Time and Event List Editor

Contents
Overview
The QSAS Time Editor is designed to allow the use to specify time
intervals or event tables (lists of time intervals) for data selection, analysis, and plotting. Time intervals and event tables are
held in a separate segment of the QSAS
Working List on the Main Window. Additionally, all drop sites expecting
a time interval will accept a time series object.
The Time Editor allows the user to manipulate time, including easily
setting individual time fields, durations, advancing time in steps, adding events to a table.
Mastery of the Time Editor, and of the use of Time Intervals on the Working
List leads to efficient control over plugin fields, plot ranges, and the
like.
User Interface
Time interval editors can be found in multiple places in QSAS: when adding or editing a time interval (or an event table), but also to specify an axis range in a plot or a selection range in the Data selector for example. The time editor can appear either collapsed or expanded, as shown in the following pictures:
- Collapsed:
- Expanded: The GUI can be broken down into 3 areas.
Time Fields
If the fields are collapsed, only the "From" and "To" fields are displayed. Else you will also see the "Centre" and "Duration" fields.
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For the "From", "To" and "Centre" fields, QSAS uses ISO Time Strings (e.g., "1984-10-28 08:54:37.500"). They can be
edited either by typing in new values for the fields, either using the Up and Down
Arrow keys.
-
Durations are specified as any combination of "d h m s" (day, hour,
minute, seconds) fields, e.g., "2d 4h 23m 1.25s" or "4.5h" (or even "4.5h
10m")
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At any time, only the two last selected fields are active ("From" and "To" by default). To
select a new field, just get click it or get the cursor on it using your tab key. For example,
if you wish to select a 2 days time interval centred on "2001-02-03", click the "Centre" field,
type in this date, then click the "Duration" editor and type in "2d". The "From" and "To" fields
will be filled in automatically if your entries are valid.
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Dragging and dropping a time interval or a time sequence object on the editor auto-fills the
editor with the values of the dropped object (boundaries defined by the first and last items, for time
sequences). Dropping one of these objects on a time slot ("From", "Centre" or "End"), allows to change
the value (using the start, end or centre time of the dropped object, using a pop-up menu).
View slider
This view is an interactive widget allowing to set up graphically time intervals.
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The grey bar represents the same time interval as the time fields. Its ends can be moved (click+drag on an end), or the whole bar can be moved (click+drag in the middle of the bar). Clicking to the left or to the right of the bar offsets the interval by its duration.
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The white bar in the background is the data availability (if known by the widget). Grey cross patterns indicate no availability.
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Red bars appear when editing event tables: each bar is an interval in the table. Double-clicking an events sets the current interval to match the event. Browsing events can be done using the "previous event" and "next event" buttons.
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The view range can be altered by clicking the "+", "-", "left arrow" and "right arrow" buttons. "+" and "-" buttons zoom in and out respectively, whereas the arrows offset the view range by half its duration, to the left and to the right.
Drop-down menu
This menu is available when clicking the right-most button, on both collapsed and expanded views.
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Expand/Collapse all: Switches between expanded and collapsed views.
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Expand/Collapse fields: Switches between expanded and collapsed views for the fields only.
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Expand/Collapse view slider: Displays/hides the view slider.
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Reset view range: Resets the slider's view range.
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Change view range: Opens a GUI to set up precisely a view range for the slider. As the view range is an interval, it also relies on a time interval editor!
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Append interval to event table: Appends the currently set up interval to the end of the event table. If you are editing an interval, it will be converted into an event table.
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Replace event # with current interval: Opens a GUI allowing to specify an event index that will be replaced by the current interval.
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Set current interval as event #: Sets the current interval to the value of an event in the table.
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Save interval to WL: Adds the current interval in the working list and opens an editor to specify its name.
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Save events to WL: Adds the current event table in the working list and opens an editor to specify its name.
Tips/FAQ
- Selecting "Duration" and then editing "Start", "Centre" or "End" allows to translate a time interval.
- Selecting "Centre" and then editing "Start", "End" or "Duration" allows to shrink or grow a time interval.
Bugs
None known
Last up-dated: June 2010
