Related Items Timeline Block – related records as a timeline¶
The timeline shows the records on the other side of a relationship along a vertical line: newest first, clustered by day, week or month, each record as a card with an icon in front of it. It is the block for the history of a record – the notes, mails, calls and changes of a ticket.
This page is part of the form block reference.
1. At a glance¶
| Purpose | Related records as an activity stream |
| Typical use | Activities of a ticket, contacts with a customer, steps of a process |
| Related | Related Items List Block, Related Items Grid Block |
The card of an entry is a form; the block only adds the line, the captions, the icon and the colors around it. The block is only offered in forms that belong to an entity.
2. Settings¶
| Setting | Meaning | Default / required |
|---|---|---|
| "Relationship" | The relationship whose records are shown | Required. Without it the block shows nothing. |
| "Card Form" | Form of the related entity drawn as the card of every entry | Required. Without it the block shows nothing. |
| "Timestamp Field" | Date or date-and-time field of the related entity that places an entry on the line. Entries are sorted by it, newest first, and clustered by it. | Set it always – without it every entry lands in one cluster without a date |
| "Timestamp in UTC" | The date-and-time values are stored in UTC and are converted into the local time. No effect on a date field. | off – values are taken as stored |
| "Grouping" | Clusters per Day, Week or Month | Day |
| "Filter" | Condition evaluated per related record; only records for which it is true are shown. Always active. | all related records |
| "Quick Filters" | A filter definition whose filters are offered as chips above the timeline ("All", "Mails", "Notes"), each with its number of entries. Only expression filters are offered. | none |
| "Item Icon" | Icon in the circle on the line in front of an entry | empty circle |
| "Item Background" | Background color of the card and of the icon circle | neutral card surface |
| "Item Border" | Border color of the card and color of the icon | neutral border |
| "Item Right Aligned" | Condition that moves the card to the right side of the line, like an outgoing message in a chat | left |
| "Initial Entries" | Number of entries drawn at first; the rest waits behind a "Show more" button | 50 |
| "Item Max Width" | Maximum width of a card as a CSS length (720px, 60rem, 100%) |
720px |
| "Disabled" | Condition under which everything in the cards is read-only | not disabled |
All item settings are evaluated against the related record, so every entry can look different. In addition, the block has the settings every block has, except "Flush".
3. Behaviour¶
- Clusters: Day names today and yesterday as such and drops the year within the current year; Week shows the calendar week (ISO) and its date range; Month shows month and year. Entries without a timestamp form the last cluster.
- Show more: the button reveals the same number of entries again. A ticket with hundreds of entries is therefore not drawn all at once.
- Quick filters narrow what the filter left over; changing them starts again with the first batch.
- Timestamp in UTC: a value typed into a form is stored as local time; set the switch only for
fields written in UTC (for example with the system function
ServerDateTimeUtc). The wrong setting moves entries close to midnight into the neighbouring day. - Disabled makes every card read-only, whatever the card form says.
4. Example¶
Activities of a ticket. "Relationship" = "Ticket → Activities", "Card Form" = "Activity
Card", "Timestamp Field" = "Created At", "Item Icon" = an envelope for mails and a note for
notes, "Item Background" = amber for notes, indigo for outgoing mails, "Item Right Aligned" =
Direction = "Outgoing", "Quick Filters" = "Activity Types".