A Data Cursor is a time stamp that is shared by a group of objects. That group of objects is then able to align to the same sample time.

Data Cursor and the use of SyncID

Overview

The Data Cursor is an invisible marker that makes it possible for different data reviewers to point to data that have the same time stamp.

If operators in a project need to share a Data Cursor, they should all specify the same SyncID code, which they offer as part of their properties.

Details

The current sample time can be seen as a data cursor that points to a specific moment in time. When the data cursor is set in an operator, the operator is supposed to load sampled data from the past and set its current operation on the sample that occurred immediately after the time that was specified by the cursor.

Of course, this feature does only make sense for operators that can process history data, for example a signal re-viewer.

To let data reviewers point to the same time, they have to be synchronized to the same data cursor. These reviewers offer a property called SyncId; for all involved reviewers the SyncId should contain the same (arbitrary) value.

The same is true for Replay operators that have to start replaying data from the same moment in time. In that case, they also share a Data Cursor. Those replayers should also share a common SyncID.

The following set-up is also possible: If a File Replay that has opened a signal file with events, has SyncID "s1", and connected to it a Marker Viewer (link) also specifies its SyncID to be "s1", then if the user clicks an event in the Marker Viewer and then issues a START action, then the File Replay starts from the time of the events that was clicked. This works, because now the File Replay and the Marker Viewer share the same Data Cursor. This is demonstrated in the SyncID demo.