Setting general charting options

To set the general charting options, click on the General tab of the Charting Settings dialog. On this page, you can set options for specific use when performing an Expand operation, when performing an Explore operation, when adding common neighbors or finding a path and for deciding whether to perform incremental layouts.

At any time, you can reset all of the options on the Charting Settings dialog back to their default settings by clicking Reset.

The Charting area allows for different layouts when using any of these options. The Style list allows flexibility in choosing the charting perspective for each type:

Select Predefined to use the default styles defined in iBridge Designer. In the Accounts Example 3, the Predefined setting represents people as icons and meetings as event frames.
Select Association to override the styles in iBridge Designer to display entities as icons and links defined in Analyst's Notebook.
Select Timeline to override the styles in iBridge Designer to display entities as theme lines and event frames in Analyst's Notebook.

The Incremental rearrange check box automatically arranges only those entities and links added to your chart as a result of an expansion operation. Otherwise all entities and links are rearranged after performing an expansion operation. This setting applies for the following commands: Expand, Explore, Find Common Neighbors, Find Connecting Links and Find Path.

The options in the Expand area apply when you are performing an Expand operation:

You can select the number of expansion levels you wish to use. A level of one expands to entities connected directly to the originally selected set of entities. A level of two includes all entities selected as a result of a level one expansion and all entities connected directly to the resulting selected set. A level three expansion includes all entities selected as a result of a level two expansion and all entities connected directly to the resulting selected set.
This means that a level two expansion is equivalent to performing a level one expansion and then, using the set of entities selected by the expansion, performing another level one expansion. The maximum number of levels you can set is 5 or unlimited.
Set the number of expansion levels by turning on Limit expansion levels and selecting the level. To perform an unlimited expansion, turn off the check box. An unlimited expansion may take a significant amount of time to complete but you can abort the operation at any point by pressing the Esc key.
Note: In Explore, style does not apply and you can only set an expansion level of one.
Links between entities selected as a result of your Expand operation are not added to your chart during a normal Expand operation. To include these links during the Expand operation, turn on Include connecting links.
This is equivalent to performing your Expand operation and then selecting the Find Connecting Links command.
Note: In an Explore operation if you turn on Include connecting links this setting will not be applied in the Explore window.
Entities that are connected to more than one of the entities selected as a result of your Expand operation and their links are not added to your chart during a normal Expand operation. To include these entities and their links, turn on Include common neighbors.
This is equivalent to performing your Expand operation and then selecting the Find Common Neighbors command.
Note: In an Explore operation if you turn on Include common neighbors this setting will not be applied in the Explore window.
If you are performing an Expand operation to more than one level or if you are including common neighbors or connecting links, you can choose whether to see each level of expansion as it happens or just the end result. To see each expansion level, turn on Animate.
You can choose whether to expand using any links regardless of their direction or whether you specifically only want to expand the links directed outwards, with the expand or inwards against the expand. Turn on the required option in the Direction area. If you select a direction any links with that direction, both directions or no directions will be included. Those with arrows only in the opposite direction will be ignored.

When performing Find Common Neighborsor using Include common neighbors, you can choose whether to include all entities which are linked to more than one of the selected entities or include only those entities connected to all of the selected entities. To include only those entities connected to all selected entities, turn on Fully inclusive in the Common Neighbors area.

When performing a Find Path operation, you can choose whether or not to take note of link direction. When taking note of direction, any links which have a single direction pointing against the direction you apply will be ignored. Any links in both directions, in the correct direction, or with no direction will be included in the find.

For all of the Expand or Explore operations, you are likely to be adding further entities and links to your chart. You can choose to automatically rearrange all of the entities and links on your chart after an Expand or Explore operation or leave existing entities and links in the same place and rearrange only those entities and links which are added as a result of the operation. To rearrange only those that are added, turn on Incremental rearrange.