Time Table
Last updated
Last updated
A Time Table is a Scatterplot that is specialized for showing events over time. The X axis shows a continuous variable, often time; the Y axis shows a categorical variable which often has one or more characteristics.
Data: type of data shown by the chart.
Each tick represents a table row, located based on X and Y axis field values. The number of table rows ("events") in each category (horizontal row of the chart) is indicated by the lengths of the horizontal bars to the right. (The display of these bars may be disabled in the Advanced Properties pane.)
Note that the example shown above doesn't use an X axis of time, but of "Employees".
From: Chart Toolbar "Configure Data"; Advanced Property "Show Summary Bars".
Show Unselected: are Unselected items drawn?
Unselected items may optionally be omitted from the display.
From: Chart Toolbar "Display Unselected Data"; Advanced Property "Show Unselected".
Group Glyphs: based on a field.
A field may be used to group together glyphs into bands; this effectively provides a higher level categorization for the data.
From: Chart Toolbar "Configure Data".
Rearrange Groups and Categories: change order of groups.
You can manually rearrange the order of groups in the display by dragging (Left Mouse Button) the group heading over another group.
You can also manually rearrange individual category lines within a group, by dragging the category label with the Left Mouse Button.
Glyph Size: glyph size may be based on data.
The size of item glyphs in the Time Table may be tied to a data field in the table.
The overall scaling of glyphs may be adjusted via keyboard ("+", "-") or property page.
From: Chart Toolbar "Configure Data"; Advanced Property "Point Size".
Glyph Angle: shape or angle drawn for a point.
The shape or angle of line drawn for a point may be determined by data from the configured "Angle" field. This may help to distinguish multiple glyphs drawn at the same place but with different characteristics.
By default, the lowest 7 distinct visible numeric values in the "Angle" field are mapped to a sequence of shapes: vertical line, circle, square, X, triangle pointing up, triangle pointing down, and plus sign. Each data row is represented by a shape corresponding to the value in the "Angle" field. Rows with any larger "Angle" values than the first 7 are represented with minimal-size points.
If the Advanced Property "Angled Events" is set to True, then each data row is represented by a line drawn at an angle rotated to the right around its middle between 0 (straight up) and about 175 degrees (almost straight down). The angle is proportional to the "Angle" field value in the range of visible values. This effectively makes similar items easy to distinguish visually.
From: Chart Toolbar "Configure Data"; Advanced Property "Angled Events".
Glyph Durations: show the duration of events.
Glyphs may have duration tails that show the length of an event. This may be any numeric data, but it must be consistent with the X axis field. When the X axis is a date field that includes time information, the Duration field should be scaled in seconds. If the date field consists of dates only with no time, then the Duration field should be scaled in days.
Durations are displayed as a line by default. They may be shown as a filled rectangle as well.
From: Chart Toolbar "Configure Data"; Advanced Property "Filled Durations".
Viewpoint: zoom into a portion of the display.
Locate: where am I?
The coordinates of the mouse are continuously shown on the X and Y axis while the mouse is within the chart. Move the mouse over the chart to see this.
Focus: what is this item?
You focus on an item by pointing at it for a second (or labeling is done immediately if SHIFT or CTRL is depressed, or the "Label By Hover" property is set). When the mouse is near a glyph, the glyph is highlighted, the X and Y axis values for the item are shown, and the X location is highlighted along the top near the category field name. The row bar showing the number of items in the row is labeled as well. Focus is also propagated to other views.
See also:
You can manipulate your viewpoint on the display by zooming and panning. This can be done with the zoom bars, the keyboard, or the mouse using the standard interactions.
