The Timeline is an interactive visualization chart to visualize data in time. The data items can take place on a single date, or have a start and end date (a range). You can freely move and zoom in the timeline by dragging and scrolling in the Timeline. Items can be created, edited, and deleted in the timeline. The time scale on the axis is adjusted automatically, and supports scales ranging from milliseconds to years.
The following code shows how to create a Timeline and provide it with data. More examples can be found in the examples directory.
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
<title>Timeline | Basic demo</title>
<style type="text/css">
body, html {
font-family: sans-serif;
}
</style>
<script src="../../vis.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="visualization"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
var items = [
{id: 1, content: 'item 1', start: '2013-04-20'},
{id: 2, content: 'item 2', start: '2013-04-14'},
{id: 3, content: 'item 3', start: '2013-04-18'},
{id: 4, content: 'item 4', start: '2013-04-16', end: '2013-04-19'},
{id: 5, content: 'item 5', start: '2013-04-25'},
{id: 6, content: 'item 6', start: '2013-04-27'}
];
var options = {};
var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, items, options);
</script>
</body>
</html>
Install or download the vis.js library. in a subfolder of your project. Include the library script in the head of your html code:
<script type="text/javascript" src="vis/vis.js"></script>The constructor of the Timeline is
vis.Timeline
var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, items, options);The constructor accepts three parameters:
container is the DOM element in which to create the graph.
items is an Array containing items. The properties of an
item are described in section Data Format.
options is an optional Object containing a name-value map
with options. Options can also be set using the method
setOptions.
The timeline can be provided with two types of data:
The Timeline uses regular Arrays and Objects as data format.
Data items can contain the properties start,
end (optional), content,
group (optional), and className (optional).
A table is constructed as:
var items = [
{
start: new Date(2010, 7, 15),
end: new Date(2010, 8, 2), // end is optional
content: 'Trajectory A'
// Optional: fields 'id', 'type', 'group', 'className'
}
// more items...
]);
The item properties are defined as:
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| id | String | Number | no | An id for the item. Using an id is not required but highly recommended. An id is needed when dynamically adding, updating, and removing items in a DataSet. |
| start | Date | yes | The start date of the item, for example new Date(2010,09,23). |
| end | Date | no | The end date of the item. The end date is optional, and can be left null.
If end date is provided, the item is displayed as a range.
If not, the item is displayed as a box. |
| content | String | yes | The contents of the item. This can be plain text or html code. |
| type | String | 'box' | The type of the item. Can be 'box' (default), 'range', or 'point'. |
| group | any type | no | This field is optional. When the group column is provided,
all items with the same group are placed on one line.
A vertical axis is displayed showing the groups.
Grouping items can be useful for example when showing availability of multiple
people, rooms, or other resources next to each other. |
| className | String | no | This field is optional. A className can be used to give items
an individual css style. For example, when an item has className
'red', one can define a css style
.red {
background-color: red;
border-color: dark-red;
}
.
More details on how to style items can be found in the section
Styles.
|
Like the items, groups are regular JavaScript Arrays and Objects.
Using groups, items can be grouped together.
Items are filtered per group, and displayed as
Group items can contain the properties id,
content, and className (optional).
Groups can be applied to a timeline using the method setGroups.
A table with groups can be created like:
var groups = [
{
id: 1,
content: 'Group 1'
// Optional: a field 'className'
}
// more groups...
]);
Groups can have the following properties:
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| id | String | Number | yes | An id for the group. The group will display all items having a
property group which matches the id
of the group. |
| content | String | yes | The contents of the group. This can be plain text or html code. |
| className | String | no | This field is optional. A className can be used to give groups
an individual css style. For example, when a group has className
'red', one can define a css style
.red {
color: red;
}
.
More details on how to style groups can be found in the section
Styles.
|
Options can be used to customize the timeline. Options are defined as a JSON object. All options are optional.
var options = {
width: '100%',
height: '30px'
};
The following options are available.
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| align | String | "center" | Alignment of items with type 'box'. Available values are 'center' (default), 'left', or 'right'). |
| autoResize | boolean | false | If true, the Timeline will automatically detect when its container is resized, and redraw itself accordingly. |
| end | Date | none | The initial end date for the axis of the timeline. If not provided, the latest date present in the items set is taken as end date. |
| groupOrder | String | Function | none | Order the groups by a field name or custom sort function. By default, groups are not ordered. |
| height | String | none | The height of the timeline in pixels or as a percentage.
When height is undefined or null, the height of the timeline is automatically
adjusted to fit the contents.
It is possible to set a maximum height using option maxHeight
to prevent the timeline from getting too high in case of automatically
calculated height.
|
| margin.axis | Number | 20 | The minimal margin in pixels between items and the time axis. |
| margin.item | Number | 10 | The minimal margin in pixels between items. |
| max | Date | none | Set a maximum Date for the visible range. It will not be possible to move beyond this maximum. |
| maxHeight | Number | none | Specifies a maximum height for the Timeline in pixels. |
| min | Date | none | Set a minimum Date for the visible range. It will not be possible to move beyond this minimum. |
| order | Function | none | Provide a custom sort function to order the items. The order of the items is determining the way they are stacked. The function order is called with two parameters, both of type `vis.components.items.Item`. |
| orientation | String | 'bottom' | Orientation of the timeline: 'top' or 'bottom' (default). If orientation is 'bottom', the time axis is drawn at the bottom, and if 'top', the axis is drawn on top. |
| padding | Number | 5 | The padding of items, needed to correctly calculate the size of item ranges. Must correspond with the css of item ranges. |
| showCurrentTime | boolean | false | Show a vertical bar at the current time. |
| showCustomTime | boolean | false | Show a vertical bar displaying a custom time. This line can be dragged by the user. The custom time can be utilized to show a state in the past or in the future. |
| showMajorLabels | boolean | true | By default, the timeline shows both minor and major date labels on the
time axis.
For example the minor labels show minutes and the major labels show hours.
When showMajorLabels is false, no major labels
are shown. |
| showMinorLabels | boolean | true | By default, the timeline shows both minor and major date labels on the
time axis.
For example the minor labels show minutes and the major labels show hours.
When showMinorLabels is false, no minor labels
are shown. When both showMajorLabels and
showMinorLabels are false, no horizontal axis will be
visible. |
| start | Date | none | The initial start date for the axis of the timeline. If not provided, the earliest date present in the events is taken as start date. |
| type | String | 'box' | Specifies the type for the timeline items. Choose from 'dot' or 'point'. Note that individual items can override this global type. |
| width | String | '100%' | The width of the timeline in pixels or as a percentage. |
| zoomMax | Number | 315360000000000 | Set a maximum zoom interval for the visible range in milliseconds. It will not be possible to zoom out further than this maximum. Default value equals about 10000 years. |
| zoomMin | Number | 10 | Set a minimum zoom interval for the visible range in milliseconds. It will not be possible to zoom in further than this minimum. |
The Timeline supports the following methods.
| Method | Return Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| getCustomTime() | Date | Retrieve the custom time. Only applicable when the option showCustomTime is true.
|
| setCustomTime(time) | none | Adjust the custom time bar. Only applicable when the option showCustomTime is true. time is a Date object.
|
| setGroups(groups) | none | Set a data set with groups for the Timeline.
groups can be an Array with Objects,
a DataSet, or a DataView. For each of the groups, the items of the
timeline are filtered on the property group, which
must correspond with the id of the group.
|
| setItems(items) | none | Set a data set with items for the Timeline.
items can be an Array with Objects,
a DataSet, or a DataView.
|
| setOptions(options) | none | Set or update options. It is possible to change any option of the timeline at any time. You can for example switch orientation on the fly. |
All parts of the Timeline have a class name and a default css style. The styles can be overwritten, which enables full customization of the layout of the Timeline.
For example, to change the border and background color of all items, include the following code inside the head of your html code or in a separate stylesheet.
<style>
.graph .item {
border-color: orange;
background-color: yellow;
}
</style>
All code and data is processed and rendered in the browser. No data is sent to any server.