Timeline Editing

Here we describe how to edit the timeline using the Aerie UI. For more details on the full timeline definition please refer to the UI Views documentation.

Edit Timeline Properties

Edit general timeline properties from within the timeline editor panel. If multiple timelines exist you can use the top dropdown to edit different timelines.

Note

Changes made in the Timeline Editor are not automatically saved and must be saved to the UI view.

Figure 1: Aerie UI Timeline Editor - Manage Timeline properties, Vertical Guides, and Rows

Edit Timeline Margins

Edit the left and right margins of the timeline. This can be useful when you have a row with many resource layer axis labels.

Manage Vertical Guides

Click on the plus button to add a new vertical guide to the timeline. By default vertical guides will appear in the center of the timeline view. vertical guides that you have created directly on the timeline will also appear here. Edit the properties of your vertical guides directly in the list of vertical guides. Click on the trashcan icon to delete a vertical guide.

Manage Rows

Click on the plus button to add a new row to the timeline. A row will be added below the other rows. By default rows will have no layers within them. Click and drag on a row to re-order the row. Click on the trashcan icon to delete a row.

Edit a Row

Edit row properties from within the timeline row editor. If multiple rows exist you can use the top dropdown to edit different rows. A blue highlight will appear around the row in the timeline that you are currently editing. You can also edit a row by clicking on the pencil icon in the header of a row in the timeline.

Figure 2: Aerie UI Timeline Row Editor - Manage Row properties, Horizontal Guides, Y Axes, and Layers

Add an Activity Layer

To visualize activities on the timeline add a new layer using the plus button in the Layers section. By default new layers have a layer type of Activity. Additionally, the default Aerie UI view creates a row with a single activity layer with all activities grouped by type. Manage which activities are visualized in an activity layer by clicking on the search input for the layer and selecting activities. Activities can be filtered by substring match using the input. Once you have a filter applied you can also select all matches using the Select X activities button at the bottom of the result list. You can also manage the color of the layer using the color picker. All activity layers within a row are drawn on the same canvas so that all of the activities are grouped and packed together correctly. Below is a demonstration of this workflow.

Manage how Activities are Rendered

An Activity Options section will appear in the row editor when the row has at least one activity layer. Activity options govern how activities are rendered for this row.

Figure 3: Aerie UI Timeline Activity Options Editor - Manage Activity Rendering

1. Activity Display Mode

Activities can be rendered in two ways:

• Grouped Mode: Activities are recursively grouped by type. In this mode, activity groups appear in the left side of the row and can be expanded to reveal the directives and spans within each type group. If a directive/span has descendents, the directive/span can be expanded to reveal its grouped descendents. This behavior continues down the decomposition tree until the resulting directive/span has no descendents. This mode is useful for understanding larger sets of activities in a broad sense across an entire plan, especially if the plan is long or contains a significant number of activities that cannot easily be visualized in a small area.
• Compact Mode: Activities from all of the layers are packed together in a space efficient waterfall manner. This mode is useful for visualizing smaller sets of activities in a more traditional timeline view. In this mode the row will not autosize and must be manually adjusted to accommodate the current activity packing solution. This allows for a more precise adjustment of the density in the timeline.

Figure 4: Aerie UI Timeline Activity Options Display Mode

2. Activity Label Visibility

There are several options to control how activity labels appear in the timeline:

• On: Always show activity labels regardless of collision.
• Off: Never show activity labels.
• Auto: Show activity labels when they do not collide with other labels or activities.

3. Directive and Span Visibility

By default, both directives and spans are shown in a row. Alternatively you may choose to show only directive or only spans.

4. Hierarchy Root

This option is only available in Grouped mode.

Affects which activities appear in the initial type groups. By default, Flat is selected.

• Flat: Both activity directives and spans will appear in the top most type groups. This is useful when examining all activities resulting from a simulation without needing to consider activity decomposition.
• By Directive: Only activity directives will appear in the top most type groups, effectively hiding any child spans until further down in the trees. This is useful when examining the timeline from a decomposition perspective.

5. Activity Height

Sets the height of activities in the row.

Understanding the Grouped Activity Tree

Figure 5: Aerie UI Timeline Activity Tree

In Grouped mode the activity tree presented in the row header has several important indicators and actions:

1. Filter Activities by Time Window - Automatically filter nodes in the tree when you zoom and pan around in the plan.
2. This folder represents a group of activities whose type is BananaNap. Groups can contain both directives and spans.
3. This icon represents a directive without a span.
4. This icon represents a directive and its root span. The parent span has children spans which can be expanded as demonstrated here.
5. Click on this button while hovering over an expandable folder/element in the tree to select that directive/span. In this case, the parent row is blue since it has been selected. Note that when selecting a combined directive and span node, the span details will be preferred over the directive details. You can jump between span and directive using a button in the top right of the Selected Activity panel.
6. This icon represents a span. In this case, child is a span that also has children which are expanded below and grouped appropriately.
7. This node is a span that does not have any children. The node can be selected by clicking directly on the node. Double click to open the Selected Activity panel if not already open.

Add a Resource Line Layer

To show resources on the timeline in a line plot, add a new layer using the plus button in the Layers section and change the layer type to Line. If the row did not already contain a Y axis, a new one will automatically be created and assigned to the line layer. To select resources to plot on this layer, click on the input on the layer and select a resource. It is not recommended to select more than one resource.

Note

Y axes are independent of layers. When you create a new line or x-range layer the layer will automatically be assigned to a Y axis. To modify which Y axis a layer is associated with, click on the settings icon for the layer and select a Y axis from the Y Axis dropdown.

Below is a demonstration of this workflow.

Add a Resource X-Range Layer

To show resources on the timeline in as an x-range plot, add a new layer using the plus button in the Layers section and change the layer type to X-Range. If the row did not already contain a Y axis, a new one will automatically be created and assigned to the x-range layer. A Y Axis is only used to provide a label to the x-range plot. To select resources to plot on this layer, click on the input on the layer and select one or more resources.

Manage Y Axis Settings

Y Axes have additional options available in the settings menu popover. By default, horizontal ticks are shown and Y Axis domain fitting is set to Autofit Time Window. The domain fitting option controls how the Y Axis domain behaves in response to your plan and current time window and has three modes:

1. Autofit Plan: Automatically fit the domain to the bounds of all resources associated with the axis across the entire plan.
2. Autofit Time Window: Automatically fit the domain to the bounds of all resources associated with the axis, filtered to the current time window. As you zoom and pan through the plan, the bounds will automatically update and the resources will rescale on the canvas.
3. Manual: Manually enter a static min and max for the axis.

Figure 6: Aerie UI Timeline Y Axis Settings

Manage Line and X-Range Names

By default, line and x-range layers will use the name of the resource associated with them when displayed in the row legend on the left and in the tooltip when hovering over a resource. When available, units will be appended to the resource name. To override this resource name, enter a name for the resource within the layer settings menu. Units will still be appended to your custom name.

Manage Horizontal Guides

Horizontal guides can be added to a row when a row has at least one line or x-range layer. Add a horizontal guide using the plus button in the Horizontal Guides section. Horizontal guides are associated with a single Y axis and will use the first available Y axis by default. You can edit the name, Y value, associated Y axis, and color of each horizontal guide from within this section.

Layer Order

Layers have a fixed draw order in a row. X-range layers are on the bottom, activity layers are in the middle, and line layers are on top.