Addon:Life Line Chart View

From Gramps
Revision as of 03:54, 11 November 2025 by ErickLedger (talk | contribs) (On main Gramps Toolbar)
Gramps-notes.png
This is a Third-party Addon. The Addon/Plugin system is controlled by the Plugin Manager.

Please use carefully on data that is backed up, and help make it better by reporting any issues to the bug tracker.
Unless otherwise stated on this page, you can download this addon by following these instructions.
Please note that some Addons have prerequisites that need to be installed before they can be used.

Life Line Chart View - addon - Visualizing an ancestors tree (Gramps 5.1.x version)
Life Line Chart View - addon - Visualizing a descendant tree with photos (Gramps 5.1.x version)
Life Line Chart View - addon - Visualizing a larger ancestor tree (Gramps 5.1.x version)
Life Line Chart View - addon - Visualizing a ancestor tree with photos (Gramps 5.1.x version)
Life Line Chart View - addon - Visualizing a descendant tree in cactus shape (Gramps 5.1.x version)

Life Line Chart Views are two interactive Charts Charts category view addons which shows individuals as lines in an either an ancestor or descendant chart. The length and position of the line depends on the actual life span and the marriages. The pedigree/ancestor collapse is handled. Labels for birth / names, death, and marriages can be added.

The active person is the starting point on both charts. Birth/christening/baptism, death/burial, and marriage dates need to be available to properly draw this chart. If they are incomplete reasonable guess values are chosen if possible. If not, then these individuals are not shown.

Usage

If the addon was loaded successfully and the prerequisites have been installed two new chart icons will appear LifeLineChartView-default-toolbar-icons-60.png in the Charts Charts category view tool bar.

In general the Life Line Chart Views can be:

  • You may zoom (if the chart is focused) with
    • Ctrl++ and Ctrl+-
    • Ctrl+mouse wheel
    • the GUI control buttons (+, -, fit to view, reset to 1)
  • Scrolling is possible (if the chart is focused) with
    • mouse wheel, Shift+mouse wheel
    • Ctrl+left mouse button (grabbing)
  • Context menu enables
    • Opening the edit dialog
    • Change active person
    • Show / hide persons and their ancestors / descendants
    • Showing siblings in the ancestor chart
  • You may lock Ctrl with the GUI control button "M"
  • You may also use the filter to fade out individuals
  • A tooltip shows the name, gramps id, birth and death date of the person.
  • Photos of the persons can be displayed along the line. Their position is either based on the date that is set in the media object, or displayed in the order of appearance in the family tree.
  • Overview map on the bottom left.
  • The chart diagram can be exported as an SVG file using the Save the Life Line Chart View button.
  • Layout optimization algorithms.
  • Dark theme.
  • Handling of pedigree collapse.



Life Line Chart View Toolbars

The Life Line Chart Views toolbars are identical in options and usage:

Control Toolbars

The Life Line Chart Views have a two small toolbars as well as the decade grid and overview map of its own with the following options:

LifeLineChart-View-addon-top-toolbar-overview-60.png

Top Life Line Chart View toolbar
Hand (grabber), + (Zoom in), - (Zoom out), 1 (Zoom to Original), (Zoom to best fit), Rebuild data cache, -><- (Revert the placement and person selection), [Person/data/id and cursor position readout], ? (Help).
Zoom sidebar
Vertical Slider, ranging from 0.01x to 10.00x. On the left side.
Timeline sidebar
Decade grid. On the right side.
Overview map
(aka mini map). On the bottom left of the chart.


On main Gramps Toolbar

On the main Gramps Toolbar you also have:

  • (Save the Life Line Chart View) button that allows you to save the currently displayed Chart into a SVG (*.svg) format file for later printing.
  • Gramps-config.png Configure the active view with options shown in that section.

Life Line Ancestor Chart View

Shows individuals as lines in an ancestor chart.

Gramps-notes.png

This article's content is incomplete or a placeholder stub.
Please update or expand this section.



Life Line Descendant Chart View

Shows individuals as lines in an descendant chart.

Gramps-notes.png

This article's content is incomplete or a placeholder stub.
Please update or expand this section.



Configure Options

Life Line Chart View - addon - Configure dialog (Gramps 5.1.x version)

The Configure the active view dialog shows two tabs of option that you can configure independently for the charts:

General Layout

  • number of generations.
  • relative line width.
  • vertical and horizontal chart size.
  • warping of the whole chart (normal grid, sine, triangle).
  • show or hide pedigree collapse.
  • unique line color or coloring based on surname.
  • line fading represents the uncertainty of dates or the age.
  • show or hide labels for birth, death, marriages.
  • line weighting (only descendant diagram).
  • general chart layout "parents enclose children" or "cactus" (only descendant diagram).
  • optimizations (only ancestor diagram):
    • flip family to reduce the cross chart connection lengths.
    • horizontal chart compression.
  • softness of the family shape.
  • vertical flipping of the whole chart.
  • show photos of the person on the line.
  • size of the photos.

To return to defaults use the Reset all settings button.

Label Configuration

  • marriage label font size and name.
  • birth and death label.
    • position.
    • rotation.
    • alignment.
    • word wrapping.
    • font name and size.

To return to defaults use the Reset all settings button.

Prerequisites

This addon requires the following two Python modules be installed:

  • life_line_chart
  • svgwrite

Semi-automatic download

Gramps 5.1 supported semi-automatic download If the requirements for this addon have not already been installed you will be prompted to download them semi-automatically by selecting the Download module button for each.

The addon is based on the Python module life_line_chart, this Python module is required.

LifeLineChartView-life line chart.png

To enable SVG file export, the module (svgwrite) is required (which has a minimum requirement of Python 3.6).

LifeLineChartView-svgwrite.png

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For Gramps 5.2 and older

To enable SVG file export use the minimum requirement of Python 3.6 for svgwrite prerequisite

Issues

  • Unable to be installed on Gramps 6.x Windows AIO due to pip issue win (Workaround use gpr file from Gramps 5.1 and modify the version number to 6.0 you will be offered the option buttons to semi-automatically install the modules as shown in prerequisites section)
  • "smooth scrolling" is supported since GTK 3.24 (GTK documentation), the Gramps 6.0.x Windows AIO uses version 3.24.+ .

For current issues see the related tag LifeLineChartView on the bugtracker.