Custom Tools Menu

When you press the Custom tool icon in the Toolbox, Sketchpad displays the Custom Tools menu. This menu has several parts.

Create New Tool. This command defines a new custom tool based on your selections in the sketch.

Tool Options. This command allows you to organize, rename, copy, or remove the custom tools contained in your sketch.

Show Script View. This command shows or hides the most recently chosen custom tool’s script—a step-by-step description of what the tool constructs. The command is Hide Script View if the script is already showing.

This Document. This part of the menu lists all of the custom tools defined in the current (active) document. If the active document does not yet contain any tools, this part of the menu does not appear. When you define a new custom tool, it appears first in this part of the menu.

Other Documents. This part of the menu lists all of the other open documents that contain custom tools. Each entry in this part of the menu lists an open document that contains tools and displays a submenu of each of the tools in that document. If no other open documents contain tools, this part of the menu does not appear.

Tool Folder. This part of the menu lists any tools from documents that were stored in the Tool Folder when Sketchpad started. This folder is a special folder (directory) named Tool Folder that’s stored next to the Sketchpad application on your hard disk. If no documents were stored in this folder when Sketchpad started (or if the documents in this folder didn’t contain any tools), this part of the menu does not appear.

When you want to define a new tool or reorganize your tools, use the commands at the top of this menu. When you want to use a tool to construct objects in your sketch, choose it from one of the lower parts of the menu. The chosen custom tool then becomes active until you choose a different tool, just as if you’d chosen the Compass or Straightedge tool. (In other words, if you want to use the same custom tool several times in a row, you don’t need to choose it again from the Custom Tools menu.) If you’ve switched from a custom tool to some other tool, such as the Arrow, you can switch back to the last custom tool you used by clicking—rather than pressing—on the Custom tool icon. This activates the most recently chosen, checkmarked tool. If you want to switch from one custom tool to another or from a built-in tool, such as the Arrow, to a new custom tool, choose the new tool from the Custom Tools menu.

Subtopics:
Overview of Custom Tools
Custom Tools Menu
Using a Custom Tool
Making a Custom Tool
Tool Folder