We are always looking to improve the service provided by the Omnis Developer Partner Program (ODPP). One recent improvement to the ODPP is the addition of eBug, a database containing information about all reported faults/bugs in Omnis (the app is written in Omnis of course and has a web front-end). So now, if you are a member of ODPP, you can search the eBug database via the Omnis website and keep track of faults, including any that you have reported. eBug allows you to look up a particular fault (by reference number), search for all faults with a new or updated status over a specified period, view all faults raised by your company and check their current status, or search the title of faults by specified keywords. Many developers report problems that they may find in Omnis and eBug now allows them to track the progress of faults. Together with the usual Beta programs, this process greatly improves the quality of the Omnis products and in the long run allows developers to deploy better solutions to their customers.

Contact your local sales office for more details if you'd like to access eBug and haven't for some reason received your login details.

What is the ODPP?
Your guarantee of Superior products and services
Using Omnis Studio enables you to create your applications in a much shorter time frame and with fewer resources than many other development tools. However, if you intend to use Omnis Studio over the long term as your main application development tool, the best and most cost effective option for you is to signup to the Omnis Developer Partner Program (ODPP). The program is available for single developers as well as multiple developer teams and provides many benefits and cost savings when compared to purchasing the Omnis Studio package alone. The program includes:
• the latest version of the Omnis Studio SDK (one Omnis Studio Web edition is provided per named developer in the program),
• free downloads of the very latest updates and revisions of Omnis Studio,
• unlimited one-to-one phone or email access to technical support during office hours,
• discounts on runtime software and Omnis components, as well as discounts on training and other services.
In effect, the program provides you with everything you need to develop and deploy Omnis Studio applications as quickly and as easily as possible, giving you excellent value for money and a valuable return on your investment in Omnis technology.

We've just added a number of very interesting Omnis success stories or case studies that highlight some of the great things developers are doing with Omnis. Many small and medium size companies across Europe are using Omnis, and some household names rely on Omnis for the management of their business. Some of the most recent case studies are featured here.

Based in Switzerland, Grah SA provide a wide range of solutions for legal firms, law courts, and other public administration bodies. Their JURIS application can manage all aspects of legal cases and workflow from start to finish, as well as contacts, document management, and full-scale financial accounting. GRAH is the market leader for legal software in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. More...

Based in Verona, Italy, Tek Service Srl have created a multi-featured CRM solution using Omnis that helps you organise everything within a sales or office environment. The Target Cross CRM solution lets you manage e-mails, faxes, letters, appointments, phone calls, meetings, and so on, all within one easy-to-use interface. It is used in over 100 companies in Italy. More...

Using Omnis Studio version, 4, 888 Software Products Srl has developed an advanced software solution that allows building contractors to manage the planning and control lifecycle of all types of construction projects. The Matrix product includes a very powerful Gantt component that allows the complete management of projects from the start to a successful finish. More...

The development company WebPyramid Srl is the first to create a web-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system in Italy using the Omnis web client technology. With its many functional areas, the WebPyramid solution allows companies to manage their whole business via a standard web browser using only the Omnis web client plug-in. More...

Founded in Turin in 1991 by Michele Grande, and now based in Como, Camì Srl has used Omnis Studio to create a complete retail management system that powers some of Italy's leading retail and distribution companies, including Despar Group and Euronics. The system manages POS and back office functions, and allows web and PDA/Hanheld access to data. More...

In October (23rd-27th), the RD Germany team were present at the Systems IT fair in Munich, where Omnis Studio was received very well - this was really the first public showing for Studio 4.2 and all its new features including the Web Services plug-in.

The Systems fair tends to focus on the business-to-business Computing sector, addressing mainly small and medium size enterprises (SME), and being held in Southern Germany caters for customers from Austria, parts of Switzerland and Northern Italy, as well as West and Southern Germany. Among the 53,000 visitors are a very high percentage of business decision-makers, IT directors/CIOs and managing directors, whereas CeBIT (always held in March in Hannover) includes visitors from the consumer electronics field and the whole of the IT sector.

The RD Germany team was very happy to gain several new Omnis developers or development companies during the show, plus the many contacts we will follow up in the coming weeks. And of course, they were very happy to meet in person with so many long-time Omnis developers and customers at the fair. We experienced strong interest in Omnis for Linux, which is being adopted by an increasing number of development companies and public bodies in Germany and across Europe.

At Systems 2006 in Munich, we showed Omnis Studio 4.2 including the Mac Intel version and Web Services plug-in.

We were also joined on our booth by two of our Omnis developer partners: A & L GmbH from Hannover, with their product Force4 (for more info please refer to: www.richinter.net) and RONA Computer Systems GmbH based in Götzis in Austria with their applications for car pool management, mobile time management and their ERP solution for waste management businesses (for more info please see: www.rona.at). We hope that these partners were able to get many good sales leads as well!

New dates for 2007
During the last quarter of this year, RD Germany has hosted a series of web-based seminars or "webinars" - so successful have these been that they have put together another series for the beginning of 2007.

The webinars are designed to help you learn more about Omnis Studio, whatever your level of Omnis knowledge - topics include Omnis web services, Omnis web applications, application and database migration, and so on. The webinars are presented in English and German and they are FREE!

For more information and to register, please go here: www.omnis.net/developer

We have been busy adding new tech notes to the growing collection of Omnis tech tips and more in-depth studies of Omnis programming techniques. Many of the latest tech notes have been created by our extremely busy and knowledgeable (and talented, hard-working, etc etc... ;-) support team in our German office in Hamburg. When they deal with a support query they often create some sample code and test out a programming technique in Omnis, and when this problem is of general interest we think it's a good idea to publish the tech note for all Omnis developers to benefit from.

You can see all the tech notes here together with the complete back catalog of tech notes. And don't forget, if you'd like to receive more technical discussions, you can sign up to the Omnis technical newsletter which is published by email every month. More details here.

Here is a summary of the latest ones:

• Dynamic Positioning of Objects (TNGI0015)
• Polymorphism in Omnis (TNOO0002)
• Transparent Window Objects (TNGI0014)
• Creating your own Component Store Objects (TNID0004)
• Documenting your Omnis code (TNID0003)
• Objects and Object References (TNOO0001)
• Mapping Character Sets (TNSQ0013)
• Multiple Libraries and Task Variables (TNLB0001)
• Displaying Pictures in a Web Datagrid (TNWE0013)
• Creating your own SQL session for MySQL (TNSQ0012)
• The Integration of Open Office in Omnis Studio under Linux (TNLI0002)

And if you've got a technical tip you want to share with us, please email it to the editor@omnis.net.