Timeline View

The Timeline View can be used to visualize a variety of time intervals within your scenario. The user interface of the Timeline View is comprised of a toolbar, three timelines, and rows of time components.

Toolbar

The toolbar contains buttons that allow you to add time components and manage content views and time views.

Global Time Bar

The Global Time Bar is the broadest of the timelines in scale. Its boundaries are always the same as the global time interval of the currently selected time view. The currently displayed interval of the Global Time Scale is displayed in blue on the Global Time Bar, while the rest of the scenario's interval is displayed in dark gray. You can use the white pointer to adjust the animation time to any point within the time view's interval. You can adjust the animation time to a specific point by right-clicking on the Global Time Bar and selecting Set Animation Time to Here.

Global Time Scale

The Global Time Scale is the middle of the three timelines. Its boundaries are the same as the Global Time Bar, but the view of the timeline can be zoomed to show a period of time within the complete interval. You can use the gray and blue dot to adjust the animation time to any point within the Global Time Scale's current boundary. You can adjust the animation time to a specific point by right-clicking on the Global Time Scale and selecting Set Animation Time to Here.

View Port

The View Port is a shaded overlay on the Global Time Scale that defines the boundaries of the Time Display. Its boundaries and scale can be adjusted by moving the rectangular markers at either end. When you drag the markers together, the Time Display will zoom in on that section of the timeline; you can zoom out by dragging the markers apart and holding one of them at the left or right edge of the timeline. Zooming the View Port can also result in the view of the Global Time Scale being scaled and adjusted relative to the period of time being examined within the View Port; however the boundaries of the Global Time Scale remain unchanged.

The View Port times are static and cannot be used as a time component because they are actually saved as offsets of the Global Time, which can be a Time Component. This allows for the Global Time and View Port to update with changes to the scenario.

Time Display

The Time Display is the largest and most granular of the timelines. Its boundaries are defined by the View Port. You can use the gray pointer to adjust the animation time to any point within the Time Display's current boundary. You can adjust the animation time to a specific point by right-clicking on the Time Display and selecting Set Animation Time to Here.

Component Rows

The component rows contain the time components that are being visualized in the Timeline View. Each component is listed by its name on the left side of the Timeline View, with its intervals displayed beneath the Time Display timeline. You can click to hide a component. Click the Restore Hidden Items button (, furthest to the left in the toolbar) to restore the display of all hidden component rows. You can adjust the position of component rows by clicking and dragging them beneath or above other rows.

You can adjust the animation time by right-clicking on an interval of a time component and selecting Set Animation Time to Interval Start Time, Set Animation Time to Interval Stop Time, Set Animation Time to Here. In addition, you can click Center to set the boundaries of the Time Display to match the boundaries of the selected interval, if the selected interval is not greater than the global time interval.

By default, the Timeline View contains one component - the time interval of the current scenario. Click to select other intervals using time components from the Time Tool of the Analysis Workbench. You can cut, copy, paste, and delete component rows using the , , , and buttons.

Content Views

A content view is a collection of component rows. You can use content views to group the display of time components together for comparison and then switch quickly between the different time visualizations that you want to examine. The content view section of the Timeline toolbar allows you to manage content views. To select a content view to display, click the drop-down menu and select one from the list. You can create a new content view of the currently displayed component rows by clicking and then entering a name for the view. Click to edit the name of the currently selected content view. To delete a content view, click next to its name in the drop-down menu. If you change the component rows and want to restore the view to the components defined for the currently selected content view, click ; to save those changes to the currently selected content view, click .

Time Views

A time view is a set of time interval boundaries that includes the Global Time Bar and View Port intervals. You can use time views to switch quickly between intervals of interest within your scenario's timeline. The time view section of the Timeline toolbar allows you to manage time views. You can create a new time view of the currently displayed timeline boundaries by clicking and then entering a name for the view. Click to edit the currently selected time view. To delete a time view, click next to its name in the drop-down menu. If you change the interval boundaries of the timelines and want to restore the view to the boundaries defined by the currently selected time view, click ; to save those changes to the currently selected time view, click .

Timeline Properties

To edit the properties of the Timeline View, click the button or right-click anywhere in the window and select Properties from the drop-down menu that appears.

Display

The Display tab allows you to toggle the display of the Toolbar, Global Time Bar, Global Time Scale, Time Display / Viewport Scale, and Component Rows. You can also adjust the size of the Component Name Font and Row Height using the slider bars.

Theme

You can change the display theme of the Timeline View by selecting a new theme from the drop-down menu on the Theme tab. Timeline View themes are similar to Windows themes in the way that they affect the display of the Timeline View. When you change the theme of the Timeline View, you need to refresh the window by closing it and opening it again from the View menu; all of the content view and time views will be saved.

Intervals

The Interval tab allows you to customize the display of the Component Rows. You can toggle the display of the interval Label, Start Time, and Stop Time. You can also adjust the Font Size of the label and times by using the slider bar.