Edit a Timeline Definition File

1. Right click on a Timeline Definition file and select Open With > Timeline Definition Editor. (Timeline Viewer is selected by default)

2. The Timeline Definition file is now opened in a Timeline Definition Editor.

   

   A Timeline Definition always has the Timeline as the root node.

   You can provide a title for the timeline.

   You can select Lanes to be added to the Timeline by right-clicking the Timeline node and selecting New. You can also choose Lane Group, which contains other Lanes and Lane Groups.

   To remove the Lane from the Timeline, right-click the Lane and select Delete.

3. Follow the bullet points below to edit each of the Lanes.

   • Right click the Timeline node and select New > Lane (Message).

     A new Lane of type Message is created.

     

     The name and the symbol color can be edited.

     You can switch the Lane type to Phase and vice versa, which updates the editor accordingly. However, the progress for the previous Lane type will be lost once another Lane is selected.

     You can click the Configure button to use a graphical interface for configuring the filter expression without learning the TRAM language. To use this configuration interface, the metadata tree is required. Thus, open any session with the necessary metadata before clicking the button.

     Alternatively, if you are familiar with the TRAM language, you can edit the expression in the text box directly.

   • Right click the Timeline node and select New > Lane (Plot).

     A new Lane of type Plot is created.

     

     In the Filter section, click Configure and modify the filter expression in the opened dialog box. Corresponding session metadata is required.

     In the Field section, click Configure and select a trace field to be displayed. Corresponding session metadata is required.

     In the plot lane, the data points can be connected in one of the four different types:

     • none

     • step

     • linear interpolation

     • spline interpolation

     Optionally, select a marker type:

     • none

     • circle

     • rectangle

     • dot

     • cross

   • Right click the Timeline node and select New > Lane (Phase).

     A new Lane of type Phase is created.

     

     Click Add Phase to add new Phases.

     As indicated by the warning icon, the start filter is required for each Phase.

     The end filter is optional: if none is defined, the Phase continues endlessly until another Phase is found.

     Like for Message and Plot Lane, the Configure button opens a graphical interface dialog for configuring the filter expression, without typing into the textbox directly. The corresponding session metadata is required for the configuration interface to function.

   • Right click the Timeline node and select New > Lane (VCD).

     A new Lane of type VCD is created.

     

     By default, the VCD file is loaded from the active trace session path with the file name capture_​vcd_​decoder.vcd. Uncheck the Use default location box to select a custom VCD file using the Browse button.

     Enum value file contains a human-readable name for the corresponding hexadecimal value of each signal state in XML format. The default file is located in the collateral folders of the active target. Like for the VCD file, uncheck the Use default location box to select another XML file.

     You can also define the Enum value for the whole workspace:

     1. Select Window > Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box.

     2. Navigate to System Trace > Viewer > Enum Definitions.

     3. Define the enum values. You can import an XML file into the list.

        You can export the current list into an XML file for further use.

     4. Click Apply to save your changes or Apply and Close to save changes and close the dialog.

     

   • Right click Timeline node and select New > Lane Group.

     A new Lane Group is created.

     

     The name of the Lane Group can be edited.

     Like the Timeline node, any Lanes and Lane Groups can be created in it. The difference is that the Timeline node cannot be removed, while a LaneGroup can be removed by right clicking and selecting Delete.

4. Drag and drop is also supported for convenience.

   For example, drag Lane 1 node to Group 1 node to move it.

   If CTRL key is pressed while dragging, a copy operation is executed instead, which produces the following result.