New Temporal Controller panel needs easier way to set current date

[CoryAlbrecht]

The Temporal Controller panel (TCP) offers a way to step through time-based data while showing only a desired subset, but it does not easily allow you to jump an arbitrary time frame to view or edit data.

For example, if this is my layer:

them my map canvas view looks like this:

The TCP starts me off at the earliest date it finds in the layer's start field, which in this case is August 3rd, 1347, so if I need to jump tp January 1st, 1400, I have to drag the slider thumb to somewhere close by as each step is larger than the 1 day that is chosen—in the screenshot above, the sliderbar's minimum drag step with the mouse is 10 months—and then hold down an arrow key to get close, and then several more single taps to get right on.

One should just be able to enter an arbitrary timestamp and have the TCP jump to it right away, rather than having to futz with with a slider bar of inadequate resolution to get there eventually.

[rduivenvoorde]

FYI, in the 'old' TimeManager plugin this was possible by making 'current time frame start' an time input:

So you were able to fiddle your time in there....
This can be a first step, maybe even doable for me.

Next Feature Request (from me) then would be to have some widget like the 'Android time widget' which makes setting the actual time very intuitive (by setting the Hours first and then the Minutes). But that is probably more a Qt feature request :-)

[nyalldawson]

Setting an exact time range is what the second mode (filter mode) in the temporal controller was designed for. Is there any reason you can't use that mode instead?

[rduivenvoorde]

Ah duh, well, speaking for myself here... I never used that second little button...

@CoryAlbrecht is that what you are looking for?

Note that in the old Time Manager there was indeed the concept of 'Time frame start', which in combi with the 'Time frame size' made it possible to set your time slider to a certain time, or even make the timeslider 'move' by using your arrow-keys and select one of the time-fields in the input as I do below. I move the slider with my keyboard arrows:

(mmm, why does github not have webm as possible screencast format...)

[CoryAlbrecht]

@nyalldawson Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I am not talking about setting a specific range down to the second. Like I said, I need to get to an arbitrary time displayed on the canvas so I can add a new feature which exists at that time. The range may be 1387-08-03 to 2099-12-31 as shown in the screencap, but I need to jump to 1421-04-21 to add a new feature. Or to sometime in 1433, or 1477, and so on.

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[CoryAlbrecht]

Ah duh, well, speaking for myself here... I never used that second little button...

@CoryAlbrecht is that what you are looking for?

Note that in the old Time Manager there was indeed the concept of 'Time frame start', which in combi with the 'Time frame size' made it possible to set your time slider to a certain time, or even make the timeslider 'move' by using your arrow-keys and select one of the time-fields in the input as I do below. I move the slider with my keyboard arrows:

(mmm, why does github not have webm as possible screencast format...)

Yeah, if the "Frame:" header line in the panel were an editable control so I could put in timestamp ${X} and the canvas would show ${X}+${StepSize}, that would be great. That way I could just quickly enter in the time-location I need to view/edit/add new features.