When your open databases all have only a single time state, the Time slider in the Main Window is disabled. When you have one database that has multiple time states, the Time slider is enabled and can be used exclusively to change time states for the database that has multiple time states; the database does not even have to be the active database. Things get a little more complicated when you have opened more than one time-varying database - especially if you have plots from more than one of them.
When you open a database in VisIt, it becomes the active database. If the database that you open has multiple time states, VisIt creates a new logical time slider for it so you can end up having a separate time slider for every open database with multiple time states. When VisIt has to create a time slider for a newly opened database, it also makes the new database's (also the active database) be the active time slider. There is only one Time slider control in the Main Window so when there are multiple logical time sliders, VisIt displays an Active time slider combo box (see figure) that lets you choose which logical time slider to affect when you change time using the Time slider.
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