Get started with Omnis Studio

Using Omnis
07 Once you have launched Omnis Studio you should see a few windows on your screen. You’ll have a menu bar at the top of the screen, the Studio Browser window and a help window. The menu bar at the top stays static across all windows and projects, and you can get rid of the help window if you don’t want it. The Studio Browser is where all the magic happens.

08 The Studio Browser contains four tabs. The Libraries tab contains all the windows, reports and other classes you create for your projects. The Datafiles tab stores the data files required by your projects; the SQL browser is where you manage the database connections and databases used by your projects; and the VCS is a version control system, much like SVN or CVS, brought to you by Omnis.

09 To begin using Omnis, first start by creating a library. Click on the Libraries tab in the Studio Browser. Click on the link ‘New Library’ in the right pane of the Browser. Pick a location and a name for your new project, then hit the Save button. Your new project should appear under the Libraries tab. Take a peek at the files it has created to familiarise yourself with the workings of Omnis Studio.

Set up database
10 Next up we need to set up a database connection. Click on the SQL Browser tab. Then click on the New Session button to create a new database session template. In the window that pops up, enter the details required to access your database server and database – the hostname, username and password, database type, and a name for the connection. Hit ‘OK’ once you are done. This database session will now be saved along with others. In the Session Manager, hit the Back button and click on the Open Session button. Now click on the name of the database connection you just set up. You should see the new connection displayed in the main pane of the window, and also under the SQL Browser tab.

11 Once your connection has been set up, you can browse through the data in the tables by double-clicking on the active connection. Then double-click on the table you want to browse. A window will pop up, displaying all the data and indexes which form part of the table.

12 We just viewed the database-level data in a table in the previous step. Omnis allows you to also actually view the data in a browser. This feature is particularly useful when developing a web-based data archiving tool. To access this view, select the table you want to browse and click on the ‘Show Data’ link. An Interactive SQL browser will open, with which you can browse graphically through your database data.

13 One of the great things about using a Rapid Application Development tool is that it makes tasks that require several steps pretty much automated. Omnis does the same for generating table schemas. To create a schema of your database table, drag the table icon and drop it into Libraries>Project. Make sure that your project folder has been expanded so you can do this easily. Once you do this you will find a new file created in the project, with the name of your table. This is the schema for that table. Double-click it to browse through it.