How to apply ArcGIS time slider on Multiple Data Frames at once?

Question

Is there a way to use the Time Slider on multiple data frames simultaneously?

Example: My Dataframe 1 shows precipitation values over an area and DataFrame 2 shows corresponding temperature.. I want to be able to use the slider to advance both DFrames at once. Right now only the 'activated' dataframe is being changed with the slider..

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Another example:

I have one main map and 4 inset maps with the same time-aware dataset (see image with main frame activated). I can only export the animation with one frame following time. I would like the end result to be sequential images. Has ESRI evolved some way to control multiple frames, or can you suggest a method that would get the same result?

Answer 1

I believe that you'll need to write some functionality in ArcObjects to achieve this, as it's not supported by the default ArcMap time slider.

There is a sample at Set the time extents for a layer then render the layer which may give some clues.

Note that this code gets a reference to the active view (the current data frame) and applies the time properties:

Dim pActiveView As IActiveView = TryCast(pMap, IActiveView)
Dim pScreenDisplay As IScreenDisplay = pActiveView.ScreenDisplay
Dim pTimeDisplay As ITimeDisplay = TryCast(pScreenDisplay, ITimeDisplay)
... sets the time properties...
pTimeDisplay.TimeValue = TryCast(pTimeExt, ITimeValue)
pActiveView.Refresh()

You may be able to get a reference to the second data frame, and apply the pTimeDisplay settings to this data frame at the same time.

Answer 2

I do not think this is possible as only one data frame can be active at any one time. FYI this may be available with ArcGIS Pro as you can work with many data frames at one.

Otherwise have you added it to the ArcGIS Ideas Website?