Extension talk:EasyTimeline/syntax

Tabs do not work in PlotData
"^ (caret) in texts means: tab" does not work, as seen. Den fjättrade ankan 03:15, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC) at:1719 shift:($dx,0)   text:^^ Interregnum

Reply: Tabs are only used in TextData, see.

In PlotData you can shift texts to the right by adding spaces (put double quotes around text).

at:1719 shift:($dx,0)   text:"                  Interregnum "

But a better way is to add a shift value,

at:1719 shift:(130,0) text: Interregnum

As far as the layout is concerned, this makes the picture much wider, why not use a linebreak and shift the text slighty upwards? Erik Zachte 11:55, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC) from:start till:1720 shift:($dx,5)  text:" Ulrika Eleonora ~ Interregnum "

Answer to remarks on sv:Användardiskussion:Den fjättrade ankan
I find it quite easy to use the EasyTimeline Syntax. But there is a few things that does not work:
 * The character å does not work, as seen at sv:Sveriges historia: Tidsaxel, for example at 1974: 1974 års regeringform.
 * > I use Ploticus for the actual rendering. It has a built in font with an unusual set of characters. See the table at, bottom of page. Unfortunately no å. Ploticus does support unicode and user defined fonts, and I certainly want to support that as well, but that may take some time, I can't test it myself, no Linux here (it works with freetype, which is not part of the Windows build of Ploticus which with I can test offline). So I will have to ask someone to help with this.
 * >In the meantime you might use an alternate for display without the å like alternate text


 * The id: for colors= does only work sometimes. I have tried to set id:Krig (=war) and color:Krig with red color at sv:Mall:Tidsaxel stormaktstiden, but it only works at one place from, 1632-1648, althuogh I had set it to 1630-1648... At other times (1611-1613), (1675-1979) and (1700-1718) it does not work.
 * > Look again, you have defined overlapping periods. For example:

from:1611 till:1613  color:Krig text:.. from:1611 till:1632  color:Vasa text:.. So the last bar overwrites the first. Den fjättrade ankan 01:36, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)
 * It would be nice to have DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy work from at least 1500, not only from 1800.
 * > I am afraid this is not possible. Ploticus uses an internal date/time format in which 01/01/1800 is zero. Many programming languages have a similar internal representation. Of course this could have been implemented otherwise, but I assume in the seven years Ploticus exists noone used it for historical timelines, it is often used for scientific plots. Maybe I can ask Steve Grubb to look at, but even if he wants to modify this it will not be soon, new releases are some half year apart. Erik Zachte 03:46, Jun 21, 2004 (UTC)

Example of define
the given example Define $broad      = width:10 Define $narrow     = width:30 Define $bardefaults = $broad fontsize:S is not intuitive. Why is the value of $broad defined as 10, but $narrow is set much bigger. Is this a joke or am I misunderstanding how "width:" works? --141.53.194.251 08:45, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Oops. I'll correct this. Erik Zachte 19:51, Jul 2, 2004 (UTC)

Vertical down?
Is it possible to make a vertical timeline that goes from TOP to BOTTOM? That is, say, having 2001 at the top and 2004 at the bottom, instead of 2001 at the bottom and 2004 at the top? --24.74.121.185 01:55, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * Yes, add 'order:reverse' to TimeAxis command. This is not documented yet on meta syntax page, many script syntax enhancements aren't. It will be done in due time, but I have several other Wikipedia projects that need attention first, sorry. Erik Zachte 05:29, Aug 11, 2004 (UTC)

Nifty Features Should Include Applicability Notice
Readily discerning whether a nifty feature doesn't work on one's personal wiki because the configuration is wrong or because that feature is implemented in a newer version of MediaWiki would be a good thing.

For instance, EasyTimeline appears to be a new feature in 1.3. . But what is not clear is exactly when it was added. Should I expect it to be present on my 1.2.6 site? Will I get this feature if I upgrade to 1.3.2? And then, in the future, if this feature is removed, in what version will that change of state occur?

Complex features with many sub-parts should probably indicate when the sub-parts were added and removed.


 * Agree, but this is not the most likely page to be read by the persons involved. You might try a post at e.g. the Village Pump, or the wikitech mailing list. Erik Zachte 22:32, Sep 16, 2004 (UTC)

Adding EasyTimeline
Hi, I am running a MediaWiki-based Wiki about History. How can I add Timeline functionality? I cannot manage to make timelines!


 * I'll post instructions about this in the coming days, probably Friday. Erik Zachte 10:12, Dec 1, 2004 (UTC)


 * Thanks! --Pptudela 06:21, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * Instructions added at Help:EasyTimeline activation Erik Zachte 18:27, Dec 4, 2004 (UTC)

Timelines and Templates
Is there some hope for template-based timelines, which would allow using in the timeline (like Colors = id:XX   value:  )? --Glimz 15:59, Jan 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * You mean like this:


 * &hellip;where it would seem that parameter substitution is not being performed within the  code: maybe this should be registered as a bug? --Phil | Talk 10:44, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)