Description
The code above is a LaTeX document that defines an environment called "vtimeline" that can be used to create vertical timelines using TikZ. The environment takes one optional argument that can be used to customize the appearance of the timeline, such as its color, whether to add a bottom line, and the offset between the timeline and its text.
The "vtimeline" environment uses a TikZ matrix to create the timeline, with each row representing a milestone on the timeline. The milestones are separated by a symbol "&" to mark the end of a cell in the matrix. The timeline is drawn as a series of circles with a line connecting them. The first and last circles are filled with the timeline color and the others are empty.
The timeline can also have a title at the top and a bottom line, which can be enabled or disabled with the "use timeline header" and "add bottom line" keys, respectively.
The document also includes some additional packages such as "charter" and "environ" for styling and defining the "vtimeline" environment, respectively.
Keywords
standalone, fontenc, inputenc, charter, environ, tikz, calc, matrix, catcode, pgfmatrixnextcell, vtimeline, cyan, blue, timeline color st, circle, vtimelinetitle, line offset, NewEnviron, document, anchor, node, foreach, yshift, font, large, textsc, textit.
Source Code
\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{charter}
\usepackage{environ}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,matrix}
% code by Andrew:
% http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/28452/13304
\makeatletter
\let\matamp=&
\catcode`\&=13
\makeatletter
\def&{\iftikz@is@matrix
\pgfmatrixnextcell
\else
\matamp
\fi}
\makeatother
\newcounter{lines}
\def\endlr{\stepcounter{lines}\\}
\newcounter{vtml}
\setcounter{vtml}{0}
\newif\ifvtimelinetitle
\newif\ifvtimebottomline
\tikzset{description/.style={
column 2/.append style={#1}
},
timeline color/.store in=\vtmlcolor,
timeline color=red!80!black,
timeline color st/.style={fill=\vtmlcolor,draw=\vtmlcolor},
use timeline header/.is if=vtimelinetitle,
use timeline header=false,
add bottom line/.is if=vtimebottomline,
add bottom line=false,
timeline title/.store in=\vtimelinetitle,
timeline title={},
line offset/.store in=\lineoffset,
line offset=4pt,
}
\NewEnviron{vtimeline}[1][]{%
\setcounter{lines}{1}%
\stepcounter{vtml}%
\begin{tikzpicture}[column 1/.style={anchor=east},
column 2/.style={anchor=west},
text depth=0pt,text height=1ex,
row sep=1ex,
column sep=1em,
#1
]
\matrix(vtimeline\thevtml)[matrix of nodes]{\BODY};
\pgfmathtruncatemacro\endmtx{\thelines-1}
\path[timeline color st]
($(vtimeline\thevtml-1-1.north east)!0.5!(vtimeline\thevtml-1-2.north west)$)--
($(vtimeline\thevtml-\endmtx-1.south east)!0.5!(vtimeline\thevtml-\endmtx-2.south west)$);
\foreach \x in {1,...,\endmtx}{
\node[circle,timeline color st, inner sep=0.15pt, draw=white, thick]
(vtimeline\thevtml-c-\x) at
($(vtimeline\thevtml-\x-1.east)!0.5!(vtimeline\thevtml-\x-2.west)$){};
\draw[timeline color st](vtimeline\thevtml-c-\x.west)--++(-3pt,0);
}
\ifvtimelinetitle%
\draw[timeline color st]([yshift=\lineoffset]vtimeline\thevtml.north west)--
([yshift=\lineoffset]vtimeline\thevtml.north east);
\node[anchor=west,yshift=16pt,font=\large]
at (vtimeline\thevtml-1-1.north west)
{\textsc{Timeline \thevtml}: \textit{\vtimelinetitle}};
\else%
\relax%
\fi%
\ifvtimebottomline%
\draw[timeline color st]([yshift=-\lineoffset]vtimeline\thevtml.south west)--
([yshift=-\lineoffset]vtimeline\thevtml.south east);
\else%
\relax%
\fi%
\end{tikzpicture}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{vtimeline}[timeline color=cyan!80!blue, add bottom line, line offset=2pt]
Sept 4 2017 & Discussed Making Unity Games and worked on Tutorials \endlr
Sept 16 2017 & Finish Chapter 1 \& 2, latex slides \endlr
October 3 & Completed a few labs \endlr
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\endlr
1978 & Parker Bros. Merlin Computer Toy\endlr
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\endlr
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\endlr
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\endlr
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\endlr
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\endlr
\end{vtimeline}
\end{document}