that have been set in the Sidebar (but not those already specified in the individual View Toolbars)

Halo function: Also include records with the same value in:  - a powerful feature for managing groupings or clusters within a data set. Setting the Halo function changes filtering behaviour to include/maintain all records sharing a common value in the specified field (column). For more information, see Using the Halo function.

Expand all -  expands all visible Side Bar devices

Collapse all - returns all Side Bar devices to their collapsed state (default on opening)

Add new variable - brings up the Add Variable wizard...see Formulas & Variables

Edit variables - brings up the Edit Variable wizard...see Formulas & Variables

Convert all to exclusions - Converts the current settings of all query/filter devices into Exclusions (the results of Moves and Keeps), thereby setting the green IN universe independently of Side Bar settings...allows Side Bar devices to be reset and/or hidden without changing the current composition of the data universes.

Import XML query file - XML query files exported from Omniscope by one user, say a business user identifying data quality issues with specific records (e.g. corrections or suspicious data) can be imported by another Omniscope user, say the Database Administrator, who wants to view just the records at issue and decide whether to parse the XML file to import the corrections into the source database.

Export XML query file - Exports the current query settings as an XML text file which other Omniscope users can open to recreate the same display, assuming they have the same .IOK file version open.

Right-click device menus

Right-clicking on any device displays a series of options for resetting/hiding the device, and changing the filter type. Changing the filter type is sometimes necessary to facilitate user interaction. In the example shown below, the field 'Node' is an integer number field, displaying as a range slider (the default) and with the 'Include empty (null) values' box ticked. If it was better to have users search for a specific number by typing it in, we could change the filter type to Text search...without changing the data type to Text.

Below the Filter Type command are a series of commands for managing each field. These commands are the same as those accessible from the Main Toolbar: Data > Manage Fields menu, and are discussed here.