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The EasyTimeline feature produces an embedded image from wikitext. The image can be a one-dimensional diagram (horizontally or vertically), or a two-dimensional one. The name "EasyTimeline" refers to the possibility to apply the feature with a time scale horizontally or vertically, possibly with another parameter in the other direction, but there are also various other possibilities.

See also Wikipedia:Timeline, mw:Extension:EasyTimeline, mw:Extension:EasyTimeline/syntax, EasyTimeline activation on other MediaWiki installations

Graphical timelines can be produced by providing a script between special tags:

<timeline>
script
</timeline>

EasyTimeline will then be invoked to render a PNG image and (optionally) a clickable map.

Disclaimer: Even though EasyTimeline is designed for ease of use, a complicated graphical timeline is a non-trivial affair. A simple timeline may take half an hour to compose (or even less, when a suitable example is taken as a basis). Large timelines may take a few hours for composition and fine-tuning. However, adding to or correcting a timeline, no matter how complex, should be a relatively straightforward affair, even for contributors who have no expert knowledge of the syntax described here.

Feel free to ask the author of EasyTimeline for advice.

The script commands define:

• Overall layout: ImageSize, PlotArea, Colors, BackgroundColors, AlignBars
• Interpretation and presentation of dates and periods: DateFormat, Period, ScaleMajor, ScaleMinor, TimeAxis
• Events, periods and descriptive texts: PlotData, TextData
• How to order, divide, and name groups of events and periods: BarData, Legend, LineData
• Shorthands for pieces of script code that occur multiple times: Define

The following commands are mandatory: ImageSize, PlotArea, Period and TimeAxis. At least one of the following commands is required: PlotData and/or TextData. Either or both can occur multiple times. All other commands are optional.

Case: Commands and their attributes can be specified in lower, upper or mixed case. Please try to be consistent in applying case as this will further readability, e.g. use mixed case for all commands and lowercase for all attributes.

A script can contain commands and comments. Each command is followed by one or more attributes.

Commands

Commands should start on the first position of a line. Some commands can be followed by multiple lines of data and/or options. These extra lines should start with at least one space or be completely empty (the latter is useful for visually grouping related data lines).

Commands have one of the following forms, depending on the type of command:

Command = attribute(s)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy

Command name = attribute(s)

Color Jp = value:red legend:Japan

Command =
  attribute(s)
  attribute(s)
  etc.

PlotData =
  fontsize:XS width:20
  bar:Japan from:start till:19/02/1945 color:JT
  bar:Japan from:19/02/1945 till:14/03/1945 color:AI

Comments

Single and multi line comments can be specified:

• Text following the hash sign # will be regarded as a comment
• Text between #> and <# will also be regarded as a comment. Comments can span multiple lines, when tagged this way.

Examples:

Dateformat = dd/mm/yyyy # European date format

Period = from:01/09/1939 till:02/09/1945 #> this chart will show
   the complete duration of World War II <#

Attributes

When several attributes can be specified for a certain command, they are notated as 'name:value' pairs. When several values can be specified for one attribute they have to be enclosed between parentheses.

Examples:

AlignBars = justify
Color SB = value:rgb(0.8,0,0.7) legend:Sea_Battles

Parameters vs data items

Most commands only accept attributes that are specified on the same line.

Data blocks: some commands, like BarData, PlotData, TextData, Colors expect a data block consisting of one or more data lines. Data lines should start with one or more spaces. A data block is considered complete when a line starting with a non-space is encountered (exception: empty lines are ignored, they may be used to group related data lines within a block).

Attributes in a data block can conceptually be divided into parameters and data items. Data blocks can contain parameters and data items intermingled.

Data items: in data lines attributes text, from, till and at always apply only to the line in which they occur.

Parameters: in data lines attributes like color and fontsize have different implications depending on the context. If these parameters occur on a line without data items, they set new defaults for the data lines that follow. If they appear on a line mixed with data items they apply only to that line, thus overruling a default that was previously set.

Example:

# In this example two sets of bars are drawn, in red and blue respectively,
# but in each set one bar (marking war periods) will be drawn in green.

PlotData =
  color:red fontsize:S                               # set defaults
  bar:USSR from:1919 till:1922 text:Lenin            # red bar
  bar:USSR from:1922 till:1953 text:Stalin           # red bar
  bar:USSR from:1939 till:1945 text:WWII color:green # green bar
  bar:USSR from:1953 till:1964 text:Krushchev        # red bar
   
  color:blue                                         # change default color
  bar:US from:1913 till:1921 text:Wilson             # blue bar
  bar:US from:1917 till:1918 text:WWI color:green    # green bar
  bar:US from:1921 till:1923 text:Harding            # blue bar

#> this multiline comment does not end command PlotData,
   even when the previous line does not start with a space<#

   bar:US from:1923 till:1929 text:Coolidge           # blue bar

TextData =                                           # now PlotData is considered complete
   tabs:...etc

Special characters

• #, #>, <# (hash, hash+"greater than", "less than"+hash): see Comments
• ~ (tilde) in texts means: line break
• ^ (caret) in texts means: tab
• _ (underscore) in texts means: space
• $ (dollar sign) precedes any user defined constant

For each command the valid attributes are listed. Some commands and/or attributes are optional (O).

For some commands certain attributes are mutually exclusive (will be explained where applicable).

AlignBars

Bars will always be drawn at equal distances. This command specifies whether the bars should be spaced as much apart as possible, or some white space should be reserved between the left/top side of the chart and the first bar or between the last bar and the right/bottom side of the chart.

early (default)

The first bar will be placed on the leftmost/topmost position of the chart ('glued' to the axis), leaving space between the last bar and right/bottom side of the chart.

late

Opposite from early: the last bar will be placed as far to the right/bottom side of the chart as possible, leaving space between the axis line (left/top side of chart) and the first bar.

justify

The first and last bars will be placed as far apart as possible, leaving no empty space on either side of the chart. When only one bar is present, justify will be interpreted as "centered".

Examples:

	TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal			TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
Alignbars =

BackgroundColors

This command allows the specification of background colors for various parts of the chart. Any color ids specified should be defined first using Colors.

canvas (O)

Specify a background color for the whole image.

bars (O)

Specify a background color for all bars.

Examples:

BackgroundColors = bars:darkgrey

BackgroundColors = canvas:lightgrey bars:darkgrey

BackgroundColors = canvas:lightgrey

BarData

This is an optional command which if present determines which bars will be drawn on the chart and in which order. If it is omitted then bars will be drawn in order of their appearance in command PlotData.

For complex timelines with many bars, usage of this command is recommended:

• It will ease reordering of the displayed data.
• Bar names specified in PlotData can be validated against this list, thus preventing typing errors.

bar

defines the bar id. Other commands (notably PlotData) will expect this id for reference. This will also be the label to be shown along the axis, unless attribute text is present. The bar id should not contain any spaces: use underscores instead, these will be converted to spaces, as with article titles.

text (O)

When specified this specifies the text to be presented along the axis, instead of the bar id. See also rules for text input. The text may include one embedded link (see Note 1).

link (O)

Specify a web link (see Note 1) (URL). The label along the axis will be shown as a blue clickable link.

Notes

1. Either use attribute link, or an embedded link in attribute text, not both.

Examples:

BarData =
  bar:Japan
  bar:US       text:"United States"  # refer in PlotData to bar "US" but show "United States"
  bar:China    text:China        # label China will be shown as blue clickable link to the English Wikipedia article about China

The following lines produce the same output (only reference in PlotData changes):

bar:US            text:United_States

bar:US            text:"United States" link:http://www.wikipedia.org?pojem=United_States

bar:United_States                      link:http://www.wikipedia.org?pojem=United_States

Colorsedit

This command allows colors to be defined and coupled to an id (identification tag). Other commands will refer to colors with the id specified here. This command expects one or more color definitions, each on a separate indented line.

id

Other commands will use this id to specify text, bar or background colors.

value

Actual color definition. Color values can be either be specified as:

• predefined color constant, for which 32 predefined color names are recognized (see the Ploticus color page where all these constants are defined).
• rgb (red,green,blue): specify 3 numbers between 0 (minimal) and 1 (maximal)
• gray (value): specify a number between 0 (black) and 1 (white)

legend (O)

Specifies the text that should be displayed in the legend for this color. If this attribute is omitted no entry will appear in the legend at all. See Text input for rules.

Example:

Colors =
  id:war       value:red   legend:War Period
  id:peace     value:blue  legend:Peace Time
  id:treaty    value:rgb(0.6,0,0.6)
  id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)
  id:darkgrey  value:gray(0.1)

DateFormatedit

This command defines how dates, specified in other commands, should be interpreted.

Valid dateformats are:

dd/mm/yyyy

Dates are interpreted as day/month/year

Note: this format is only allowed for dates starting from 01/01/1800

mm/dd/yyyy

Dates are interpreted as month/day/year

Note: this format is only allowed for dates starting from 01/01/1800

yyyy

this deals with integers from -9999 to +9999

Example:

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy

Defineedit

This command allows definition of text constants, i.e. shorthands for pieces of script code that occur multiple times. Text constants should always start with a $ (dollar sign).

Example:

Define $broad       = width:30
Define $narrow      = width:10
Define $bardefaults = $broad fontsize:S

ImageSize (mandatory)edit

This command defines the overall size of the final image. Specify values in absolute measurements.

width

Width of final image: maximum is 1600 pixels, minimum is 25

height

Height of final image: maximum is 1200 pixels, minimum is 25

For maximum flexibility you can let the script calculate the height or width of the image, based on the number of bars and the amount in pixels to add per bar. Specify height:auto (for horizontal time axis) or width:auto (for vertical time axis).

This is especially helpful when the number of bars in a timeline is likely to change over time again and again. Or to ensure equal distances between bars in images with many narrow bars where differences in amount of white space would soon be noticed (see for a real example Template:Vocal and instrumental pitch ranges). Or to make sure several related timelines always use the same distance between bars, no matter how many bars each contains (see for a real example List of popes (graphical)). In short it is a good idea most of the time.

barincrement

Amount in pixels that should be added to the image size for each bar specified (mandatory and only allowed in combination with width:auto or height:auto).

Examples:

ImageSize = width:800 height:600

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:30

Legendedit

A legend will only be shown when this command is present. There are several ways to define the appearance and position of the legend. Some attributes are mutually exclusive (see below).

orientation (O)

Specify horizontal or vertical (default).

restriction: orientation = 'horizontal' and position = 'right' are mutually exclusive

position (O)

Defines placement of the legend relative to the chart area. Specify top, bottom (default) or right.

restriction: orientation = 'horizontal' and position = 'right' are mutually exclusive

columns (O)

Specify 1, 2, 3 or 4. When this attribute is omitted the number of columns is determined as follows:

• orientation horizontal : Attribute columns does not apply here. All entries will be on the same line.
• orientation vertical :
  • position right : All entries will be in one column
  • position top or bottom : The number of columns depends on the number of entries to be shown:
    1-5 entries: 1 column, 6-10 entries: 2 columns, 11 or more entries: 3 columns.

Tip: you may consider omitting the following parameters at first, and only add them when defaults settings are not satisfactory.

columnwidth (O)

Defines the distance between columns. You can specify an absolute distance or a relative distance (as percentage of the page width).

restriction: this parameter is ignored when columns = 1 is defined or implied.

left (O)

Defines the distance between the left side of the legend and the left side of the page. You can specify an absolute distance or a relative distance (as percentage of the page width).

top (O)

Defines the distance between the top of the legend and the bottom of the page. You can specify an absolute distance or a relative distance (as percentage of the page height).

Examples:

Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 columnwidth:140

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

Legend = left:100 top:120 columns:3

LineDataedit

Some timelines extend over several clearly distinct periods. A line demarcating these periods may serve as a visual aid.

at

Draws a line perpendicular to the time axis (default at maximal length, see also below).
Specify the date/year where the line should be drawn, in compliance with the specified DateFormat.

color

Specify the color in which the line should drawn.

Note: The color id specified should be defined first with command Colors.

layer

Specify front or back (default). Defines whether the line should appear in front of or behind all time segment bars.

width

specify value between 0.1 (very thin) and 10 (very thick)

Only in rare cases the following extra attributes may be needed for full flexibility:

Advanced positioning options

You can draw lines in any direction. The following options are available:

• Perpendicular to the time axis with arbitrary start and stop points: at:date frompos:position tillpos:position
• Parallel to the time axis with arbitrary start and stop points from:date till:date atpos:position
• In any direction with arbitrary start and stop points: points:(x1,y1)(x2,y2)

Attributes at, from and till expect a date or year, in compliance with the specified DateFormat.
Attributes frompos, tillpos, atpos expect coordinates (e.g. pixels values)

Example:

LineData =
  layer:front                                            # all lines in front of bars unless stated otherwise
  at:1                         color:yellow              # perpendicular to time axis full length
  at:2                         color:orange  layer:back  # perpendicular to time axis full length but behind bars
  at:4  frompos:50 tillpos:105 color:green               # perpendicular to time axis, with specified start and stop points
  from:5 till:8 atpos:50       color:red                 # parallel to time axis
  points:(100,20)(170,105)     color:blue    width:3     # from one arbitrary absolute position to another, extra thick

Note that in the above example those "absolute positions" are plotted in the context of ImageSize = width:200 height:120 and PlotArea = left:20 right:10 top:10 bottom:20.

Period (mandatory)edit

Defines the time period that will be displayed in the chart. Both parameters are mandatory. Specify dates in compliance with specified DateFormat.

from

Timeline starts here. The specified value can be referenced as start in commands like PlotData and TextData.

till

Time ends here. The specified value can be referenced as end in other commands.

Example:

Period = from:01/09/1939 till:02/09/1945

PlotArea (mandatory)edit

width

Specify value in absolute or relative measurements. (do not use anymore, see below)

height

Specify value in absolute or relative measurements. (do not use anymore, see below)

left

Margin between left side of image and left side of plot area. Specify value in absolute or relative measurements.

top

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Help:EasyTimeline_syntax
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