Configuration Panel
Introduction
The app comes with a set of predefined configuration parameters.
A Configuration Panel is provided to allow users to change the value of some of those parameters and adapt them to the user's taste.
To open the Configuration Panel Window, tap on the 'Gear' ( ) icon on the Toolbar.
The Configuration Panel Window will appear. The panel is divided into 5 categories, which are:
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Spacing
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Granularity
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Formats
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Colors
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Display
The details of each is provided in the next sections.
Spacing
‘Spacing' is the screen space between records.
The following figure shows the Configuration Panel for Spacing.
Two variables are provided under this menu, one for the Horizontal Spacing and one for the Vertical Spacing. Modifying the value of these variables will increase (or decrease) the horizontal and/or vertical space between records.
Granularity
Granularity defines the date unit used on the axe of time, i.e., the length of time between two ticks on the axe of time.
The following figure shows the Configuration Panel for Granularity.
Granularities of one day (d) up to 1,000 years (M) are supported and selectable.
An 'Auto' option is also provided where you leave it to the app to determine the best granularity to use.
Increasing the Granularity (e.g., from Year to Month) will decrease the length of the time unit used on the axe of time. Conversely, decreasing the granularity will increase the length of the the time unit used on the axe of time.
Based on the time length of the visible timeline (i.e., the difference between the End Date of the latest visible record and the Start Date of the earliest visible record) the app might limit the granularity options possible or available. For example, if the time length of a timeline stretches for 300 years, the app will not allow granularities of 1 day or 1 week and might set the minimum granularity to 1 month. This is motivated by performance issues.
Formats
The following figure shows the Configuration Panel for Format.
Two parameters can be set on this panel: date and font size.
Date
The Date format defines the format used on the Display Window to display the dates.
Only the Display Window and the Record Date are impacted by this variable. All other dates used within the record (e.g., as part of the record Description) will be displayed as entered by the Record creator.
By default, the app is configured to use the North American format, i.e., Month / Day / Year.
A user can change that format to use the European/International format, i.e., Day / Month / Year.
A Year/Month/Day format is also provided.
Note that in all cases the Gregorian calendar is used.
Font Size
With the ‘Font Size’ dropdown, you can set the size of the font to use when displaying the records.
Because of the display algorithm used, the font style cannot be changed for now and the font size is limited to between 8 and 15 points.
Note that the font style and size used with the rest of the app's views are dependent on the system font defined for your device.
Only the record's display font is impacted by this variable.
Coloring
The following figure shows the Configuration Panel for Coloring.
Two parameters can be set on this panel: Background and Axe of Time.
Background
Changes the background color of the Display Window.
Axe
Changes the color of the axe of time on the Display Window
The app uses the standard color wheel provided by Apple on your device.
Note that the color of the record's font and its background are set for each record when the record is created or edited in the Record Management Window.
Display
The following figure shows the Configuration Panel for Display.
Four parameters can be set on that panel as described below.
Show Drop Lines
Determines whether the app will display lines that drop vertically from the beginning of the record title down to the axe of time.
They are visible help identifying the time order of the records.
Show All Headings
Determines whether the app will display all the Headings records that were returned by the active filters or only those with children.
When the 'Show All Heading' check box is selected, all the Headings records are shown and are displayed from their Start to their End date.
When the 'Show All Heading' check box is not selected, only the Heading records with children (based on the active filters) are displayed. Also their display is adapted to the length of the displayed timeline.
The Show All Heading should typically be unselected when viewing a timeline. This selection will ensure that the Heading records are not extending the window of the timeline unnecessarily and that the Heading records with no children are not taking valuable screen space.
However, when editing a timeline, the Show All Heading could be selected. This will display all the Heading records (which will allow the addition of children records under any desired Heading). It will also display the exact size of the Heading records which might have to be adapted to accommodate the additional records.
Show All Parents
Determines whether the parents of the returned filtered records should be displayed regardless of whether those parents satisfy the criteria of the active filters or not.
Occasionally, the active filters could return a set of records that are the children and grandchildren of other records but do not return those parent records (maybe the Start Date of the parents is earlier than what the active filter defined).
When the Show 'All Parents' check box is not selected, then only those returned records will be displayed.
When the Show 'All Parents' check box is selected, then the app will check all the returned records and add any missing parents records (as well as the other records in the hierarchy).
Level Sorting
Determines whether the record should be sorted and displayed using an ascending order of their level value or a descending order.
By default, records are sorted using an ascending order, i.e., starting from the Axe of Time, the first records to be displayed will be those with the smallest level value; the next records to be displayed will be those with the second lowest level value, and so on.
