RTF Document

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > RTF Document

For a general introduction to the operation of the Linked Files System see the Introduction topic.

This window will open if you have a currently selected linkable data record, of a type using the wLinkRtf class, and you operate the ScratchPads — Open Link (F11 key) menu function or you click on the link icon.

The window contains the Display Window Toolbar.

The window will display RTF files saved in MS Word in RTF format, for example.

This window uses the Omnis Studio RTF External Control window object.

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System Display Window Toolbar

Compiled in Program Version 5.10. Help data last modified 30 Jan 2004 14:18:00.00. Class wLinkRtf last modified 18 Feb 2015 01:54:43.

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Sample Link Document Viewer

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > Sample Link Document Viewer

This window is not designed for use directly within Caliach Vision. It is provided as an open source class in OpenVision.lbs from which you can duplicate to form model for developing your own link display windows.

Customisation

To create your own link viewing window you must develop the window first in OpenVision. To do this:

1. Launch Omnis Studio design edition and open your Vision.lbs. Log on in the normal way.
2. Operate File — Advanced — Custom Features Utility.
3. OpenVision.lbs will open (which you may have re-named.
4. Double-click on OpenVision in the library browser to view the classes.
5. Locate wLinkSample, select it, right-click and operate Duplicate.
6. A copy of wLinkSample will be created and you can rename it using your adopted naming convention.
7. Double-click to open the window in design mode. There are no objects on the window but the inherited toolbar is visible.
8. You now need to locate the ActiveX (or other external component) you want to use on your custom window.
9. Switch to the Component Store and if there is no ActiveX tool, right click and select External Components.
10. Expand the ActiveX branch of the tree list and select the component you are to use.
11. You will then need to set the Pre-Load Status to Opening ‘OPENVISION’ (this will become irrelevant in Vision but it is necessary to have the ActiveX available in OpenVision for you to add it to a window).
12. Confirm with an Ok and the External Components window will close.
13. Now click on the ActiveX tool on the Component Store toolbar and your component will show below.
14. Drag the component icon onto the custom window and resize it to fill the available space.
15. Set the following properties: $name = <sensible name>, $edgefloat = kEFrightBottom and $effect = kBorderChisel.
16. You now need to explore the properties and methods of the component in the Property Manager so that you can establish a way of loading the property with the external file for display. This will either be a property such as $filename or a method such as $loadpath(cPath). Once you have established how the component works you can then complete the window class methods.
17. Right-click on the window and choose Class Methods to open the method editor. Select the $LoadFile method.
18. Typically a single Do command is needed such as: Do $cinst.$objs.ObjectName.$filename.$assign(lPath) or Do $cinst.$objs.ObjectName.$loadpath(lPath)
19. Such an example is commented in the code. It is not recommended that you alter other code.
20. Close the design window and copy it to Vision for testing.

Toolbar functions can be implemented by creating the following class methods. If the method exists the tool will be enabled.

Calculate iDoNotScale as pDoNotScale
Do $cinst.$objs.Jpeg.$horzscroll.$assign(iDoNotScale)
Do $cinst.$objs.Jpeg.$vertscroll.$assign(iDoNotScale)
Do $cinst.$objs.Jpeg.$noscale.$assign(iDoNotScale)
Do $cinst.$toolbars.tbLink.$objs.DoNotScale.$checked.$assign(iDoNotScale)

Do $cinst.$objs.Rtf.$printdocument()

Use of oLink Method Object

oLink is a non-visual object that contains methods for accessing and manipulating the link file system. To make use of it you must create an instance (or local) variable of type Object and sub-type VISION.oLink. You can then view all methods with parameters and description in the Interface Manager.

oLink Methods

Non-Visual Objects

Non-Visual display link objects can be any object type class. If the method is not explicitly defined in the Link Type data it must have a $LinkProgram method with parameters pProgramFilePath, pFilePath, pType defined respectively as character, character and short integer.

The object class oLinkProgram is available in OpenVision.lbs in open form which can be used as a model for developing your own custom link non-visual classes.

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System Display Window Toolbar

Compiled in Program Version 5.10. Help data last modified 4 Jun 2012 04:48:00.00. Class wLinkSample last modified 18 Feb 2015 01:54:43.

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > Sample Link Document Viewer

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Confirm Linked File

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > Confirm Linked File

For a general introduction to the operation of the Linked Files System see the Introduction topic.

This window will open if you have a currently selected linkable data record and you operate the ScratchPads — Create Link (F12 key) menu function or you click on the link icon while holding the shift key down.

You need to complete the window and confirm with an OK for the link to be recorded. The Group and User access fields are optional.

WARNING: The Description field is significant and should be unique for the key and document type. When links are rolled-over from active documents to history (for example, a SO line item to history) the description is checked to avoid duplicate links being created.

Button	Action
Browse…	Click to choose an operating system file.
Cancel	Aborts the process currently in session. The keyboard equivalent is the Esc key for Windows computers and Command-.(full stop or period) for the Mac.
Save	Saves the link information to disk and closes the window.

CUSTOM CAPABILITY: You can add a custom window for linked file creation by using the option optLinkCustomEntry which is set to the window class name of your custom link entry window. Your custom window will then open if the user operates Shift+Ctrl+Click on the link icon or Ctrl+F12 This enables you to integrate with a Document Management System. Such systems typically allow you to use barcode labels to stick to the paper documents. A custom window can then be used to barcode the document and create a link record. After the paper document has been scanned a further custom window is used to read the resulting barcode key and load the resulting scan file path into the orphaned link record.

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System Link System Maintenance

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Linked Files System Topic Contents

Reference Contents

Most topics are related directly to functional windows, menus or toolbars. Click on the topic to view details.

• – Introduction to the Linked File System
• Choose Document for Key
• Confirm Linked File
• Display Window Toolbar
• GIF Picture
• HTML Document
• JPEG Picture
• MCI Movie
• OLE Document
• PCX Picture
• PDF Reader
• QuickTime Movie
• RTF Document
• Sample Link Document Viewer

Reference Contents

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– Introduction to the Linked File System

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > – Introduction to the Linked File System

The program contains a system that enables you to link external documents to internal data records. For example you may have safety information prepared in a PDF (Adobe Acrobat portable document format) file stored on your server and wish to link particular parts to this file so that you can view the file inside the program in a similar drill-down nature to, say, purchase history.

The program provides a universal framework for external file linking. Because it is necessary to be able to view proprietary software documents (such as PDF or Cad files) the framework is provided in an open source form so that, with the appropriate software installed any document type can be viewed (and possibly manipulated) within the overall Caliach Vision program. To view documents the appropriate external viewing components need to be installed and conform to the appropriate standards such as Omnis Externals, OLE2 compliant programs and ActiveX objects. These standards are typically very platform specific. For example, OLE2 and ActiveX are Windows standards and not supported on Macintosh or Linux operating systems.

WARNING: Caliach standard support is limited to the operation of the framework within Caliach Vision. The display of documents and the effective operation of externals is specifically excluded from support. This is very dependant on the software installed on the individual user’s computer and the condition that it is in. Similarly, Caliach can give no standard support help to those wishing to use custom viewer software (such as CAD viewer ActiveX components) which must conform to external interface standards (and in the author’s experience frequently does not).

Link System User Interface

Users can access linked files by using one of two methods. Having selected a linkable data record on the upper-most window a user can operate the ScratchPads — Open Link (F11 key) or Create Link (F12 key) menu function. This acts in a context-sensitive manner on the upper-most window. Alternative, the user can click on the link icon to open a link, and doing so while holding the shift key down, to create a link. On many windows these two methods operate on different selected data. For example for a Sales Order the menu functions will operate on the SO when the header is being viewed and a SO line item when the line items tab pane is being viewed. If the link icon beside the customer is clicked, it will act on the customer record.

This combination of menu and icon operation permits the maximum choice of viewing and creating links.

It is also often the case that the menu functions operate on different key values depending on the position if the ‘focus’ or mouse cursor. For example, in many of the Ledgers windows, if the cursor is in a G/L account entry field, the link key will be for the G/L account in that field.

TIP: To determine exactly which choices are available, attempt to create a link and view the link key value.

Link System Framework

The framework consists of a separate datafile containing document type and link information and a set of viewing windows for different document types and an API (application program interface) of standard functions that control the creation of links and viewing of documents.

The separate database is similar to the keyword system datafile. It will be automatically created when you switch the link file system on and will be found in the same directory as the current main datafile and have the same name with the file suffix of .LKF.

When you first switch the Link File System on the Link System Maintenance window (from File — Advanced — Link System Maintenance), the Link Type file is automatically populated with the standard set of document types.

Any link must be associated with a document type. The type determines which viewing window is used and how the external file path is to be built up. It provides multi-platform path resolution and also security constraints to potentially restrict access to particular users and/or groups.

On windows throughout the program the link Link icon is used on windows to indicate the potential to link external files or documents to particular data records. When you click on the icon the program will find any external documents linked to the current data you are viewing or have selected in a list. If you hold the shift key down when you click, you can create a link for the selected data and identify an external document that will be associated with it via the Confirm Linked File window.

CUSTOM CAPABILITY: You can add a custom window for linked file creation by using the option optLinkCustomEntry which is set to the window class name of your custom link entry window. Your custom window will then open if the user operates Shift+Ctrl+Click on the link icon or Ctrl+F12 This enables you to integrate with a Document Management System. Such systems typically allow you to use barcode labels to stick to the paper documents. A custom window can then be used to barcode the document and create a link record. After the paper document has been scanned a further custom window is used to read the resulting barcode key and load the resulting scan file path into the orphaned link record.

External files can be linked to following records:

There can be any number of Viewing Windows and the list below shows details of some that are provided as standard:

All viewing windows have a standard toolbar that controls aspects and functions of the window. Custom viewing windows can suppress this toolbar.

In addition to windows, a non-visual link processing object can be used for link processing. As standard this is limited to oLinkProgram for launching a program with a document. An object class can be used and when a link is activated the method $LaunchProgram (pProgramPath, pFilePath, pType) is run.

File Path Structure

For normal external linked files (as opposed to OLE2 documents) the path of the external documents can be broken into 3 parts.

NOTE: With link types of External Program and File behaviour the program path is a combination of the Program root and Program path only. In multi-platform networks that may mean having the whole program path in the root terminal option.

Examples: (where datafile directory is G:Data)

The examples above show typical Windows file paths, however, this system accommodates Macintosh and Unix directory delimiter standards and will convert appropriately so that mixed platform users can be accommodated. I.E. if a link is set up using a Windows machine such that the path directory delimiter stored is a backslash, when a Linux machine looks for the file, the backslash will be replaced by a forward slash and for a Macintosh, a colon.

If you operate in a mixed platform environment (with some Windows and some Macintosh computers, for example) there are some rules that should be enforced:

1. A root must be set for each volume you intend to use (at least one) in every machine’s Terminal Settings.
2. You should be careful with case. Windows is case-insensitive and Macintosh can be. But Linux and other Unix flavours are always case-sensitive.
3. Planning your directory structure and sub-path strategy in advance will pay good dividends in the long run.
4. Consider the impact of moving, changing or renaming the server when deciding the split of root, type and link path segments.

Link Inheritance

Some links are automatically inherited within the normal operation of the program. For example, a SO line item link will be transferred to the appropriate sales history record. In the case of partial operations where multiple history records are created, only one copy of the link is copied where the link description is used to identify that a link already has been copied.

When data file records are deleted, the system makes attempt to delete associated link records. The system manager should therefore regularly check for orphaned links in the Link System Maintenance window.

Customisation

This Linked File System is useful only if users are in a position to view external documents and that depends on incorporating appropriate software to the files normally generated by your organisation. If you need to view CAD drawings, you must invest in viewer software that can both properly render the CAD file standards that you have adopted and conform to software component standards that Omnis Studio can accommodate. There are a great number of components purporting to conform to standards (such as ActiveX) that in fact only support a sub-set of the ActiveX standard and as a result can not successfully be integrated with Omnis Studio. Only experimentation in OpenVision will confirm whether proprietary software can be used.

For more details on customisation, see the Sample Link Document Viewer window.

See also: –

Link System Maintenance Confirm Linked File

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Reference Contents > Linked Files System > – Introduction to the Linked File System

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Display Window Toolbar

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > Display Window Toolbar

For a general introduction to the operation of the Linked Files System see the Introduction topic.

This toolbar contains tools for use in external link file display windows. Tools are only enabled when the function is appropriate for the display object.

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System

Compiled in Program Version 5.10. Help data last modified 30 Jan 2004 14:17:00.00. Class tbLink last modified 24 Mar 2012 02:55:43.

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PDF Reader

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > PDF Reader

For a general introduction to the operation of the Linked Files System see the Introduction topic.

This window will open if you have a currently selected linkable data record, of a type using the wLinkAcrobat class, and you operate the ScratchPads — Open Link (F11 key) menu function or you click on the link icon.

The window contains the Display Window Toolbar.

WINDOWS ONLY: This window will only operate on Windows operating system.

Required Software

For this window to operate you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader V7.0 (see customisation below).

The primary object within the window is the Acrobat ActiveX component.

Customisation

If the window fails to display anything it is possible that the ActiveX registry entries are miss-aligned. To re-establish the Acrobat ActiveX open the wLinkAcrobat window class in OpenVision and select the Acrobat object in the window.

1. If it is not showing a matrix of Acrobat icons, delete it (using the Del key).
2. Switch to the Component Store and if there is no ActiveX tool, right click and select External Components.
3. Expand the ActiveX branch of the tree list and select Acrobat Control for ActiveX (the precise name may be different on your computer).
4. You will then need to set the Pre-Load Status to Opening ‘OPENVISION’ (this will become irrelevant in Vision but it is necessary to have the ActiveX available in OpenVision for you to add it to a window).
5. Confirm with an Ok and the External Components window will close.
6. Now click on the ActiveX tool on the Component Store toolbar and the Acrobat component will show below.
7. Drag the Acrobat icon onto the wLinkAcrobat window and resize it to fill the available window.
8. Set the following properties: $name = Acrobat (very important), $edgefloat = kEFrightBottom and $effect = kBorderChisel.
9. Close the design window and copy it to Vision for testing.

In the $LoadFile class method of the window is the following Do command which is the sole method called to load the file into the Acrobat Reader Component:

Do iAcrobatRef.$loadfile(pPath)

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System Display Window Toolbar Confirm Linked File Link System Maintenance

Compiled in Program Version 5.10. Help data last modified 4 Jun 2012 04:48:00.00. Class wLinkAcrobat last modified 10 Oct 2017 11:48:20.

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Choose Document for Key

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > Choose Document for Key

For a general introduction to the operation of the Linked Files System see the Introduction topic.

This window will open if you have a currently selected linkable data record and you operate the ScratchPads — Open Link (F11 key) menu function or you click on the link icon and there is more than one link associated with the key value.

List of all links to the key record. Double-click to select the one you want to view.

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System

Compiled in Program Version 5.10. Help data last modified 30 Jan 2004 14:18:00.00. Class wLinkChoose last modified 23 Sep 2017 10:50:56.

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GIF Picture

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > GIF Picture

For a general introduction to the operation of the Linked Files System see the Introduction topic.

This window will open if you have a currently selected linkable data record, of a type using the wLinkJpeg class, and you operate the ScratchPads — Open Link (F11 key) menu function or you click on the link icon.

The window contains the Display Window Toolbar.

The window will display GIF picture files.

This window uses the Omnis Studio GIF External Control window and report objects.

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System Display Window Toolbar

Compiled in Program Version 5.10. Help data last modified 26 May 2004 15:44:00.00. Class wLinkGif last modified 18 Feb 2015 01:54:42.

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HTML Document

Reference Contents > Linked Files System > HTML Document

For a general introduction to the operation of the Linked Files System see the Introduction topic.

This window will open if you have a currently selected linkable data record, of a type using the wLinkHtml class, and you operate the ScratchPads — Open Link (F11 key) menu function or you click on the link icon.

The window contains the Display Window Toolbar.

The window will display HTML files (not URLs) and will operate links within them as long as they are files, rather than URLs. I.E. it will not operate over the Internet.

A drop-down list of the history of files encountered can be used to navigate.

WARNING: This window uses the Omnis Studio HTML Control External window object which is the same as used for the program’s help system. However, while it acts as an HTML browser it does not have the ability to understand more than basic HTML. It may have difficulty interpreting advanced HTML especially style sheets, panes, scripts, etc..

See also: –

– Introduction to the Linked File System Display Window Toolbar

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