Glossary
A
- alignment panel
- An invisible reference object you can use to position child
objects relative to a specified point. Objects on an alignment panel
are not scaled by layouts or axes.
B
- breakpoint
- A value at which a color in a colormap changes from the previous
color to the next color.
C
- chile depth
- The number of child levels in a hierarchical layout. A child
depth value of 1 defines a hierarchy with one parent object and
its children. A child depth value of 2 defines a hierarchy with
a top parent object, and its children, and its children's
children.
- child scaling factor
- Factor used to determine the size of each child element relative
to its parent in a hierarchical layout. For example, in an organizational
chart, if the supervisor box is one square inch and the child scaling factor
is .5, the employee box is displayed as half the size of the supervisor
box, or one square half-inch.
- color sequence
- A type of resource that contains a set of predefined colors
that can be accessed by an integer index. Color sequences are user-defined
functions that can be used when defining the attributes of an object.
- connection point
- A type of resource that can be used to vary the color of an
object depending on a value associated with the object. Colormaps
are user-defined functions that can be used when defining the attributes of
an object.
- connection point
- An invisible point whose coordinates are used as a reference
for a link that extends from one data point to another data point.
- connector
- A graphical object that provides links between data points
in a layout.
D
- data locator
- A data template child object that defines the location and
scaling of data points in a layout.
- data symbol
- A graphical element used to represent a data point in a layout. QMF Visionary provides
default data symbols for each layout, but users can substitute the
data symbols they want and modify their properties. Examples of
data symbols are markers, candlesticks, event bands, and price interval
bars.
- data template
- The portion of a layout that is based on the query and displayed
according to the layout style. The properties and child objects
of a data template determine the format of each data point in a
layout.
- destination scene
- A scene to which a wormhole connects. See also source scene, wormhole.
- destination scene offset
- A set of x- and y-coordinates that specify the center point
of the destination scene that appears when it is displayed through
a wormhole in the source scene.
E
- event action
- An action that executes a function in response to an event.
Events occur through user actions such as a mouse click.
G
- global parameter
- A value assigned to a variable that is available to all scenes
in a world and to the end user.
L
- layer
- One of a set of data templates in a single layout. For example,
an XY chart that displays auto sales over a calendar year and advertising
spending over a calendar year contains two layers.
- layout
- A display format that determines how data appears in a scene.
A layout that displays data from an SQL query contains data points
representing each row returned by the query. Examples of layouts
include pie chart, stock chart, and linear map.
- level of detail
- A view of data that is associated with a zoom level. There
are two types of levels of detail: scene level and data template level.
Increasing the level of detail provides more screen space to present
detailed information for each data point.
M
- maximum child depth
- The maximum number of child levels that can be displayed for
a hierarchical layout. As you zoom into a hierarchical layout, the
maximum child depth property controls the viewable number of levels
at each zoom level.
P
- primitive object
- A graphical object such as a line, rectangle, or polygon that
is used in the graphic design of a scene or data template.
Q
- query parameter
- A value assigned to a variable that is set at runtime before
an SQL query is executed.
S
- scene
- The graphical representation of information retrieved from
a database. A scene can also include other graphic elements, such
as static text and images, and navigational tools, such as wormholes
and jumps to other scenes.
- scene parameter
- A value assigned to a variable that is passed from one scene
to another. In QMF Visionary, wormholes and event actions pass scene
parameters.
- source scene
- A scene with a wormhole object in it that links it to a destination
scene. See also destination scene, wormhole.
- storyboard
- A functional specification for a QMF Visionary application.
It includes diagrams of the scenes, how they are linked, and the
queries to be used.
V
- viewer class
- A type of resource that enables a user to restrict the appearance
or behavior of a world based on a viewer's identity. Viewer classes
are hierarchical.
- viewpoint
- A three-dimensional location for viewing a scene. A viewpoint
has three properties: x-coordinate location, y-coordinate location,
and zoom level. The x- and y-coordinate locations are set from the center
of the scene.
- visibility
- A property that determines whether a data template or other
object can be viewed in the scene. Visibility is a Boolean data
type; it can be specified with a property expression that returns
a value of true or false. In a hierarchical layout, visibility of
child data fields is determined by the combination of child scaling
factor and zoom factor. See also child scaling factor.
W
- workbook
- A filtered view of database objects, including tables, views,
synonyms, procedures, functions, and data types.
- world
- A display of multiple graphical representations of related
data driven by dynamic SQL queries. A QMF Visionary world consists
of scenes, rather than forms or reports. See also scene.
- wormhole
- A special QMF Visionary object that links two scenes and can
carry context information (parameters) from the source scene through
to the destination scene.
