Time Navigation and Synchronization

When having loaded signals and their data from a measure file, it is usually necessary to navigate to a specific time segment. This can easily be done by zooming and scrolling through the entire time range. To keep the overview even in case of many signals, it is often useful to distribute data to different instruments. But sometimes these data need to be monitored in parallel to identify root causes for unexpected observations or to document correlations. Then, a simple synchronization method for combined zooming and scrolling in different instruments is needed. All these zooming, scrolling, and synchronization activities can be done with the time slider Control used for navigating on the time axis, including zooming functionality. in each instrument.

The time slider displays the complete time range of all measure files assigned to the current configuration. If you add a new measure file into the configuration, the minimum and maximum time sample of the time slider are automatically updated.

The time slider differs depending on the instrument type and its corresponding scale. The instrument types can be classified as follows:

Instrument Type	Variable Scale	Fixed Scale
Absolute Value Bar Chart	-	x
Delta Bar Chart	-	x
Event List	-	x
GPS Map	x	-
Histogram	x	-
Oscilloscope	x	-
Scatter Plot	x	-
Signal Distribution Chart	-	x
Sortable List	-	x
Statistical Data	x	-
Table	-	x
Video	-	x

Time slider in instruments with variable scale

The time slider can display any arbitrarily chosen section of the complete time range. Thus, the time slider can be used for zooming, scrolling, and synchronization. The exact start and end time of the displayed time range is shown in tooltips. The number of decimals shown in the tooltips depends on the zooming level. To change the values in the tooltips, see Zooming with the Time Slider.

To get a sufficient size and an accurate reporting of the relative position of the currently visible time range at a high amount of zoom, the time slider automatically switches into the magnifier mode.

	Currently visible time range
	Magnified section of the time slider (displayed after zooming in)

Time slider in instruments with fixed scale

If an instrument just display a fixed scale, the time slider supports only scrolling and synchronization. The missing zooming capability of the instrument is represented in the time slider by a blue line. This blue line marks the time stamp currently shown in the instrument. To enter an exact value for the time range, see To enter an exact value for the time range.

Possible actions depending on the instrument type

Time Slider Action	Variable Scale	Fixed Scale
To synchronize instruments	x	x
To scroll the time range	x	x
To perform a fast scrolling	x	x
To zoom the visible time range	x	-
To perform a fast zooming	x	-
To show the full time range of the measure file	x	-
To enter an exact value for the time range	x	x