Output Management System

The Output Management System (OMS) provides the ability to automatically write selected categories of output to different output files in different formats. Formats include: Word, Excel, PDF, IBM® SPSS® Statistics data file format (.sav), Viewer file format (.spv), XML, HTML, and text. See the topic OMS options for more information.

To use the Output Management System Control Panel

  1. From the menus choose:

    Utilities > OMS Control Panel...

You can use the control panel to start and stop the routing of output to various destinations.

  • Each OMS request remains active until explicitly ended or until the end of the session.
  • A destination file that is specified on an OMS request is unavailable to other procedures and other applications until the OMS request is ended.
  • While an OMS request is active, the specified destination files are stored in memory (RAM), so active OMS requests that write a large amount of output to external files may consume a large amount of memory.
  • Multiple OMS requests are independent of each other. The same output can be routed to different locations in different formats, based on the specifications in different OMS requests.
  • The order of the output objects in any particular destination is the order in which they were created, which is determined by the order and operation of the procedures that generate the output.

Limitations

  • For Output XML format, the specification for the Headings output type has no effect. If any output from a procedure is included, the procedure title output is included.
  • If the OMS specification results in nothing other than Headings objects or a Notes tables being included for a procedure, then nothing is included for that procedure.

Adding new OMS requests

  1. Select the output types (tables, charts, etc.) that you want to include. See the topic Output object types for more information.
  2. Select the commands to include. If you want to include all output, select all items in the list. See the topic Command identifiers and table subtypes for more information.
  3. For commands that produce pivot table output, select the specific table types to include.

    The list displays only the tables that are available in the selected commands; any table type that is available in one or more of the selected commands is displayed in the list. If no commands are selected, all table types are displayed. See the topic Command identifiers and table subtypes for more information.

  4. To select tables based on text labels instead of subtypes, click Labels. See the topic Labels for more information.
  5. Click Options to specify the output format (for example, IBM SPSS Statistics data file, XML, or HTML). By default, Output XML format is used. See the topic OMS options for more information.
  6. Specify an output destination:
    • File. All selected output is routed to a single file.
    • Based on object names. Output is routed to multiple destination files based on object names. A separate file is created for each output object, with a filename based on either table subtype names or table labels. Enter the destination folder name.
    • New dataset. For IBM SPSS Statistics data file format output, you can route the output to a dataset. The dataset is available for subsequent use in the same session but is not saved unless you explicitly save it as a file prior to the end of the session. This option is available only for IBM SPSS Statistics data file format output. Dataset names must conform to variable-naming rules. See the topic Variable names for more information.
  7. Optionally:
  • Exclude the selected output from the Viewer. If you select Exclude from Viewer, the output types in the OMS request will not be displayed in the Viewer window. If multiple active OMS requests include the same output types, the display of those output types in the Viewer is determined by the most recent OMS request that contains those output types. See the topic Excluding output display from the viewer for more information.
  • Assign an ID string to the request. All requests are automatically assigned an ID value, and you can override the system default ID string with a descriptive ID, which can be useful if you have multiple active requests that you want to identify easily. ID values that you assign cannot start with a dollar sign ($).

Tips for selecting multiple items in a list

The following tips are for selecting multiple items in a list:

  • Press Ctrl+A to select all items in a list.
  • Use Shift+click to select multiple contiguous items.
  • Use Ctrl+click to select multiple noncontiguous items.

To end and delete OMS requests

Active and new OMS requests are displayed in the Requests list, with the most recent request at the top. You can change the widths of the information columns by clicking and dragging the borders, and you can scroll the list horizontally to see more information about a particular request.

An asterisk (*) after the word Active in the Status column indicates an OMS request that was created with command syntax that includes features that are not available in the Control Panel. See the topic OMS for more information.

To end a specific, active OMS request:

  1. In the Requests list, click any cell in the row for the request.
  2. Click End.

To end all active OMS requests:

  1. Click End All.

To delete a new request (a request that has been added but is not yet active):

  1. In the Requests list, click any cell in the row for the request.
  2. Click Delete.

Note: Active OMS requests are not ended until you click OK.