EasyTimeline - Generate graphical timelines from a simple script

2. Procedure

You will need to download some (free) tools first.

1. Write a script

Use any plain (ascii) text editor, e.g. Windows notepad.exe, to write a script. Save the script as text file, preferably in the same folder as the tools.

I suggest you start with the example script from the introduction page, download here

2. Create the image

Run from the command prompt:

Windows

   EasyTimeline -i scriptfile.txt

   or, to save program messages to file

   EasyTimeline -i scriptfile.txt > out.txt

Linux

   perl EasyTimeline.pl -i scriptfile.txt

EasyTimeline will

• Parse your script and validate all input

• Generate an input file for Ploticus (pl.exe)

• Execute Ploticus to produce an image file in gif (Windows) or png (Linux) format.

• Execute Ploticus again to produce a scalable image in svg format (which also has smoother text rendering).

• Execute Nconvert (Windows only) to turn the gif image into a much smaller png file

Besides the manadatory parameter -i (see above) there are three optional parameters:

• -m generate map file for inclusion in html
• -h generate test html file, for preview of both png and svg output (+ image maps when applicable)
• -b bypass some range checks (maximum image size, font size, etc)