Administered Desktops

Administered Windows Desktops

To install Omniscope or FeatureFinder in a corporate administered network environment you may either install individually, or deploy (roll out) to multiple terminals from a central location. Additionally, once installed, you may then need to activate your installation(s) to upgrade from the free Viewer to the Standard or Professional Edition.

Single User installation

Download the full installer files

Omniscope: download the full installer from here
FeatureFinder: download the full installer from here

Choose the full installers which are self-contained and do not trigger further downloads.

Installation by an System Administrator

As with all software, installing Omniscope requires local admin/install privileges. Most corporate environments do not grant this to all regular users, so a System Administrator will need to log in to the PC and install Omniscope themselves.

Omniscope is a quick install, and takes only a few seconds. It is advisable for the Administrator to configure the appropriate proxy settings at installation, allowing Omniscope to activate online. This can be done from Tools menu, Advanced, HTTP Proxy Settings. Alternatively you will be prompted during activation. Another alternative is to deploy a plain-text properties file into the Visokio Omniscope program folder in Program Files. See Proxy Settings for more information.

Activation

Unless the installation is intended to operate as a unactivated Omniscope free Viewer (only for viewing & filtering .IOK files), rather than an activated Omniscope- Standard or Professional (able to publish data sets as .IOM Standard or .IOK Professional files) or Professional DataPlayer (also able to produce Flash DataPlayers) the installations should be activated immediately.

Activating for a single user on one machine

If the PC is only used by one user (one login), the application can be activated by that user, which will only allow them to use the activated product feature set. If another user logged in, they would see the free Omniscope Viewer only. This approach allows you to activate separately by giving users their own keys, rather than relying on administrators to activate, and is particularly suitable to roll-out installation.

Activating for multiple users on one machine

If the PC is used by more than one user, the application should be activated by an Administrator, which will apply to all users of the PC. This should be done immediately after installation by the Administrator.

Multiple or 'Roll-out' installation

The best way to roll-out Omniscope to multiple machines in an administered network setting is to use a 3rd party application deployment management suite that will simulate the log-in of an administrator and execution of the offline installer executable.

What happens during an installation?

In addition to extracting application data to {System drive}\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope and {System drive}\Program Files\Visokio Common, the installer adds shortcuts and registry entries to implement file icons and associations for the Visokio file formats, particularly the IOK file format.

Roll-out Installation Options

Silent installation

Using the /S (capital "S") switch, the installer will run in silent mode. You can remotely execute the following command to install Omniscope without the usual sequence of interactive wizard steps.

  Z:/path/to/OmniscopeInstaller.exe /S

Deployment without using the installer

It is possible to roll out Omniscope without the installer using the following steps:

1. Download the latest Omniscope installer. If the machines you are deploying to already have the Java 5 (or greater) plug-in (with full permissions for images, etc.) you may use the lightweight installer. If not, you must use the full installer also found on this page.
2. On a test PC, clean out any prior Omniscope installation by deleting Visokio Common and Visokio Omniscope from Program Files.
3. Install manually on this test PC under a local admin login.
4. If the machines you are deploying to do not have Java 5 or higher, make sure the installer has created the Visokio Common folder, then visit www.visokio.com/getjava and download and install Java for Omniscope.
5. The Visokio Omniscope folder (and Visokio Common if it exists) in Program Files now contain all the application program and data files you need to roll out.
6. Deploy shortcuts: You will also need to deploy shortcuts to allow users to launch the application. These must start "launch.exe" inside the Visokio Omniscope folder, passing in %1 as a parameter, with the correct icon. On your test PC, the shortcut was installed to the Desktop and a program folder to the Start Menu, for all users. Take these files and replicate their creation as part of your deployment. See an example program folder in the Start menu
7. Configure Proxy Settings: If you need to configure a proxy server to allow Omniscope to communicate bug reports, upgrade notifications, etc., also deploy a proxy file into the Visokio Omniscope folder See an example proxy file or the section on Configuring Proxy Settings for more information.
8. Registry entries: Add the registry entries normally added by the installer. Most of these are static registry additions for the Visokio file formats, but Omniscope also adds right-click entries for Excel XLS and CSV files and the registry changes for this can vary depending on your Excel installation. Refer to the registry settings made by the installer on your test PC, which you will need to monitor and capture.
9. Roll out and test your installation using Test Scripts.

Install Config File

Using the installconfig.properties File

Omniscope installs an optional installconfig.properties file within the application installation folder, normally C:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope

Corporate administrators may wish to use this file to tailor their rollout of Omniscope and to support a centralised Java VM. This file is used to re-direct Omniscope to use 64-bit Java installs, and to specify corporate font folders to be available to Omniscope users. This file may also be used to assist in diagnosing problems starting or using the software (see below).

File format

The installconfig.properties file contains plain text, editable by Notepad. Comments are prefixed with a space and # symbol. See the description of all available properties in the example file, below.

Example installconfig.properties file

# This is the installation configuration file.
# This is used to configure initial startup of the application.
#
# All properties are optional, and if defined, each line must not contain redundant whitespace
# To enable/disable a property, remove/add the # sign (# means comment)

# This is an optional manually-specified Java VM installation folder.
# It should contain bin\javaw.exe, and should be Java version 5+
# JVM_DIR=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.5.0_14

# This is an optional manually-specified max memory cap for the Java VM, an integer specifying the
# megabytes to allow the JVM.  Must be at least 64.
# If unspecified, 75% of physical RAM will be used as the cap.
# MAX_MEMORY_MB=300

# Optional property specifying additional space-separated JVM options.  Default is blank.
# Example which enables "heap dump on out of memory", which generates files such as 
# "java_pid4972.hprof" in the program folder, for submitting to Visokio for analysis
# (requires Java 1.5.0_07+ or Java 6):
# ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError

# Optional property which if true causes output to be redirected to
# "Visokio_output_log.txt" in My Documents
# LOG_TO_MY_DOCUMENTS=true

# Optional property which, if true, disables the default heap tuning parameters
# which at time of writing are -Xms64M -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=20 -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=30
# DISABLE_DEFAULT_HEAP_OPTIONS=true

Specifying Corporate Fonts  

If you are running on Windows go to C:\Windows\Fonts and copy all the fonts you want to make available from Omniscope. Now on the user machine go to the Omniscope installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope ) and open the installconfig.properties file in NotePad. Add a command line option to specify which fonts are available by uncommenting (removing the space & hash) at the front of the  #ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS line and add the following: -DinstalledFontLocation=c:\our_fonts (case sensitive) to the end of the line. The directory after the  '=' (in this case C:\our_fonts) specifies the location of the fonts that should be available in Omniscope.  Below is an example of how the modified installconfig.properties line would look:

ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -DinstalledFontLocation=c:\our_fonts

Note:it is important that to copy rather than delete your fonts from the C:\Windows\Fonts location. Also note that onlyTrue Type Fonts (with .TTF extension) files can be included.

Heap dump on out-of-memory

To enable this, ensure the ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS line is uncommented or edited to include the option "-XX+:HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError". For example:

ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError

This will cause a heap dump (*.hprof file) to be written to the install folder should you experience an out of memory situation. When this occurs, deliver this file to Visokio for diagnosis if you believe the error to be unwarranted. More information...

Further information

See Generating a class load log

Class Load Logs

Generating a Class Load Log

1. Install Omniscope 2.2-pre b71 or later.
2. Edit C:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope\installconfig.properties.(documented fully here)
3. Edit/Add the following properties (ensure that these properties do not appear elsewhere in the file unless they are preceded by "#"):
   
   ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-verbose:class -DtickLogEvery=500
   LOG_TO_MY_DOCUMENTS=true
   
4. Start Omniscope
5. Close Omniscope (and/or dismiss any dialogs, and close any console windows that may remain open)
6. Email the file Visokio_output_log.txt (saved in your My Documents folder) to support AT Visokio.com
7. Remove the changes you made in step 3

Test Script Windows

Test Script- Windows Installations

Below is a suggested sequence of operations for testing a deployed Omniscope installation:

• Opening IOK files
  • Download a test IOK file from the Omniscope demos page
  • Save this file to your desktop.
  • Double-click the file, and ensure that Visokio Omniscope starts and opens the file automatically.
  • Close Omniscope, and this time open the file directly from the web page without saving to your desktop.
  • Verify again that Visokio Omniscope starts and opens the file automatically.

• Filtering with Instant Query
  • Depending on the file, you will see a number of images on the left and filters on the right.
  • Adjust the filters, and the images should disappear and reappear according to your criteria.

• Filtering with Power Query
  • Click the Power Query button on the main toolbar.
  • The filters should disappear.
  • Click the Tile view button on the lower toolbar, and choose Chart
  • You will see the Chart view.
  • Click on the Tv device, and it will open.
  • Click the "y" coloured region and then click the Move button on the main toolbar.
  • You will have filtered the data.
  • Click the Chart view button on the lower toolbar, and choose Table.
  • You will see the Table view with only the filtered records remaining.

• Adding other views
  • Click the Add view button on the main toolbar. Choose Graph.
  • Click the Add view button again and choose Tile.

• Following links
  • Close Omniscope, and open a demo file with links
  • Click on a row header to dislay details for a single record
  • In the details window that appears, click the Details link button.
  • A web page referred to in the link should open.

• Activating and internet access
  • You will need a licensing key.
  • Choose Close from the File menu. You will see Omniscope in the centre.
  • Click the Upgrade to full product button.
  • Enter the serial number and click Upgrade.
  • If this fails, you will need to check and adjust proxy settings.
  • On re-starting Omniscope, you will see Omniscope or Omniscope Professional depending on wheterh actviation was successful or not

• Opening CSV files
  • Copy a sample CSV file to your desktop
  • From the File menu, choose Open file... and browse to this file.
  • Verify the file opens with the chart and table views showing.

• Opening Excel XLS files (depends on having an Excel installation)
  • Copy a sample XLS file to your desktop
  • From the File menu, choose Open file... and browse to this file.
  • Verify the file opens with the chart and table views showing.

• Saving IOK files
  • From the File menu choose Save as IOK...
  • Click Save and an IOK file will be created
  • Close Omniscope.
  • Double-click this newly created IOK file
  • Verify Omniscope starts and opens the file automatically

• Exporting data in XLS files
  • You need an Omniscope Professional license for this.
  • Choose Export --> Export... from the File menu
  • Ensure the Data tab and Excel Workbook save as type is selected.
  • Enter a new filename and click Export
  • Verify the file is created and opens in Excel.

Back to Installation

Rebranding Omniscope

Rebranding Omniscope

Corporations deploying Omniscope centrally have the option of rebranding Omniscope 2.3 or later to add corporate identity:

Instructions

To rebrand Omniscope deployments, include a "branding" folder within the deployed application folder (typically such as "C:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope\branding"). Into this folder put various files. All files are optional and their presence takes precedence over the default application behaviour.

To get started, download the sample branding folder containing the optional files. Add your branding to the images as necessary. Some images are size sensitive, some are less so. Edit the config.properties file appropriately - this is documented inside the file itself.

To add custom colour themes, create the themes in an open Omniscope file using the Appearance menu and save using the Themes menu item. This will create an XML file either in the program folder or in your user profile. Move this into the Themes subfolder of the branding folder.

Edit the "config.properties" file to customise other settings such as colours and fonts - these are documented inside the file itself. Please note that further customisations are available than specified in this file - contact us for more information.

To preview your results, install Omniscope normally and put the work-in-progress branding folder inside your Omniscope program folder, then start Omniscope. 

Note: on Vista, you will need to work on the branding folder in an editable location such as My Documents, then drag with Vista UAC confirmation into the program folder when you want to see the results.  On XP, you can edit directly in the program folder.

Download

Download sample branding folder (ZIP) - requires Omniscope 2.3 or later.

Get Java

Java for Visokio Software

The lightweight version of Omniscope requires Java (version 5 or later) to operate. If you don't have Java installed at all (or have an earlier version such as Java 1.3) the Visokio installer will ask if you want to download and install "Java for Visokio software" automatically. This installs a private Java VM installation ('PVM') for Visokio products only, and will not affect other applications on your PC.

Sometimes your machine could have a more recent version of Java than the one supplied with the Visokio installer, but your installation is somehow incomplete or has become somehow corrupted. In other cases, your general installation may not have all the privileges required (see known Java issues). To deal with these circumstances, we provide a private Java VM installation that will override your system installation of Java.

Alternatively, if you have access and install privileges, visit www.java.com to check you've got the latest free Java plugin.

Download Java for Visokio

We recommend using the Full version of Omniscope, which is the default, which includes a private Java VM.  However, if needed, use the following links to download the private Java VM installer for Omniscope, separately.

Private Java VM for Visokio (32-bit, based on Java 6u4) (15MB)

Private Java VM for Visokio (64-bit, based on Java 6u6, for 64-bit Windows only) (13MB)

Not permitted to install software?

If your organisation prevents you from installing software, contact your IT Help Desk and get them to download and install Visokio applications for you. Alternatively try the Web Start online launch option on the download page.

Back to Known Issues with Java