Embedded grapher doesn't respect time query param

[rakyi]

Description

The article about the Gini coefficient includes an edited version of this chart about the change in three metrics of inequality. In the article, the chart subtitle says: "The percentage change relative to initial levels (in 1990, or 2001 for Uruguay). For example, a change in Gini from 0.4 to 0.5 would be shown as +25%." This chart was set to start from 1990 in the URL on the Gdoc, but it's not being picked up.

From my quick investigation, it looks like the parsing of the query param fails in Grapher.

Expected behaviour

The chart embedded in the article should start from the year specified in the URL.

Additional context

See related Slack thread.

Relates to https://github.com/owid/owid-issues/issues/1804.

[rakyi]

This might be fixed in the new narrative views. Check whether it's still a problem there.

[marcelgerber]

this problem happens here:

owid-grapher/packages/@ourworldindata/grapher/src/core/Grapher.tsx

Lines 1479 to 1503 in 9d17404

	@computed get timelineHandleTimeBounds(): TimeBounds {
	if (this.isOnMapTab) {
	const time = maxTimeBoundFromJSONOrPositiveInfinity(this.map.time)
	return [time, time]
	}
	// If the timeline is hidden on the chart tab but displayed on the table tab
	// (which is the case for charts that plot time on the x-axis),
	// we always want to use the authored `minTime` and `maxTime` for the chart,
	// irrespective of the time range the user might have selected on the table tab
	if (this.isOnChartTab && this.hasTimeDimensionButTimelineIsHidden) {
	const { minTime, maxTime } = this.authorsVersion
	return [
	minTimeBoundFromJSONOrNegativeInfinity(minTime),
	maxTimeBoundFromJSONOrPositiveInfinity(maxTime),
	]
	}
	return [
	// Handle `undefined` values in minTime/maxTime
	minTimeBoundFromJSONOrNegativeInfinity(this.minTime),
	maxTimeBoundFromJSONOrPositiveInfinity(this.maxTime),
	]
	}

in particular, if hasTimeDimensionButTimelineIsHidden is true (which is the case here, because the timeline is - by default - hidden in this narrative embed), then the timeline is explicitly set to the config as authored, disregarding any query params.
This choice makes sense for users visiting a grapher page with a hidden timeline, but maybe doesn't make sense for our own embeds.

[danyx23]

Thanks for reporting! This can now be done with narrative charts (Pablo A just did this for one chart - I think the one you are talking about here). Because of this, I'd say we wont fix the issue described by Marcel for now, unless we find another good reason to do so.