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How to attach an iBase record to the timeline on Analyst's Notebook ?

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Question

In i2 iBase, you might have entity records that have a date and time (or only a date).
When you send these records to the i2 Analyst's Notebook (ANB) chart, you want these iBase records to be "attached" to the ANB timeline.
By "attach to the timeline", I mean the record will be positioned below the timeline, according to its Date and Time.
You can move the iBase entity left and right, but they are limited to the presence of other records that also have a Date and Time.
It is not always easy to understand how to configure iBase and ANB so that the iBase records sent to the ANB chart are attached to the timeline. This document explains the different options.
Note: it is important to keep in mind that there is no correct or wrong option. Each option will produce different results, and can be applied in certain circumstances.

Answer

For the demonstration, we can use a test iBase database. We start with iBase Designer.

We create a new iBase database, using the Crime template.

What I want to show is how you can choose one field from an iBase entity type as the Date field in Analyst’s Notebook.

And do the same for a link type.

Create a new Security file, or use an existing one. You must connect with a user that has the same profile as SYSADMIN (or you can use SYSADMIN for the tests)
When you connect, say you want to create a new database :

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You can use an Access format database (but you can of course use an SQL format DB) :

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Go to the Template tab (note: your list might be different than mine)

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Select the « Crime » template (with the Workgroup type)
Recommended: before you click OK, open the Advanced tab

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Enable the Soft Delete (this is not mandatory but recommended).
Click OK to create the iBase database.  iBase creates the IDB file on the same folder where the IDS file is located, and it uses the name of your iBase database (in the example, it will be TEST.idb)

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We can now change the structure of some of the entity type and link types (this is only for the demonstration purpose).

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But first, let’s fix the problems with the icons.
The reason some of the icons are shown with a white circle is that I’m using a different Iconlist.txt file.  Your icons might be different.
Double-click the Person entity type

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Select the icon you want to use in your own IconList.txt file.
Do the same for the other entity types that have a white circle.

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Now, we can change the Person entity type.
Add a new field. Call it “Date 2”. The field type is Date

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I do this because I want (for the demonstration) to have 2 Date fields for the Person.
For the Link type, we already have the Employee link type, which has by default 2 date fields (Start Date and End Date). So, we will use this link type for our demonstration.

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Now, in ANB, when you look at the Properties of an element of the chart (an entity or a link), you can see that there are predefined fields :

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In iBase, you use the Charting Schemes to tell iBase (and ANB) what iBase field must go in one of the ANB properties.  This is done in Base User (and not iBase Designer)
So, let’s go back to iBase User.
Go to Charting Schemes. Then “All Charting Schemes”. Right-click, and choose “New”

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Let me explain how this works…
On the left, you have the list of the ANB properties (Date, Time, Description of Date & Time, Time Zone…).  By default, they are under the “Default” grouping.
The default grouping (or folder) means that the mapping will be valid for all the Entities and Links (unless there is a specific mapping for one entity type or link type.
The Default mapping will mainly be used if you have defined Standard fields in your database.

Note: Standard Fields are fields that are duplicated in every entity type and link type.

For example, you might define a Standard Field called “Comments”. In this case, you might want that the value of the Comments field be displayed in the Description property in ANB.
Generally, you don’t change the mapping of the Default folder.
Now, you see that on the left, under the big rectangle, you have “Configure this entity/link type:”

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This is where you can specify that you want to configure the mapping for one entity type or link type.
Let’s configure the Person entity type.
Display the list of the Entity and link types, and select Person

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Click the Add button to validate.
So now, we can configure the mapping of the iBase fields to the ANB properties for the Person entity.
On the Person’s entity type, we have 2 Date fields: the DOB (Date of Birth) and the new date field “Date 2”.
You must choose which one you want to send to ANB for the Date property.  Usually, for a Person, we’ll use the DoB.  But nothing prevents you to select another field that has a date format.
So, for the Person entity type, we have these ANB properties :

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To have the entity (or the link) be attached to the timeline, we need to specify the date AND the time (if you only specify the Date, it will not work).
So, you see on the right side that you have 3 options for the mapping of the Date property :
A field
A value
Blank value
Here, we want to assign the field DOB (of iBase) to the ANB property Date. But we could assign the field “Date 2” if we want.

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As we need a date and a time for the entity (or link) to be attached to the timeline, we must now select the next ANB property, which is Time.

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As there is no field in the Person entity type with the Time format, we cannot assign a field for this ANB property.  So, we will have to force the value of this field.
In the case of a date of birth, the easiest and most logical is to choose noon (12:00).  We do not recommend choosing midnight (12:00 PM). The reason is that while it is clear that Noon of the 17/12/1980 is, when you say that it’s midnight of 17/12/1980, some people might think that it’s midnight between the 17th and the 18th of December while other people might think that it’s midnight between the 16th and the 17th.  There’s no possible confusion when you choose noon.

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We can now add a value for the ANB property “Description of Date and Time”.  While there is no fields in iBase that would hold this information, we can add a value to tell the user on iBase what the Date and Time are.

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You can assign values to the other ANB properties like this, either by matching them with an iBase field, or putting a manual value.
Once the Person entity type is done, we can now do something similar for the Employee link type.

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Here, for the Date, we have 2 possible choice: Start date and End date. The choice depends on what you want to show. There is no right or wrong choice…
For example, we can show the Start date.  As for the DOB, there is no field for the Time, so we’ll have to force the value of the Time property to 12:00:00.
And for the property “Description of Date and Time”, we must write that the value is “Start Date of Employment” (as otherwise, it might not be clear what this date corresponds)
You can assign the other ANB properties for this link type, and for the other Entity and Link types.
Once done, save this Charting Scheme.

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Give this Charting Scheme a name.
You can create different Charting Schemes, each one having a different configuration and different mapping.  But most of the case, one charting scheme will be enough.
You can call it for example “CS 1”, for Charting Scheme 1

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So, as this database is empty, we need to create at least a couple of Person records.

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And the second record

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Now, select these 2 records and send them to an ANB chart

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ANB opens. If we display the timeline, we see that the 2 entities are not attached to it (as there’s no small triangles on the timeline) :

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This is expected behavior.
Now, we can check one of the record’s properties :

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We see that this record is “Free” (on the Order and Control of Date & Time).
There are different options to have the entities Controlled (the Links will automatically be controlled if they have a Date and a Time).
Option 1: Use “Combined Properties”
  • When you are on a chart with multiples entities, you must first select all the Entities that have a Date and a Time (if they have none, or if they only have a date or a time, but not both, it will not be possible to attach them to the timeline).
  • To this, the easiest is to use the Visual Search

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  • Create a filter on “Date & Time”, where “Date & Time – is present”
  • This will only select the entities that have both a Date and a Date value.
  • Note that you can add more filters, for example on the Type, if you want to only select the Persons, or the Accounts.
  • Click OK to launch the Search. Check that you do have results.
  • Once you have results, right-click one of the selected entities, and select Combined properties.
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  • Here, you can enable the fact that the selected entities are Controlled (Ordered by date & Time).
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Warning: If you display the entities as Icons, the links will NOT be controlled (they won’t be ordered by Date & Time).
On the example above, the link on the right between Mary DANE and Anonymous has a Date and a Time. Yet, it is not attached to the timeline.  The reason is that as the 2 entities are already attached to the timeline with their respective date & time, it wouldn’t be possible to also attach the link to the timeline.  If you want to attach the links to the timeline, you must display the entities as Theme Lines.  This is what I’ll explain now.

Option 2: Change the Entity representation from Icons to Event Frames
  • In the previous test, we saw that by default, the entities represented as Icons are “Free” (meaning they are not Controlled by Date & Time). This is not the case when the Entities are represented as Events.  This test shows you how.
  • We can start with a new blank ANB chart.
  • Search for the 2 Person Entities, and send them to the chart (they are sent as Icons, as this is the default representation).
  • As we already saw in the previous test, the icons are “Free”. They are not attached to the timeline.

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  • And if we look at their properties :

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  • So, what we can do here is change the representation of the entities, from Icon to Events.
  • To do this, we also must select only the Entities that have both a Date and a Time.  So, we’ll use again the Visual Search.

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  • Once the entities are selected, you can now change their representation. In the Style menu,

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  • Select Representation = Event Frame.
  • Check that the Order is set to “Add Order to All Chart Items with Date & Time”
  • Click OK to validate

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  • The entities that have a Date and a Time are now represented with an Event frame. And they are now Controlled by their Date & Time.
  • But as for the first test, if there’s a link (with a Date & Time) between these entities, the Link is not attached to the timeline.
  • Now, we can compare the 2 options we’ve seen so far, and how they are displayed on the chart.

Option 1: Entities as Icons

Option 2: Entities as Event Frames

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  • So,So, while the 2 options are valid, the problem we have with both is that the Links are not attached to the timeline.  This is why we’ll see a third option.
 
Option 3: Change the Entity representation from Icons to Theme Lines
  • In ANB, the way to represents the Links as vertical lines, attached to the timeline is to have Entities represented as Theme Lines.
  • We’ll start on a new chart, and we’ll call again the 2 entities from iBase.  By default, they are represented as Icons. And again, we’ll use the Visual Search to select the Entities that have a Date & Time. Then, go to Style – Change Representation.

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  • Select Theme Line.

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  • Here, we can see that each Entity has its own Theme Line, and it is also Attached to the timeline (visible from the little blue triangles at the bottom of the timeline.
  • In this situation, if we add a link (with a Date & Time) between these 2 entities, the link is correctly positioned on the timeline.

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  • With this system, you can position the entities that have a Date & Time on the timeline, and the Links are also correctly positioned on the timeline.
Option 4: Automate the Entity representation from ANB
  • In iBase, it’s not possible to specify that how you want the entity records to be represented (as Icons, Event Frames or Theme Lines).  We saw in the previous 3 options how to can manually change the representation of some of the entity records on the ANB chart.
  • But ANB offers a way to choose the representation of the iBase entities when they are sent on the ANB chart.  It even offers 2 ways. You can either choose that all the iBase entities are displayed on the ANB chart as Icons or Theme Lines, or you can choose which representation (Icon or Theme Line) to use for each Entity type.
  • This is done in the iBase Panel of ANB

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  • This section allows you to create up to 8 different combinations of ways the entities and links are displayed on the ANB chart.
  • With the Combination 1 selected, click the Edit… button

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  • What is important on this screen is the “Charting Style” part. You see that the value is Association. This means that all the Entity records from iBase are shown on the ANB chart as Icons.
  • For the Combination 1 setup, we’ll leave this value, so we can simply click OK or Cancel to exit and come back to the iBase panel.
  • Select the Combination 2, and click Edit…

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  • The Association & Timeline Option screen is displayed.
  • On the Charting Style, click the little arrow at the right of Association to display the possible choices

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  • Select Timeline. This selection means that all the entities from iBase are displayed as Theme Lines or Event Frames.

Note: When is an Entity from iBase displayed as a Theme Line or as an Event Frame ?

If the Date and/or Time property of the Entity is set (this is done in the Charting Scheme definition), then the Entity is displayed as an Event Frame. If not, it’s displayed as a Theme Line. This means that you can also “play” in the Association & Timeline Option screen with the Charting Schemes, depending on what you want to do.

For example, you might have a Charting Scheme where you specified that the Date & Time Properties must be set for one entity type (in this case, the Entities are displayed as Event Frames), and another Charting Scheme where you leave the Date & Time properties for this Entity type empty. In this case, the Entities are displayed as Theme Lines.

  • I recommend you to change the name of “Combination 2” to something else. For example “Show Entities for timeline”

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  • Now, when you select this Association & Timeline option, all the entities from iBase are represented as Theme Lines or Events Frames (depending if their Date & Time properties in ANB are empty or not).
Some examples :

Case 1. In the Charting Scheme CS1, Address entity doesn’t have Date nor Time. Person entity is having Date & Time. One record (Peter Dough) doesn’t have a DoB).

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Note the white dot at the top-center of the Event Frame for Peter DOUGH. This means that it doesn’t have both a Date and a Time, which prevents to attach it to the timeline.

Case 2. In the Charting Scheme CS2, Address entity type doesn’t have Date nor Time. Same for Person entity type.

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Important: there is no right or wrong representation of the entities. It all depends on what you want to show. In the example of this document, you can ask yourself “is it important to position the Persons on the timeline, based on their date of births ?”.

For some charts, the answer might be Yes.  For example, if you want to show that a group of persons were born in the 80’s, and another group of persons were born in the early 2000’s, showing up that you have 2 distinct group of people, and they regroup by age.

For other charts, the answer might be No.  For example, attaching some persons to the timeline based on their date of birth, while you are interested in their professional relations, or where they live, what phone they use…, this might not be useful, and it may even be counter-productive, as it may mess up the chart layout.

It is the role of the analyst to know how best represent the information from iBase on the ANB chart, using all the possible options the ANB software offers.

I also recommend you to make tests with your iBase database, creating different Charting Schemes, combining them with the Charting Styles.

Option 5: Customizing the Entity representation from ANB
  • We saw in the previous tests that the Charting Style option in ANB allows you to specify that the iBase entities should be represented as icons or for the timeline (as Theme Lines or Event Frames).  But it is also possible to customize the entity representation for each entity type.
  • In ANB, when you are connected to the iBase database, you have the Association & Timeline Options. We already have the Combination 1 option that represents the entities as Icons. And we changed the Combination 2 option, renaming it “Show Entities for timeline”. On this example, we’ll work on Combination 3. Select this value, and click the Edit.. button next to it.
  • In this screen, we’ll start to rename this option, to give it a better name.  We can call it “Custom Entity representation 1”.
  • On the same screen, you have the Charting Style option, with 3 possible choices :
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  • Select  “Custom Representation”.  The command Custom Representation… becomes available
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  • Click on it. The following window is displayed :
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  • For each Entity type, you can define the representation you want to have.
  • You have 3 options: Icon; Theme Line and Event frame.
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  • This allows you to fine-tune the representation of the entities from iBase on your ANB chart.
  • For example, you could configure it as :

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Note: How do I choose between the 3 representations ?

Generally, you must choose the Theme Line representation for entities like Phones, Accounts, where you have several links with Date & Time between these entities. The Entities themselves generally don’t have a Date & Time, or it’s way less relevant than the links to and from the entities.

You can choose the Event Frame representation for entities that have a Date and a Time, and those date-time is a very important part of what define these entities. We can give as examples Crimes, Events, Meetings…  Of course, these entities are linked to other entities, but these links generally don't have a Date & Time (as this information is supposed to be stored in the Entity)

You can choose the Icon representation for … basically all the rest. They can be real world “objects” (People, Organizations, Vehicles, Documents…). They are entities that either don’t have a Date & Time, or this Date & Time doesn’t play a major role in the analysis. And these entities are linked to other entities with links that don’t have Date & Time.

But as explained above, there is no right or wrong way to represent an entity. Make tests, try different combinations of Charting Styles, of Charting Schemes, see which one helps you make the ANB chart easy to understand. 

  • Here is an example of a simple chart using this new Association & Timeline option configuration :

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Option 6: Manually change the Entity representation on the ANB chart
  • In the previous tests, we saw how to configure the way the iBase entities are displayed on the ANB chart, using the Charting Schemes and the Charting Styles.  But it is also possible to manually change the entity representation for each entity on the ANB chart.
  • To do this, you must of course start with an ANB chart with entities from iBase already present.
  • You must then select the entities that you want to change their representation. This selection can be done either by selecting the entities one by one, or using the Visual Search function of ANB.
  • Once the entities are selected, go to the Style menu, then click Change Representation

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  • The following window is displayed :

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  • The top part (“Change Selected Entities To”) allows you to select how you want the entities to be represented. The most used options are Icon, Theme Line and event Frame.
  • The bottom part (“Order”) lets you decide if you want the entities to be sorted by Date & Time along the timeline.
  • If you are not sure what the result will be, you can copy the existing ANB chart content to another new ANB chart, and make your tests on this copy, keeping the original ANB chart untouched.
  • Again, don’t hesitate to try different things, see if the result suits you.

I hope this long and detailed documentation was clear and allows you to better use the i2 products.

If you have any question, don’t hesitate to contact the IBM i2 Support team, who will be happy to assist you.

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Document Information

Modified date:
28 July 2021

UID

ibm16476232

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