Getting started

with
Omnis Studio

Omnis Software
February 2000
The software this document describes is furnished under a license agreement. The software may be
used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Names of persons, corporations, or
products used in the tutorials and examples of this manual are fictitious. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, transmitted, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language in any form by
any means without the written permission of Omnis Software.
© Omnis Software, Inc., and its licensors 2000. All rights reserved.
Portions © Copyright Microsoft Corporation.
Omnis® is a registered trademark and Omnis 5™, Omnis 7™, Omnis Studio, and Omnis Web Client
are trademarks of Omnis Software, Inc.
Microsoft, MS, MS-DOS, Visual Basic, Windows, Windows 95, Win32, Win32s are registered
trademarks, and Windows NT, Visual C++ are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and other
countries.
Apple, the Apple logo, AppleTalk, and Macintosh are registered trademarks and MacOS, Power
Macintosh and PowerPC are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.
IBM and AIX is a registered trademark and OS/2 is a trademark of International Business Machines
Corporation.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the US and other countries exclusively licensed by X/Open Company
Ltd.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, Solaris, Java, and Catalyst are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc.
HP-UX is a trademark of Hewlett Packard.
OSF/Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation.
Acrobat is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.
ORACLE is a registered trademark and SQL*NET is a trademark of Oracle Corporation.
SYBASE, Net-Library, Open Client, DB-Library and CT-Library are registered trademarks of Sybase
Inc.
INFORMIX is a registered trademark of Informix Software, Inc.
EDA/SQL is a registered trademark of Information Builders, Inc.
CodeWarrior is a trade mark of Metrowerks, Inc.

Other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their corporations.

Contents
WHAT’S IN THIS BOOK? ................................................ 4

THE BASICS........................................................................ 7
WHAT IS A DATABASE? ........................................................... 7
Tables................................................................................. 7
Records .............................................................................. 7
Fields ................................................................................. 8
Primary Keys ..................................................................... 8
Creating an Omnis database within your application ....... 9
Using other types of database with your application......... 9
WHAT IS OMNIS STUDIO?...................................................... 10
What kind of applications can I build? ............................ 10
The Omnis Studio main screen......................................... 11
The Library Browser........................................................ 17
The Component Store....................................................... 19
The Property Manager..................................................... 21
Writing and editing code in Omnis .................................. 22
Building an application step-by-step ............................... 23
THE TUTORIAL............................................................... 25
DEPLOYING YOUR WEB APPLICATION .................................... 54
LET’S GET DEEPER........................................................ 55

WHERE TO NEXT? ......................................................... 82

GLOSSARY........................................................................ 83

APPENDIX 1 - OMNIS NAMING CONVENTIONS..... 85

APPENDIX 2 – SHORTCUT KEYS................................ 88

INDEX................................................................................. 90

Contents 3
What’s in this book?
This book is aimed at the first-time Omnis Studio user. It provides enough basic information
and practical exercises to get you up and running in developing software applications with
Omnis. We recommend you work through this book before delving into the more detailed
manuals such as Using Omnis Studio.
Getting started with Omnis Studio comprises the following sections:

The basics
What is a database?
Those sufficiently familiar with databases may skip this sub-section. It describes how
databases store information and how applications built using Omnis Studio can work with
existing databases or create new ones. It explains such concepts as:

Tables

Records

Fields

Primary Keys

Creating an Omnis database within your application

Using other types of database with your application

What is Omnis Studio?

This gives you a general understanding of what Omnis Studio is and what you can do with
it. The subsections are:

What kind of applications can I build?

The Omnis Studio main screen:
1. The Welcome library
2. The main toolbar and menus

The Library Browser

The Component Store

4 What’s in this book?


The Property Manager

Writing and editing code in Omnis

The steps commonly taken in building an application in Omnis Studio:
1. Creating a library
2. Adding classes
3. Creating a database or working with an existing one
4. Creating user interfaces/windows/web forms
5. Adding menus
6. Adding toolbars
7. Creating reports/queries
8. Releasing your application

The tutorial
Follow this quick tutorial and within minutes you’ll build a database application (a portfolio
of cover designs for books, CDs and TV programs) with an attractive user interface. It will
even include a remote form to browse data via the web!

Tech Tips
At various points throughout the tutorial and the Let’s get deeper section, we have inserted
Tech Tips, little nuggets of technical information you can use to enhance your applications.

Let’s get deeper

This takes you beyond the tutorial and looks deeper into application development. Without
going into too much detail, it will start you off on the following tasks and point to where
you can learn more about them:

Adding a report

Adding a menu

Adding a toolbar

Modifying the Startup Task

The tutorial 5
Where to next?
This suggests some possible areas to explore in furthering your Omnis application
development skills.

Glossary
This provides a glossary of Omnis Studio terms and the features available to you when
building applications.

Appendix 1 - Omnis naming

conventions
This is a guide to our recommended conventions for naming various types of objects when
developing Omnis applications.

Appendix 2 – Shortcut keys

This appendix lists some useful shortcut keys.

6 What’s in this book?

The basics
What is a database?
If you already know all about databases, you can skip this sub-section.
In simple terms, a database is a collection of data.
Chances are, you will ultimately be using Omnis Studio to build applications that will
manipulate and present information extracted from existing databases, or, indeed, from
databases built into the applications themselves. Before you start using Omnis Studio, it is
therefore important to know how databases (and good ones in particular) are constructed.
Let’s take a look at the typical components of a database.

Tables
These contain data. A table might hold such information as customers' names, addresses and
phone numbers. So, you might ask, is a table the same as a database?
Well, a small database (that is, one that only stores a few details for each record) might only
need one table. An example of this would be a computerized personal address book, where
each record consists of a name and a few lines of address details, all held in one table. But
what if you then wanted to store a lot more information about each person?
A common flaw amongst badly designed databases is that they store too much information
in one table. They become slower, more difficult to maintain and less user-friendly. More
importantly, it becomes harder to get useful information out of them.
A well-designed database will have the information divided into meaningful groups, with
each group stored in its own table. For example, a software company might keep a customer
database that has one table for contact names, another for addresses, another for products
used and so on. The tables for each customer record are then linked using a primary key,
that is, a field common to each table, such as the customer name or identification number.

Records
A record is all the information in a table that relates to one item. For example, the address
details held in the addresses table for one customer would be considered one record.

What is a database? 7
 Fields
A field is the storage space for a single piece of data held in a table. This might be for a
name or a phone number.
In most databases (Omnis-generated ones included), when you create a field, you specify
the type of data it is to store, such as characters, numbers, dates etc. This makes data entry
and manipulation easier and less prone to error.

Primary Keys
A primary key is a field that links together all the information held in a number of tables for
a single item. It might be the field that holds the customer name or the identification
number. In this way, you could link together the address details, contact names, phone
numbers and products used for a single customer. In the picture below, the Primary Key
could be the Company Name, which would be common to all the tables:

Primary Key

Addresses
Table
Contacts
Table

Phone Numbers
Fields Table

8 The basics
 Creating an Omnis database within your
application
As you will see when you do the tutorial, Omnis Studio has its own built-in database
developer that lets you seamlessly create an Omnis database within your application. To
access and manipulate an Omnis database, Omnis provides its own 4GL Database
Manipulation Language (DML), or, if you prefer, you can use SQL (see the next sub-
heading Using other types of database with your application). The working examples in
this book use DML for simplicity and ease of use.

Using other types of database with your

application
Omnis Studio also provides a tool (the SQL Browser) enabling you to build applications in
which users can access and maintain proprietary databases such as Oracle, Sybase and
Informix. Linking to other databases is not covered in this book; for more information, refer
to the manual Using Omnis Studio, Chapter 5 - Data Classes and Chapter 12 -Accessing
Your Database (available in PDF format on the Omnis Studio CD).

What is a database? 9
What is Omnis Studio?
Omnis Studio is a rapid application development (RAD) environment that supports
component-based development and integration as well as providing access to a full range
of databases and Internet services.
Well, that’s the one-sentence “manual” definition, but what does that really mean to you?
What makes Omnis Studio so special?
At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, Omnis Studio really does enable you to
develop quality applications very quickly. It combines a simple user interface with powerful
tools and versatile wizards, so you can create elegantly customized application components
built of flawless code without getting bogged down in huge tracts of an esoteric
programming language. And by quickly, we mean minutes instead of hours, hours instead of
days, etc.
We will prove this by showing you. In the remainder of this section, we’ll first give you
some idea of the kind of applications you can build with Omnis Studio, then introduce you
to its main interface and development tools. In our tutorial in the following section, within
minutes you will build a simple database application with an attractive user interface and
even a remote form to browse data via the web.

What kind of applications can I build?

With such a wide-ranging and easy-to-use product, Omnis Studio users have built
sophisticated applications that handle payroll and expense tracking, human resources and
administration, healthcare, electronic banking, commerce and even a professional quality
virtual recording studio.
Check out the success stories at our website on
www.omnis.net/partners/success/success.html.

10 The basics
 The Omnis Studio main screen
Let’s take a look at Omnis Studio. When you first open it, it looks like this:

Note that, throughout this book, the screenshots show the Windows version of Omnis
Studio.

What is Omnis Studio? 11

 The Welcome window
In the center of the main screen, you have the Welcome window:

This gives you a number of quick-start options. For example, the New Users option opens a
screen where you can open the TUTORIAL (as in the next section). The New Users screen
also provides some other useful options; we particularly recommend you have a look at the
Application Builder after you’ve worked through this book.
For now, though, click Close Welcome (or Close at the New Users screen) so you can have
a look at Omnis Studio itself.
Note: Take care that you click Close Welcome to close the Welcome window and not “Click
to toggle Startup State” (at the bottom), at least while you’re getting to grips with Omnis
Studio. The latter option will prevent the Welcome window from opening at startup. Having
said that, you can open the New Users window at any time from the main screen toolbar
and menu (Tools/New Users).

12 The basics
 The main toolbar and menus
The main toolbar provides all the Omnis Studio tools you need to build an application. Most
of these can also be found in the main View and Tools menus (the other buttons/options are
general Windows ones).
The toolbar buttons are divided into three groups; View, Desktop and Tools. The pictures
below indicate what feature each button opens (as do the ToolTips in the toolbar itself).
Some of these features are described in this section; others provide more advanced
development tools and so are not discussed in this book. Don’t worry too much about what
each button does at this stage; the buttons will become familiar to you the more you use
Omnis Studio. In fact, you can build entire applications using just a few of the key ones, as
you’ll find when you do the tutorial.
View buttons

Library IDE Toolbars

Browser
Data File Browser
Component Store Catalog

Notation Inspector Property Manager

Inheritance Tree

Library Browser This is where you create or open a library. In Omnis, a

library holds all the components of an application.
Component Store This contains wizards and templates you can use to add
classes and other objects to your library.
Notation Inspector This displays your Omnis object tree, including the contents
of your libraries. This can be useful to get the correct
notation/path for an object.
Inheritance Tree This displays the superclass/subclass structure of your
libraries.
Property Manager This shows the properties for the currently object selected.
You can edit the properties here.

What is Omnis Studio? 13

 Catalog This displays all the variables in your library and provides a
convenient list of all Omnis functions and constants.
Data File Browser This allows you to open and manage Omnis datafiles.

IDE Toolbars This allows you to select which Omnis toolbars to display
(see also Desktop buttons below).

Desktop buttons

Design Desktop

Runtime Desktop

Combined Design and

Runtime Desktop

Design Desktop This displays the Omnis and standard Windows buttons
only.
Runtime Desktop This displays just the buttons you have added to your
application (that will appear during runtime).
Combined Design This displays both types of the above buttons.
and Runtime
Desktop

14 The basics
 Tools buttons

Import Data

Export Data

Icon Editor

Trace Log

IDE Options

Version Control System

SQL Browser

Installs or removes the Adhoc Reports menu

New Users

Help Project Manager

Add-On tools

IDE Options This displays the Omnis preferences in the Property

Manager. These preferences affect all libraries and Omnis as
a whole.
Trace Log This opens the Omnis trace log, which lets you examine the
flow of your code while it is executing.
Icon Editor This opens the Icon Editor, which lets you add your own
icons to Omnis.
Export Data This lets you export data from an Omnis data file using a

What is Omnis Studio? 15

 number of different data formats.
Import Data This lets you import data into a list from an existing export
file or text file from another application.
Version Control The Omnis Version Control System, or VCS, lets you
System control Omnis application development in a team
environment.
SQL Browser This lets you access and maintain your proprietary databases
such as Oracle, Sybase and Informix, and Omnis databases
via Omnis SQL.
Adhoc Reports Installs (or, if already installed, removes) the Adhoc Reports
menu menu.
New Users This opens the New Users window (see earlier sub-section
The Welcome window).
Help Project This lets you create new help projects for your application
Manager and modify existing ones.
Add-On tools This provides the following additional development tools:

Method Checker

ODBC Administration

Port Profile Editor

String Table Editor

Web Client Tools

16 The basics
 The Library Browser
As you can see, when you open Omnis Studio, it automatically opens a Library Browser for
you:

Library
Browser

This is where you create or open a library. In Omnis, a library holds all the components of
an application.
When you build a new application, the first thing you do is create a library, then add the
application components you need into it.
If you want to work on an existing application, you open its library in the Library Browser,
then open the components you want to work on.
You could also build more complex applications that comprise a number of libraries.

What is Omnis Studio? 17

 The Startup Task
It’s worth noting here that, when you create a library, Omnis Studio automatically creates a
Startup Task in it for you:

Startup Task

This runs the initialization code whenever you open the library, thus providing the
functionality you need to run your application.
Whilst you’re getting to grips with Omnis Studio and developing a simple application via
the tutorial, you need not concern yourself with the Startup Task.
Later on, though, you may develop an application where you want something to happen
when you open the library. For example, you might want an “About” screen or install menu
to appear. To do this, you would insert additional code into the Startup Task. This is quite
easy to do, as you will discover in the later section “Let’s get deeper” under “Modifying the
Startup Task”.

18 The basics
 The Component Store
Once you have your library, you can start to add into it the application components you
need. This is where the Component Store comes into its own. In many cases, adding a
component (such as a window or a report) is simply a case of dragging the appropriate
wizard from the Component Store and dropping it into your library, as in the picture below:

When you give it a name and click it, the wizard runs and prompts you to enter the relevant
details. The Component Store also provides other components in the form of templates that
you drag into your library and alter to suit your needs.
In Omnis, the application components held in a library are called Classes and may include
windows, menus, table schemas, reports, web forms etc.

What is Omnis Studio? 19

 Take a look at this user interface window for a simple database application (you will create
this in the tutorial):

To get this, we first created a library (called PICS.LBS) then, from the Component Store,
added two classes; a file class (to map records from the sample data file) and the window
class itself (created in a matter of seconds using a wizard).
For the window to work, we used the Data File Browser to open the sample data file. To
open and test the window in runtime mode, we just right-clicked (Ctrl-clicked) the window
class object and selected the Open Window pop-up menu option.
When you do the tutorial in the next section, you will see how easy it all is.

20 The basics
 The Property Manager
At any point in your application development, you can fine-tune any object (be it a library,
class, button etc.) by editing its properties in the Property Manager. Just click the object and
click the Property Manager button (or right-click/Ctrl-click the object and select the
Properties pop-up menu option). This opens the Property Manager for the object. The
picture below shows the Property Manager for a window class:

Click on another object and the Property Manager changes to show that object’s properties.

What is Omnis Studio? 21

 Writing and editing code in Omnis
Thanks to the versatility of the Component Store’s wizards and templates, and the familiar
interface of the Property Manager, you can build quite complex applications without ever
needing to get down to code level. But if you ever want to do any low-level fine-tuning, you
will find code writing in Omnis extremely intuitive, powerful and compact, made especially
easy with interactive editing tools such as automated keyword expansion and selection.
For example, to get an object (such as a toolbar button) to perform a specific task, you
would double-click it to display its Methods editor and enter the required code. Here’s a
typical Methods editor; in this case, for a toolbar button that will print a report when
clicked:

To add a new line of code in a Methods editor, you click to highlight the line into which you
want to insert the code, then type it in. You don’t need to worry about upper/lower case or
indentation; Omnis takes care of these automatically. As you type, Omnis tries to anticipate
the command you’re entering and inserts it for you. Basically, you just keep typing until the
correct command appears. Another way to insert code is to locate the command you want in
the list at the bottom left of the Methods editor. You then just click it and Omnis inserts it in
the curent line.

22 The basics
 If you enter a command where you need to specify the name of an existing object (as in “Set
report name rPics” in the picture above), Omnis recognizes this and, as soon as it has
established you’re entering such a command, provides a list of existing objects. You just
click the one you want and it appears in the command line automatically.
You will discover just how easy writing Omnis code is when you come to step 5 in the later
section “Let’s get deeper”.

Building an application step-by-step

So, with Omnis Studio, you can break down the development cycle of an application into
the following basic steps:
Note: It is important you determine at the outset whether you are going to create (or work
with) an Omnis database using DML or link to an existing one (including Oracle, Sybase
and Informix) using SQL. This will affect the type of database/file classes you will need to
add to your library from the Component Store.
1. Create a library
In the Library Browser, click New Library and give it a name.
2. Add the application components (classes)
Double-click your library to open it, then from the Component Store, drag the wizard
or template for any component you require and drop it into your library. Give it a name
and enter the relevant details.
Using this method, you can add such components (classes) as:
Windows
Menus
Toolbars
File classes or Schema/Query and Table classes, depending on whether you are
creating (or working with) an Omnis database using DML or linking to an existing
one (including Oracle, Sybase or Informix) using SQL
Reports
Web forms (Remote forms)
3. Fine-tune
Click any object in your application and click the Property Manager button (or right-
click/Ctrl-click the object and select the Properties pop-up menu option). This opens
the Property Manager for the object. Edit the properties as required.
Click on another object and the Property Manager changes to show that object’s
properties.

What is Omnis Studio? 23

 To get an object (such as a toolbar button) to perform a specific task, double-click it to
display its Methods editor and enter the required code.
4. Test
Omnis Studio lets you test your application at any time during the development
process.
For example, if you have created a window to display details from an existing data file,
you can simply open it in runtime mode. First, use the Data File Browser to open the
sample data file and make it the current one (using the Make Current option). Next,
right-click (Ctrl-click) the window class object and select the Open Window pop-up
menu option.
5. Release your application
The Omnis Studio CD provides a runtime version of the Omnis Studio executable or
program (for each platform) that contains all the necessary elements for your end user
to install and run your application. This procedure is not covered here; refer to the
manual Using Omnis Studio, Chapter 15 - Deploying your Application (available in
PDF format on the Omnis Studio CD).

24 The basics
The tutorial
If you’ve already worked through the tutorial and created the picture database application
(you might have done this from the Welcome screen when you first opened Omnis Studio),
go straight on to the next section Let’s Get Deeper, where you will expand what you’ve
already created.
This tutorial shows you how to create an Omnis application to browse a picture database, in
this case, a portfolio of sample TV programs, CD, and book designs undertaken by a design
agency. You could, however, use the application to store any type of picture data (such as a
photo library).
The tutorial shows you how to create the file structure required in the database and how to
create a simple data entry window to browse and insert new pictures. Finally, it shows you
how to create a form to browse the database in a web browser. At the end of the section, we
describe how you can deploy the application to the web, although you may need help from
your webmaster to do this.

The tutorial 25
 1. If you are running this tutorial from the Welcome window, you won't need to start
Omnis Studio; otherwise, double-click on the Omnis icon on your Desktop (or in
Windows Explorer) to start it. When you start Omnis Studio, the Library or Class
Browser (on the left) and the Component Store (on the right) should appear. You’ll see
what these do later. If any Omnis applications are currently open, they will appear in
the Browser.

26 The tutorial
 2. The starting point for your Omnis application is an Omnis library. A library stores all
the windows, menus, reports, and other objects in your application. To create a library,
press F2/Cmnd-2 or click on the Browser to bring it to the top, then select the
Library>>New menu option on the Browser menu bar. Open the Welcome/Tutorial
folder, enter the name PICS.LBS, including the extension .LBS, and click on OK
(details of Omnis naming conventions are provided in the appendix).

The tutorial 27
 3. When you create or open a library it appears in the Browser. To view the contents of a
library you double-click on the library icon. A second Browser window is opened
displaying the contents of your library. At this stage, your library contains a Startup
Task that simply initializes the library when it starts up.

28 The tutorial
 4. To create the database structure in your library you need to create an Omnis file class.
File classes define the column names and data types for the information stored in your
database. To create a file class, press F3/Cmnd-3 or click on the Component Store to
bring it to the top. Drag the New File icon onto the Browser, release the mouse, name
the class fPics, and press Return; fPics appears in the Browser.

The tutorial 29
 5. Double-click on the fPics file to open the file class editor. The file editor lets you add
the name and data type of each column or field in your database. To create the first
column or field, enter the name Category. The name is entered at the bottom of the
editor window. Next, tab to the Field type box and choose the Character type. Next,
tab to the Max length box and enter 50 as the maximum length. Lastly, click on the
Indexed check box (near the bottom right corner of the window). Don’t worry about the
other check boxes and fields in the file editor, you can accept all the default settings.

30 The tutorial
 6. To create a second column or field in the fPics file class press Ctrl/Cmnd-N, enter the
name Name in the Field name box, choose Character as the field type, enter 100 as the
maximum length, and check the Indexed check box. To create each new column or
field in the file class, press Ctrl/Cmnd-N, enter the field name, and select the
appropriate field types and subtypes, as follows. The Sequence field called PicID will
provide a unique reference for each data record.
Field name Type/Length Indexed?
Category Character/50 Yes
Name Character/100 Yes
Picture Picture/No
Desc Character/1000 No
PicID Sequence Indexed automatically

The tutorial 31
 7. When you have finished modifying a class in Omnis you can simply close it to save it,
or you can use the Save option from the File menu at any time. So, to save the fPics file
class, close the file class editor. The browser should contain 2 classes, the Startup_Task
and fPics.

32 The tutorial
 8. Having created the data file structure for your database, you can create a window or
form to browse and insert data. Press F3/Cmnd-3 to open the Component Store or bring
it to the top. Click on the Window Classes button in the top toolbar (second from left).
Drag the Omnis Form Wizard from the Component Store and drop it on your library in
the Class Browser. Name the new form wPics and press Return. A wizard window is
displayed.

The tutorial 33
 9. The form wizard lets you choose exactly what you want to include in your window or
form. Keep the default setting, One field per file field, and click on the Next button.

34 The tutorial
 10. Expand the tree list by clicking on the + button. You should see the columns or fields
you created in the file class: Name, Category, Picture, Desc, and PicID. The wizard lets
you select individual fields, but in this case, you can include all the fields in the form,
so check the box at the top next to the fPics file name.

The tutorial 35
 11. When the details for your form are complete, click on the Create button. Omnis creates
the form for you automatically, based on the selections you have made in the wizard.
When the wizard finishes, the form opens in design mode. You may notice the Property
Manager is opened (on the right) showing the properties of the form, but you don’t
need to use it at this stage.

Tech Tip: You can control the order in which the user can tab from one field to the next in
a data entry window.
Omnis assigns a number to each field as you place it on your window. This number is
stored in the order property for the field. You can see the order number for a field in the
Property Manager, or you can Show Field Numbers for all the fields on a window using
the context menu for the window. You can reorder the fields on your window, and hence
change the tabbing order, by changing the order property for a field. When you change the
order number for one field, the number for all the other fields on the window will change.

36 The tutorial
 12. Before you can try out the window you need to open the picture database or data file.
Select the Data file Browser option from the View menu on the main Omnis menubar.
Select the Open option from the Datafile menu in the Data File Browser. Open the
welcome folder (in your Omnis program’s tutorial folder) and double-click on the
Omnis datafile called PICS.DF1. Make sure the PICS datafile is selected in the Data
File Browser, then select the Make Current option from the Datafile menu; an arrow
appears next to the PICS datafile icon to show it’s the current one. Finally, close the
Data File Browser.
Note that if you want to create a database of your own, you simply need to create a new
datafile in the Data File Browser and make it the current one.

The tutorial 37
 13. In Omnis it’s very easy to try out a window or form. Assuming the wPics form is the
top window, press Ctrl/Cmnd-T to open or "Test" your window. The window is opened
on top of the design window. Click on the Next button to locate the first record in the
database. Click on Next a few more times to open each record in turn. You can click on
Previous to go back to the previous record. When you reach the end of the database
Omnis bleeps, but you can click Next again to locate the first record.
Note that you can move fields, and change other properties of fields and the window
itself at any time, and use Ctrl/Cmnd-T to toggle between design mode and runtime to
try out your modifications.
Important: You must be in runtime mode to enter data and design mode to continue
with the tutorial.

38 The tutorial
 14. You can use the same window to browse and insert data into the database. With the
window still open in runtime, click on the Insert button and enter the details below,
using the tab key to go from one entry field to the next. To insert the picture, tab to the
picture field, select Paste From File in the Edit menu, select *.jpg from the file type list,
locate the bookchaos.jpg file in the Welcome/Tutorial folder, and click on OK. You do
not need to enter anything into the PicID field, Omnis assigns a number automatically
which uniquely identifies each data record. To save the complete data record, click on
the OK button in the data entry window.
Field Enter
Category Book
Name Science in Chaos
Picture bookchaos.jpg
Desc Cover art for Bob Zurich’s latest book, etc.
PicID Leave blank: assigned automatically

The tutorial 39
 15. Having inserted some data, close the wPics window and its design window; you can
also close the Property Manager if you like. Now would be a good time to save your
library. To save your library, press F2/Cmnd-2 or click on the Class Browser to bring it
to the top, and select Library>>Save from the browser menubar. At this stage you
should have 3 classes, including the file and window classes you created, and the
default Startup_Task.

40 The tutorial
 16. Next you are going to create a remote form or web form to browse your database in a
web browser. You can place the same form on a website to allow anyone in the world
to browse your picture database. To create the web form, press F3/Cmnd-3 or click on
the Component Store to bring it to the top. Scroll the toolbar at the top of the
Component Store and click on the Remote Form Classes button. Drag the File Form
wizard onto your library in the Browser, enter the name rfPics, and hit Return. A
wizard window is displayed.

The tutorial 41
 17. First you need to create a remote task for your form; a remote task simply handles the
connection between your web browser and the server application, in this case, your
picture database. Select Create New Remote Task and select the Plain Remote Task
template from the Remote Task Template droplist, enter the name rtPics in the New
Remote Task Name box (note the prefix is "rt" this time) and click on the Next button.

42 The tutorial
 18. Expand the tree list by clicking on the + button. You should see the columns or fields
you created in the file class: Category, Name, Picture, Desc, and PicID. You don’t need
to display the picture ID field in the web form so leave the PicID field unchecked, but
check all the other fields. When the field selections are correct click on Next.

The tutorial 43
 19. Next the form wizard asks you to select a field to be used as the unique key field. This
is simply a column or field in your database that uniquely identifies each data record.
You can use the PicID field which stores a unique number or reference for each record.
Therefore check the PicID in the list and click on Next.

44 The tutorial
 20. Next the wizard lets you choose the type of web browser for your form; you can select
either Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, or create a form for both. For this
tutorial, select either the Internet Explorer or Netscape option (whichever is your
default browser) and click on the Create button. Omnis creates the rfPics web form for
you automatically and displays it in the Omnis Browser. Double-click on rfPics to open
it in design mode; it looks very similar to the data entry window you created earlier.

The tutorial 45
 21. You can open or "test" your web form locally, before adding it to your website, by
pressing Ctrl/Cmnd-T. Omnis opens your web browser automatically and displays the
web form. Assuming the Picture database is still open, Omnis opens the first record,
otherwise you'll need to open the PICS.DF1 data file, using the Data File Browser as
before.
Note that all the pictures are scaled to fit the picture field, but you can change this in a
moment.

46 The tutorial
 22. To cycle forwards and backwards through the database, click on the Next and Previous
buttons. When you reach the end of the database Omnis goes back to the beginning.
Try to find the picture(s) you entered earlier. You can switch back to Omnis and
modify the form in any way, for example, you can move the fields, change the color
and font type of the fields, you can change the background color of the form, and so on.
The remainder of this tutorial shows you how to make a few changes to the form.

The tutorial 47
 23. To modify your form, you can either switch back to Omnis or close your web browser.
In the rfPics remote form, make the Desc field bigger and move it down, nearer to the
Previous button. Click on the Picture field and press F6/Cmnd-6 or click on the
Property Manager to bring it to the top. Under the General tab, click on the height
property and change it to 144: note all the pictures in the database are scaled to this
height or overall size. Similarly, click on the width property and change it to 186.

48 The tutorial
 24. Next you can change some other properties of the Picture field, such as turning off the
picture scaling. Assuming the Picture field is still selected, click on the Appearance tab
in the Property Manager, and change the noscale property to kTrue. You can either
double-click on such a property to toggle its value, or select a value from the dropdown
list. If you want to store large pictures in your database you may want to add vertical
and/or horizontal scrollbars to the picture field. To do this change the vertscroll and
horzscroll properties to kTrue under the Appearance tab in the Property Manager.

The tutorial 49
 25. Next you’re going to change the style and color of all 4 fields in the form. Shift-click
on all 4 fields, or click and drag your mouse over the fields, press F6/Cmnd-6 or click
on the Property Manager to bring it to the top, click on the Appearance tab, and change
the effect property to kFlat. You may like to try out some of the other border effects or
styles available in the dropdown list in the Property Manager.

Tech Tip: You can align or arrange a group of objects using the Align submenu on the
object context menu. To open this menu you Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac) on
an object or group of selected objects and select Align.
Using the Align submenu you can align objects to top, left, right, and bottom edges. In
addition you can make a group of objects the same height or width, center them
horizontally or vertically, and you can evenly distribute objects horizontally or vertically. A
very useful tool for tidying up your data entry windows...

50 The tutorial
 26. With all 4 fields still selected, change their backcolor property to light brown, or any
other color you want. To select a color, click on the color swatch in the Property
Manager and choose a color from the palette window. Next you can click on the
background of the window and set its forecolor property to the same color as the fields,
or if you prefer a contrasting color, again using the Property Manager.

Note: Remember that, for a window area, forecolor effectively means the background
color. With fields, forecolor is the color of the field entry and backcolor is the background
color.
Tech Tip: You can create some very interesting window backgrounds using the Wash and
Tile background external components. To use a background component, open your window
in design mode, open the Component Store and click on the Background Components
button on the toolbar.
The Tile component takes an iconid; you can create small bitmaps (or copy some from the
Windows/Mac Desktop), store them in #ICONS and assign an id. The Wash tile takes a
start and end color. You edit properties for external comps under the Custom tab in the
Property Manager.

The tutorial 51
 27. You can make as many changes as you like to the remote form, but at any stage you can
press Ctrl/Cmnd-T to try out the form in your web browser. Using the changes you’ve
made so far, your web form should look something like the one shown below (notice
we have also removed the field labels).

52 The tutorial
 28. Other changes you could make to the form in Omnis design mode include putting the
Name and Desc fields next to the Picture field, moving the Previous and Next buttons
up so they are under the other fields, and resizing the form to make the whole window
more compact. You can make all these changes by changing the appropriate field
properties in the Property Manager. For example, you could change the font, fontsize
and fontstyle properties of the Name field under the Text tab in the Property Manager;
note to change the font characteristics of a field you need to set its fieldstyle to none.

You have completed the tutorial. You may now like to read the following sub-section
Deploying your web application using the web form and database you have just created,
before moving on to the Let’s get deeper section.

The tutorial 53
Deploying your web application
(Windows 32 and Linux platforms only)
This tutorial does not cover the process of deploying your application to the web in detail,
but this section does describe what you need to do. If you want to deploy your application
you may need to ask your IT department and/or webmaster to help you.
To deploy your Omnis application to the web, you need to add one or two files to your web
server and set up your Omnis application on a local Win32 or Linux server. First you need
to place the Omnis runtime program and your Omnis application on this server. Start Omnis
and select the Option or Preferences option from the Tools menu. This option opens the
general preferences for Omnis, and you need to set the serverport option to 5912 or some
other port number not currently in use. Then open your Omnis application, in this case the
Picture database, and keep it running.
On your web server, you need to add the OmnisAPI.DLL file to your cgi-bin folder; the file
is in the Webclient/Server folder in the Omnis tree.
When you open your web form in Omnis, an HTML file is created for you, in this case it is
called rfPics.htm, and is placed in the Omnis/Html folder. You need to edit this file, using a
standard Html editor. The Html file contains the remote form embedded as an object and
you need to edit some of its parameters: in the WebServerURL parameter add your website
domain name, and in the WebServerScript parameter add "/cgi-bin/omnisapi.dll" i.e. the
location of the omnisapi.dll file. Finally, you need to put the edited rfPics.htm file on your
webserver.
To browse the database remotely, open your web browser and navigate to the rfPics.htm
web page, depending on where you have placed it on your website. The web form should
appear allowing you to browse the database.

Tech Tip: Omnis provides the tools for localizing or translating your applications. The
library used to translate your libraries is located in the Local folder under the main Omnis
folder. To translate a library you: Export the text and literal strings in your library that
require translation, translate the text using a standard text editor or word processor, and
then import the text back into your library.
When you open the Trans.lbs library (in the Omnis/Local folder) the translation browser
appears. It displays any libraries you currently have open, with the exception of the
translation library itself. If the library you wish to translate is not open, use the
Library>>Open option on the translation browser menu to open it.

54 The tutorial
Let’s get deeper
Now that you’ve worked through the tutorial, you’ve probably grasped some of the potential
of Omnis Studio and appreciate how easy it is to build applications with it. On the way, you
may have glimpsed avenues you could take to extend the application you created. Although
it’s impractical to document every possibility here, we will look at a few key areas where
you can expand it. We won’t go too far in any particular direction, just far enough to show
where Omnis development can lead you next. Where you do go next is, of course, up to you
and the kind of applications you want to build.
If the PICS.LBS library you created in the tutorial is not currently displayed, open it in the
Library Browser by clicking the Open Library button and locating the PICS.LBS file in the
Open Library window – it should be in the tutorial folder (in your Omnis program’s
welcome folder).

Deploying your web application 55

Adding a report
A report is a very common and often essential feature of a database application, so Omnis
Studio makes adding one particularly easy.
1. Make sure the classes in the PICS.LBS library are displayed in the browser. Then, in
the Component Store, display the Report Classes (by clicking the Report Classes button
in the Component Store’s toolbar) and drag the Omnis Report Wizard into the PICS
browser.

Tech Tip: You can print details of a class, a number of selected classes, or all the classes
in the current library.
To print the details about a class or classes you need to select them in the Omnis Browser
and choose the Print Class Details option from the File menu; to print details about all
classes deselect them all in the Browser and use the Print option. The report, which is sent
to the current print destination such as the screen, contains a list of variables, methods,
and properties of each class, and it describes any errors in syntax if there are any. For
window and report classes the report also contains a list of objects and fields in the class;
you can also open a window or report class in design mode, select an object and use the
Print option to get details for the object, including its methods.

56 Let’s get deeper

 2. Name the new report class “rPics” and click it to run the Omnis Report Wizard. At the
wizard’s “Select Report Fields” screen, click the + symbol to expand the tree list. You
can now click to check the fields you want in the report. For this exercise, select all the
fields. You can do this in one action by clicking to check fPics - this also checks all the
fields below it automatically. When you’ve done that, click the Create button to create
the report.

Adding a report 57
 3. The wizard has now created your report and displays its layout.

You can alter the elements of the layout using click-and-drag. For now, though, run the
report to test it. First of all, you need to make sure the data file is open and current; if
you have not already done so in your current Omnis Studio session, do it as follows:
Select the Data file Browser option from the View menu on the main Omnis
menubar. Select the Open option from the Datafile menu in the Data File
Browser. Open the welcome folder (in your Omnis program’s tutorial folder) and
double-click on the Omnis datafile called PICS.DF1. Make sure the PICS datafile
is selected in the Data File Browser, then select the Make Current option from the
Datafile menu; an arrow appears next to the PICS datafile icon to show it’s the
current one. Finally, close the Data File Browser.
Now click the Report window’s Print To Screen button to run the report and display the
results on the screen.

58 Let’s get deeper

 4. Your report is now displayed. You can scroll through it and print it as required.

Adding a report 59
 Learn more about reports
In the manual Using Omnis Studio, take a look at Chapter 9 - Report Classes (available in
PDF format on the Omnis Studio CD).

Tech Tip: You can save reports to disk and send them to people via e-mail or other means.
As long as the people at the other end have an Omnis Runtime or Development version,
they can then print the report to any destination.
To save a report you can:

pick the disk destination and print the report,
or,

print the report to screen or page preview and click the Save button on the toolbar.
You can print a report from disk by:

double clicking the report file. On Windows and Unix the file name must have the .REP
extension. On the Macintosh it must have the creator set to OO$$ and the file type to
OO$Q,
or,

starting your Omnis and select 'Print report from disk' from the File menu. The file
must have the .REP extension in the file name for all platforms, including Macintosh, if
the file type and creator have been lost during transit.

60 Let’s get deeper

Adding a menu
Menus enable the users of your application to perform standard operations, as well as run
and navigate between the features you’ve built into it. For example, the database browsing
window you created in the tutorial works well enough, but your users would certainly
appreciate a menu in it that gave them an option to print the report.
1. Make sure the classes in the PICS.LBS library are displayed in the browser. Then, in
the Component Store, display the Menu Classes (by clicking the Menu Classes button
in the Component Store’s toolbar) and drag the Menu Wizard into the PICS browser.

Adding a menu 61
 2. Name the new menu class “mPics” and click it to run the Menu Wizard. We want the
menu to have an option to print the report, so, at the wizard’s screen, click the + symbol
to expand the Reports tree list, then drag the rPics report class over to the menu pane
on the right. When you’ve done that, click the Create button to create the menu.

62 Let’s get deeper

 3. The details of your menu are now displayed. The menu will work perfectly well,
although you can make it more user-friendly by altering the default menu title and
option name.

Adding a menu 63
 4. In the Menu PICS.mPics window, click to select the menu title (shown as “Menu Title”
by default) and change it to Report. You can either type “Report” in the “title” box in
the Property Manager, or click inside the menu title in the window editor itself and edit
it.

64 Let’s get deeper

 5. In the Menu PICS.mPics window, click to select the option name (shown as “Print
rPics” by default) and change it to “Print the report”. You can either type “Print the
report” in the “text” box in the Property Manager, or click inside the option name in the
window editor itself and edit it.

Adding a menu 65
 6. Another user-friendly feature of a menu option is an icon indicating what it does. In the
Menu PICS.mPics window, click to select the “Print the report” option. In the Property
Manager, click the drop-down arrow on the “iconid” box to open the “Select an icon”
window. Use the drop-down list there to display the Reports icons, select the icon id
number 1961 (a printer icon) and click the Select button.

66 Let’s get deeper

 7. Now you need to alter the properties of the database browsing window so that it
includes your new menu. Close the menu class editor and double-click on the wPics
window class to open it. In the Property Manager, change the “hasmenus” setting to
“kTrue” (by selecting it from the drop-down list) and in “menunames” select your new
menu mPics. The menu “Report” then appears at the top of your window.

Adding a menu 67
 8. Now open the window in runtime mode to test the menu. Right-click (Ctrl-click) in the
wPics editor area and select the Open Window pop-up menu option. Your window
opens and you will see your new Report menu at the top. Click the menu and select the
“Print the report” option from it.

68 Let’s get deeper

 9. The Report Destination window opens from which you need to select the Screen
option. When you click OK, the report runs and is displayed on screen.

Adding a menu 69
 10. You can now scroll through the report and print it if required.

Learn more about menus

In the manual Using Omnis Studio, take a look at Chapter 7 - Menu Classes (available in
PDF format on the Omnis Studio CD).

70 Let’s get deeper

Adding a toolbar
Like menus, toolbars also provide your application’s end users with access to standard
operations and application features. It’s common among application user interfaces to have
a toolbar of buttons that duplicate the menu options. Users new to your application may
initially find it easier to use the menu options, with their logical arrangement and text
descriptions. Then, as they grow more familiar with the interface, they may start using the
toolbar buttons for speed. With other users it can be a matter of personal preference.
Follow this exercise to add a toolbar containing a button to print the report; this will
complement the menu option you created previously.
1. Make sure the classes in the PICS.LBS library are displayed in the browser. Then, in
the Component Store, display the Toolbar Classes (by clicking the Toolbar Classes
button in the Component Store’s toolbar) and drag the New Toolbar template into the
PICS browser.

Adding a toolbar 71
 2. Name the new toolbar class “tbPics” and double-click it to open it. At the moment, the
toolbar has no buttons. If you display the Component Store, however, it automatically
displays the Toolbar tools. You need a push button, so drag the Push Button tool to the
toolbar editor (the cursor will change to indicate where you can drop it).

72 Let’s get deeper

 3. The button now appears in your toolbar editor. To make the button useful, you need to
change its appearance (from the default “OK”), give it a helpful ToolTip and specify
what is to happen when a user clicks it. First of all, change its appearance.
In the toolbar’s Property Manager (which should now be displayed by default), click to
display the Appearance tab, then click the “iconid” number’s drop-down arrow to open
the “Select an icon” window. It’s good practice to use the same icon as you did for the
corresponding menu option. So, use the drop-down list here to display the Reports
icons (you may also need to click the toolbar button to display the 16x16 Icons, as
below), select the icon id number 1961 (a printer icon) and click the Select button. The
icon now appears on your button.

Click here to
display 16x16
icons

Adding a toolbar 73
 4. Another useful feature of a toolbar button is a ToolTip to tell the user what the button
does. Click to display the Property Manager’s General tab and type “Print the report” in
the “tooltip” box.

74 Let’s get deeper

 5. Now you need to specify what happens when the user clicks the button. In the toolbar
editor, double-click the new button to open its Methods editor. As you can see, an “On
evClick” line of code has already been entered by default. You now need to insert the
other lines of code that will run and print the report. These are:
Set report name rPics
Prompt for destination
If flag true
Print report
End if
To add a new line of code, click to highlight the line into which you want to insert the
code, then type it in. Don’t worry about upper/lower case or indentation; Omnis takes
care of these automatically. As you type, Omnis tries to anticipate the command you’re
entering and inserts it for you. Keep typing until the correct command appears. When
you type in the “Set report name rPics” line, you can select “rPics” from a list that
appears as soon as Omnis has established you’re entering the “Set report name”
command. When you’ve entered these code lines, close the Methods editor.

Tech Tip: In the Methods editor, you can also move to the next line using Ctrl-N/Cmnd-N.

Adding a toolbar 75
 6. Now you need to alter the properties of the database browsing window so that it
includes your new toolbar. Close the toolbar class editor and double-click on the wPics
window class to open it. In the Property manager, change the “toolbarpos” setting to
“kDockingAreaTop” (by selecting it from the drop-down list) and in “toolbarnames”
select your new toolbar “tbPics”. The toolbar then appears at the top of your window.
As in the picture below, you may also need to alter the window size to take account of
the extra space taken up by the toolbar and menu.

Tech Tip: You can set the global ($root) preferences or options in Omnis using the
Property Manager, via the Tools menu Options (Win) or Preferences (Mac) menu item. You
can set the General, Appearance, Page Setup, and Device preferences as well as view the
$root methods.

76 Let’s get deeper

 7. Now open the window in runtime mode to test the toolbar button. Right-click (Ctrl-
click) in the wPics editor area and select the Open Window pop-up menu option. Your
window opens and you will see your new toolbar just beneath the menu. Click the
“Print the report” button you added (checking that the ToolTip appears when you place
the cursor over it). The Report Destination window should open as before from which
you need to select the Screen option. When you click OK, the report runs and is
displayed on screen.

Tech Tip: You can allow an application’s end user to select line styles, colors, and patterns
from a toolbar using the picker controls:

The Line, Color, and Pattern pickers have all the general properties of a toolbar control as
well as the text and iconid properties. The standard line, color, and pattern palettes appear
in these controls by default. At runtime, the value selected by the user is returned as the
contents of the control.

Adding a toolbar 77
 Learn more about toolbars
In the manual Using Omnis Studio, take a look at Chapter 8 - Toolbar Classes (available in
PDF format on the Omnis Studio CD).

78 Let’s get deeper

Modifying the Startup Task
When you create a library, Omnis Studio automatically creates a Startup Task in it for you.
This runs the initialization code whenever you open the library, thus providing the
functionality you need to develop your application. If, therefore, you want something to
happen when you open your library, you need to enter the appropriate code in the Startup
Task.
In this exercise, you will modify your Startup task to open the database browser window
automatically when you open the library.

Modifying the Startup Task 79

 1. Make sure the classes in the PICS.LBS library are displayed in the browser, then
double-click the Startup_Task class to open its Methods editor. Using the code-entering
technique you used in step 5 in the previous section Adding a toolbar, add the
following line of code (making sure that $construct is selected):
Open window instance wPics
You will notice that, as you type the line in, you can select “wPics” from a list that
appears as soon as Omnis has established you’re entering the “Open window instance”
command. When you’ve entered this code line, close the Methods editor.

Make sure $construct is selected

before entering the code

Note: Entering this code with $construct selected meanse the code will run when the
library (and, therefore, the application) is opened. If you wanted something to happen
when the library/application closes, you would first select $destruct before entering the
code.

80 Let’s get deeper

 2. In the Library Browser, close the PICS library (click the Close Library button). Now
open the library again (click the Open Library button and locate the PICS.LBS file in
the Open Library window – it should be in your Omnis program’s welcome/tutorial
folder). When the library opens, the database browser window you created opens in
runtime mode automatically.

Tech Tip: You can check the methods in your library using the method checker. The
method checker is available under the Tools menu on the main Omnis menu bar. It checks
your code for syntax errors, unused variables, methods without code, and so on. It provides
various levels of checking and reports errors in individual classes or all classes in the
current library. It is particularly useful for checking libraries converted from an earlier
version of Omnis.
Note that the method checker does not correct the code in your libraries! It simply reports
any errors and potential problems in your code which you can then jump to and modify
yourself.

Modifying the Startup Task 81

Where to next?
Now that you’ve worked through this book, developed and expanded a simple database
application, you should have a fair grasp of the capability and potential of Omnis Studio.
The next obvious step is to check out other Omnis documentation (the Omnis Studio
manuals are available in PDF format on the Omnis Studio CD).
However, before you attempt to read, say, Using Omnis Studio cover-to-cover, you might
find greater benefit exploring the following specific areas. You could even put these
concepts immediately into practice and continue to build on the PICS database application
you created in the tutorial and the Let’s get deeper section.

Databases
It’s important you familiarize yourself with how Omnis integrates with databases. Where
you used DML to work with an Omnis database in the tutorial, you could set yourself an
exercise to link your application to an existing non-Omnis database (such as Oracle, Sybase
or Informix) using the SQL Browser. Refer to the manual Using Omnis Studio, Chapter 5 -
Data Classes and Chapter 12 - Accessing Your Database for information on this.

Web forms (Remote forms)

In the tutorial, you saw how easy it was to create a form to browse the sample data on the
web. If this is an area in which you’re likely to be involved, it would be a good idea to
follow through the procedure outlined in The tutorial’s subsection Deploying your web
application. In addition, there are some downloadable Omnis web component examples on
our website at www.omnis.net/webgallery.

Success stories
You can get some good development ideas from real applications built by other Omnis
Studio users. Check out the success stories at our website at
www.omnis.net/partners/success/success.html.

82 Where to next?
Glossary
Application a software program that File (class) defines the columns or fields
provides a solution to a specific business in an Omnis database.
problem.
File menu lets you save your library,
Browser (Omnis library or class) an print classes and customer reports.
Omnis window that displays libraries or
Form (or window) area of the screen
the contents of the current library.
containing fields and controls for
Browser, Web tool for browsing web browsing and inserting data into a
pages, such as Internet Explorer or database.
Netscape Navigator.
IS (Information Services) a department
Character (data type) stores character that provides computing, networking, and
or number data, up to 10 million Internet services.
characters
LAN (Local Area Network) a network
Class a library object that contains the of computers, servers, and printers within
definition for a window, menu, form, etc. a company.
Column (database) field definition in a Library a disk file that stores the
database; a column has a name and data objects in an application such as
type. windows, menus, and reports.
Component Store an Omnis window Method a piece of code contained in a
that contains classes, templates, and class or object that performs some action
wizards. when the object receives the appropriate
message.
Control an object, such as a button or
pick list, that lets you interact with your Number (data type) stores number data
database. with many different decimal and floating
point subtypes.
Database a collection of data organized
for easy access Object any item in a class or library,
such as a window or field.
Data file (database) a disk file that
stores an Omnis database. Picture (data type) stores picture data
in various formats such as bitmap, jpeg,
Data type defines the type of data that
and png.
can be stored in a column, can be
character, number, date, etc. Property a characteristic of an object;
the properties of an object can define its
Edit menu used for copying and pasting
appearance or behavior for example.
objects and data.

Glossary 83
 Property Manager an Omnis tool that Variable the principal data container in
lets you view and change an object’s Omnis. The scope and the kind of data it
properties. can contain depend on the variable type:
Record a single row of data. Parameter variables receive a value in a
method.
Remote form (or web form) an Omnis
window for displaying and browsing your Local variables are local to the method.
database or application on the web.
Instance variables are visible to the
Remote task (class) an Omnis class that instance only, that is, all methods in the
handles the connection between a client’s instance.
web browser and your Omnis
Class variables are visible within the
application.
class and all its instances.
Schema class represents a table or view
Task variables are visible within the task,
on your SQL database server. It contains
all its design classes and instances of
the name of the table or view on your
those classes.
server, and a list of column names and
Omnis data types that map directly to the Hash Variables are built-in global
columns in your server table or view. variables. They start with the symbol "#":
Sequence (data type) provides a unique #1-#60 are numeric variables
number or reference to each record in
#L1-#L8 are list variables
your database.
#S1-#S5 are string or character
Startup task (class) contains startup
variables
code that initializes a library when it is
opened. System are miscellaneous
values that Omnis uses
Subtype (data type) specifies the
length, date, or number type of a column Hash variables are global, unlike any
or field in your database. other variables, so all libraries have
access to them.
Unique key (field) a column or field
that provides a unique reference for each Window (class) same as Form.
record in your database.
Wizard (template) automated set of
tasks to help you build application
components.

84 Glossary
Appendix 1 - Omnis
naming conventions
Although it’s not essential to use a comprehensive naming system in your Omnis application
development, we strongly advise that you do. This appendix outlines our recommended
naming conventions, which have evolved over time through real Omnis application
development experience. We find these conventions work well in all areas of Omnis
development.

Library Names
A Library should have a descriptive name followed by the extension “.lbs”.

Class Names
Class names should begin with one or two lower case letters followed by the descriptive
name in joined capitalized words. The list below specifies the leading character(s) for each
class followed by an example name. Do not use underscores ‘_’ in the name. They are not
necessary and just make it more difficult to type the names.
Class Type Leading characters Example
Code c cUtilityMethods
Menu m mDatabaseTools
Object o oDataAccess
Query q qInvoices
Remote Form rf rfMain
Remote Task rt rtMain
Report r rSalesSummary
Schema sc scInvoices
Search s sInvoices
Table ta taInvoices

Library Names 85
 Class Type Leading characters Example
Task t tSales
Toolbar tb tbDefaultNavigate
Window w wEditOptions
The part following the leading characters must also be consistent. We suggest the following
simple rules:

classes which edit data should start with “Edit”. In case of a window class “wEdit”.

classes for navigation of data should start with “Nav”. In case of a toolbar class “tbNav”.

classes whose only purpose is to be derived from should start with “Super”. In case of a
object class “oSuperDataAccess”.

Variable Names
Variable and parameter names, with the exception of locals, should start with one or two
lower case letters that identify what scope they are. The remainder of the variable name
must be descriptive and contain capitalized joined words.
Variable Type Leading characters Example
Task variable tv tvMainOptions
Class variable cv cvMainOptions
Instance variable iv ivMainOptions
Local variables - mainOptions
Parameters p pMainOptions
Variables which are field references or item references should end with “Ref”, such as
ivMainOptionsRef.

Method and Custom Notation Names

Public methods must, of course, start with a ‘$’ sign. The reminder of the name should be
all lower case so it is consistent with the Omnis notation.
Private methods must not start with a ‘$’ sign. The actual name should be made up off
Capitalized joined words. For example, “GetInvoiceList”.

86 Appendix 1 - Omnis naming conventions

Column Names
Column names should follow the local variable naming conventions.

Window/Report Object Names

The default window/report object names assigned by Omnis must always be replaced with
an appropriate object name. For window objects that are data-bound, use the data name
without the leading characters. For example, if the data name was “ivLastName”, the object
name should be “LastName”. For objects that are not data-bound, use an appropriately
descriptive name with capitalized joined words. For example, “MainOptionsGroup” for a
group box.

Column Names 87
Appendix 2 – Shortcut
keys
This appendix lists some useful shortcut keys. There are many more available; for a full list,
see the manual Using Omnis Studio, Chapter 2 - Omnis Tools (available in PDF format on
the Omnis Studio CD).

Omnis tools
Action Windows/ Mac
Linux
Open the Browser F2 Cmnd-2
Open the Component Store F3 Cmnd-3
Open the Notation Inspector F4 Cmnd-4
Open the Inheritance Tree F5 Cmnd-5
Open the Property Manager F6 Cmnd-6
Open the Browser Options F7 Cmnd-7
Open the Catalog F9 Cmnd-9
Open Find and Replace Ctrl-F Cmnd-F

General
Action Windows/ Mac
Linux
Save the current class Ctrl+S Cmnd-S
Open the Print Destination dialog Shift-Ctrl-P Shift-Cmnd-P
Print the current selected object (report, method, file or Ctrl-P Cmnd-P
class), for example, prints complete list of properties and
methods for a class

88 Appendix 2 – Shortcut keys

 Action Windows/ Mac
Linux
Close the top window Ctrl-W Cmnd-W
Instantiate a class, for example, open a window, print a Shift-select class in View menu
report, install a menu or toolbar
Interrupt current processing, such as method execution Ctrl-Break Cmnd-.
or report printing (period)
Exit/Quit Omnis Alt+F4 Cmnd-Q

General 89
Index
Code Property Manager, 21
Writing and editing code in Omnis, 22 Reports
Component Store, 19 Adding a report, 56
Databases, 82 Shortcut keys, 88
Creating an Omnis database within your Startup Task, 18
application, 9 Modifying the Startup Task, 79
Using other types of database with your Toolbars
application, 9 Adding a toolbar, 71
What is a database?, 7 The main toolbar and menus, 13
Deploying your web application, 54 Tutorial, 25
Glossary, 83 Web
Library Browser, 17 Deploying your web application, 54
Menus Web forms (Remote forms), 82
Adding a menu, 61 Welcome window, 12
The main toolbar and menus, 13 Writing and editing code in Omnis, 22
Naming conventions, 85

90 Index