Home: Elements: Script View: Applying the Script View Step-By-Step
Sometimes you may wish to apply a custom tool’s construction to a sketch in a step-by-step fashion, rather than use it as a tool. If you are reasoning through the construction described in the Script View, for example, it’s convenient to watch the construction occur in your sketch one object at a time. Likewise, if you’re demonstrating a particular construction to your teacher or students, it may be useful to advance object by object. When you use a custom tool directly in the sketch, its constructed steps happen all at once, as soon as you’ve matched given objects, and only the tool’s final results are displayed. But when you apply a Script View construction step-by-step, objects appear one at a time, and the construction’s intermediate objects are temporarily displayed (so you can see them) until all steps are complete (when Sketchpad hides them for you).
To apply Script View’s construction step-by-step to a particular sketch:
1. Use the Selection Arrow tool to select sketch objects that match the given objects displayed in Script View, in the order they appear in the Script View object list. For example, if the Script View lists three given points, select three matching points in your sketch.
If the Script View displays both Assumed and Given objects, select matching objects first for the Assumed objects and then for the Givens.
Assumed objects match automatically only when using custom tools directly, not when applying the Script View step-by-step.
As you select matching sketch objects, the Script View displays feedback about your selections. Given objects that match your selections appear highlighted; given objects for which you must still select matching sketch objects appear on a normal background.
2. Once you have selected objects to match all of the Script View given objects, two buttons appear at the bottom of the Script View window.
Click Next Step to apply the first step of the construction. Click this button repeatedly to walk through the entire construction, step-by-step. As each step is applied, the corresponding object appears in your sketch. While stepping through the construction, you can drag objects in your sketch to investigate their relationships to other objects.
Click All Steps to finish the construction by immediately constructing all remaining steps.
3. When the last step of the construction has been completed, the construction’s intermediate objects—which the Script View temporarily displays in your sketch during stepping—are hidden, the results are selected, and the Next Step and All Steps buttons disappear. The Script View returns to its normal appearance.
If the tool’s results match the givens, you can apply the tool repeatedly to its own results simply by clicking the All Steps button.
To apply the Script View construction a second time, select new matching objects as described in step 1.
During stepping, you can press the mouse on any already-matched given object or already-constructed step in the Script View to highlight the corresponding sketch object to which it matches. If you want to stop step-by-step application of the construction without completing All Steps, press the Esc key or close the Script View window.
See also
Overview
of Custom Tools
Object List
Advanced Tool Topics