If you are new to Omnis Studio please take the time to study this ReadMe as it contains a lot of information which you will find invaluable as you navigate your way around the Omnis development environment for the first time. In particular, you will find the contents of the New Users section in the Welcome application invaluable.
1. Overview of Omnis Studio
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Omnis Studio is a 4GL Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool. What this means is that you can quickly produce powerful, fully functional programs by: using drag and drop, importing existing components, modifying existing open source libraries and all with a minimum of code writing. With it you can write programs for yourself or your business, which will work on a stand-alone machine, over a network or via the internet on a number of different operating systems and all without having to rewrite the code.
Omnis Studio is one of the most advanced cross-platform RAD programs available. With complete scalability from individual to enterprise level solutions, Omnis can be developed on a number of platforms and deployed where required. Supported platforms include Linux, Windows 95/98, Windows NT and Mac OS. Omnis also supports databases such as Oracle, Sybase, DB2 and Informix directly, and others via ODBC, in addition to its own proprietary database. Omnis Web Client enables the development of powerful web-based and e-business solutions in days rather than weeks or months, incorporating the transaction and security features a good business web site requires.
2. Welcome application
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The Welcome application is the first thing you will see when you launch Omnis Studio. It offers a range of options for both new and existing users including New users - which we'll go into in more detail below; Knowledge Store (also called Search/help) where you can find answers to specific questions; New library - if you're experienced with Omnis Studio and want to start a new project; Open last library - if you simply want to carry on working on your most recent Omnis project; Close welcome - which closes the window; and a toggle switch at the bottom. This last option allows you to stop the Welcome application launching every time you open Omnis Studio. We would recommend that until you have become more familiar with Omnis Studio, you leave the window on.
2.1 Returning to the Welcome application
Once you have left the Welcome application window, the easiest way back to it is File>>Open: Omnis24/Studio/welcome.lbs
To open the New Users section of the Welcome application at any time, simply go to Tools>>New Users... or click the information icon on the main Omnis tool bar (third one from the right).
When you switch between development and runtime modes (using Ctrl/Cmnd-T) in the tutorial, you need to be in runtime mode to input data, and design mode to access the tutorial window.
3. New Users
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Accessed from the button on the Welcome window, the 'information' icon on the toolbar or via the menus Tools>>New Users...
3.1 Omnis IDE
This contains a brief overview of the main tools in Omnis Studio and introduces some of the terminology. There is a slider at the bottom of the text viewer which allows you to adjust the type to a size which is comfortable for you.
3.2 Application Builder
Brand new for Studio 2.4, the Application Builder lets you quickly and simply build complete applications from a series of structured menus. It allows you to choose between Omnis SQL and Omnis' own programming language to interface with the database, select the look of the final program, choose and customise data sets, add web forms, customize reports, etc. At the end of this process the Application Builder also generates an HTML report confirming components that have gone into the library: an excellent way of increasing your knowledge of what Omnis Studio can really do.
3.3 Omnis Web Solutions
A brief introduction to the power of Omnis Studio and Omnis Web Client and how you can quickly and easily produce solutions for the web without using HTML or Java.
3.4 Tutorial
A simple tutorial designed to help you become more familiar with the tools, menus and terminology used in Omnis Studio. It will not turn you into an expert, but in just thirty minutes you will get some idea of the power of the application. There is an extended version of the tutorial in the "Getting Started with Omnis Studio" pdf in the Manuals folder. We will also add other tutorials on our web site www.omnis.net at regular intervals.
Two points that will help the flow of the tutorial: the buttons at the top of the window work like a web browser, ie they work for pages you have already visited. To get to the next step of the tutorial you need to use the 'next' link at the bottom of the text. Secondly, when looking at a window you are designing in Omnis, you need to be in runtime mode to enter data and in design mode to switch back to the tutorial (you can switch between design and runtime simply by using Ctrl/Cmnd T).
3.5 Examples
This contains a number of small examples designed to show how you can use the various tools within Omnis. Each one contains a working example and by right-clicking (Ctrl-click on Mac) on the component, you can open the method editor and see the code behind the example.
3.6 Search/Help
This is a quick way into the Knowledge Store if you want to look up particular aspects of Omnis Studio while using the New Users section.
Once you have been through the New users section in the Welcome application, you can extend your knowledge by checking out all the information in the manuals, and visiting our web site at www.omnis.net on a regular basis to see what is new.
