This section covers importing and exporting data supported data file formats to/from Omniscope. This includes delimited tabular data that has been exported in data file format from relational (SQL-compliant) database tables/views, analytical OLAP 'cubes' and other business intelligence data repositories, data warehouses, 'clouds' and 'marts', etc.
This section covers importing from/exporting to data files. Importing data directly from relational databases, using either ODBC (one database, multiple tables) or JDBC (multiple databases, multiple tables) is configurable using the Database Wizard as explained in the database connections section. Visokio applications will also import and export tagged data in XML format, assuming it has been transformed to a tabular layout using the simple Visokio XML schema (essentially the equivalent of a .CSV file expressed in XML). See XML schema for more details.
Omniscope either currently supports (or plans to support) almost all of the most appropriate data import and export file formats, whether used by desktop-installed applications, such as Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect X3/4, or open-source files from suites such as Open Office, IBM Lotus Symphony (and others) or by online, remote document hosting services such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Microsoft Office Live, etc.
Tabular data files usually use a special character as a delimiter, a way of separating values and associated headers from the subsequent values.
Omniscope supports the most common implementation of .CSV, which is more a de-facto than a formal standard.
Omniscope recognises and opens .TSV files.
Omniscope imports and exports column lists of values from a field (column) as .TXT files. Note that some files with a .TXT extension are actually tables with a tab delimiter. You must change the extension on these files to .TSV in order to open them as tables. (see .TSV files above)
These files tend to be used in countries where the comma is used in numeric values as a decimal separator. These files may have .CSV or sometimes .TXT extensions. Viewing the first lines of the file in a text editor like Windows WordPad will show if the delimiter being used is a semi-colon. If you find that that your .CSV file is a semi-colon delimited file, you must change the file extension to .CSV (if it is not already). Omniscope will then permit you to import the data by setting the delimiter to semi-colon. To do this, use File > Open file to point at the .CSV file. Be sure to tick the box at lower right 'Customise data import behaviour'. This will display a list of additional options, including the option to change the delimiter character from the default comma to, in this case, a semi-colon.
Some files with .TXT and other file extensions actually use other characters as delimiters. For example, a common SAP and SAS data file delimiter is the | (pipe) character. To open a file with an unusual delimiter, first change the file extension to .CSV, then use File > Open file to point at the file. Be sure to tick the box at lower right 'Customise data import behaviour'. This will display a list of additional options, including the option to change the delimiter character from the default comma to whatever character is used in your file.
Omniscope inter-operates with Excel files for import & export, provided that the copy of Excel is installed locally on the same machine. Excel interoperability is currently on the Windows operating system only. Omniscope interoperability with Excel is constantly being improved, and will soon be available on the Mac operating system as well.
(for information regarding support for Flash DataPlayers by Microsoft Office documents/applications, please see the DataPlayer document compatibility list)
Omniscope supports Quattro Pro .QPW v9X3 & X4 files. Using Quattro Pro, Lotus 1-2-3 and Borland database files (Paradox & dBase) can be opened, saved as .QPW or other supported file formats on this page, and imported into Omniscope.
(for information regarding support for Flash DataPlayers by Corel/WordPerfect documents/applications, please see the DataPlayer document compatibility list)
Omniscope currently does not, but will soon support the Open Docs standard for tabular data files. There is a plugin to upload Open Office documents directly from OO.org into Google Docs, the Connector for which is currently an experimental feature in Omniscope (see below).
(for information regarding support for Flash DataPlayers by Open Docs documents/applications, please see the DataPlayer document compatibility list)
Online document/office suite services are sometimes used to enable collaboration on the assembly, scrubbing and approval of data and image sets, together with associated web links, map coordinates, etc. Importing online data sets into Omniscope can greatly assist this process, especially during the scrubbing and approvals phase.
Support for Google Docs & Spreadsheets is currently an experimental feature in Omniscope. Depending on demand, support for other emerging online application suites (Zoho Sheet/CRM, Live Documents, Zimbra etc.) may also be added.
Omniscope Professional & Enterprise will open Apache Web Access .LOG files directly for visualisation, analysis and reporting.
If you would like Omniscope to open/import or export other file formats associated with applications you control, please contact us.