Outline: ETA
The Engineering Time Series Analyzer, short ETA, serves to store and edit time series. ETA is supplied with TOP-Energy as an additional application module which can also be used independently of TOP-Energy.
The articles Working With Time Series provide an insight into the typical functions and applications of ETA. The individual elements of the user interface of the ETA are introduced below.
The ETA user interface consists of the following areas:
The Plot Windows and the windows of the Project Explorer, the Plot Manager, the Data Grid, and the Properties can be freely arranged by drag-and-drop. The docking area is temporarily marked with a blue bar. This is shown in the video below using the example of the Plot Window at 1:32.
Menu Bar
The entries in the menu bar – File, Edit, View, Methods, Extras, and Help – can be used to call the basic functions of ETA.
With File → New time series a new time series is generated. For example, you can quickly create a sinusoidal time series for test purposes.
Under Extras, you can set the used Time zone and the GUI language (GUI stands for graphical user interface). The time zone of the raw data used can be selected. German or English can be selected as the language of the user interface (GUI language). If no selection is made the default language and time zone settings will be adopted by the operating system.
Toolbars
The toolbars contain in two lines icons for creating, editing, and plotting time series. Tooltips show the function of the respective icon when the mouse is over briefly.
Open project
Save project
Create simple time series
Create new data grid (value table)
Cut selected data points
Copy selected data points
Insert data points from the clipboard into the current value table or plot window
Undo the last operation
Redo the last operation
Mode for selecting the data points or a range of the selected curve
Mode for selecting the zoom range in the plot
Increase font size in all plot windows
Reduce font size in all plot windows
Scale the curve between global maximum and minimum
Scale the displayed curve between maximum and minimum
Zoom in
Zoom out
Zoom to 100 % of the curve
Zoom to one minute
Zoom to ten minutes
Zoom to one hour
Zoom to one day
Zoom to seven minutes
Zoom to one month
Zoom to one year
Project Explorer
As in TOP-Energy, the Project Explorer of ETA is in the standard setting at the top left (see the illustration above). The Project Explorer is used to manage the 
time series opened in ETA. Several ETA and TOP-Energy projects can be displayed and managed simultaneously in the Project tree.
Plot Manager
In the default setting, ETA’s Plot Manager is below the Project Explorer. The open plot windows are displayed and managed here. The active Plot Window and the active Time Series are highlighted in bold.
In the following section about the Plot Windows you will learn more about their management in the Plot Manager.
Plot Window: Graphical Representation of Time Series
Plot windows contain the graphical representation of one or more time series. To create a new plot window, select the corresponding type of Plot Window to be created from the Plot Manager context menu.
Drag-and-drop a time series from the Project Explorer
Drag-and-drop a time series from the Data Grid
If a time series is dragged and dropped onto another time series in the Plot Manager it is placed above this time series. The order of the time series in the legend in the Plot Window corresponds to their order in the plot manager. The time series can be rearranged in the plot manager using drag-and-drop.
The plot windows can be freely arranged within the plot window area by drag-and-drop. While doing so, the docking area is temporarily marked with a light blue bar.
Depending on the application, there are different types of Plot Windows:
The following slider shows examples of these plots.
Data Grid: Tabular View of Time Series
In addition to the graphical representation of time series, there is the option of tabular representation: the Data Grid (value tables).
Properties of a Time Series
Each time series has a number of Properties, such as the Unit of its values or its Time zone. The properties of a time series can be displayed via their context menu in the Project Explorer or Plot Manager.
The following video shows how to display the properties of time series in ETA and how to add time series to a data grid.
Methods
ETA offers numerous Methods for editing and creating time series. For example, you can Change time series properties and values, Convert units, adjust step sizes (Change time axis), Filter, Convert, and Combine time series. There are also methods to Analyze time series and methods for Calculation with time series.
