Common Object Attributes

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Common Object Attributes

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There are two main ways to control the appearance and properties of Sketchpad objects.

Modify display attributes such as color, object visibility, label visibility, display style, and tracing by using the Display menu, the Text Palette, or the Text tool.

Inspect and modify the properties of an object by selecting it and choosing Edit | Properties or choosing Properties from the Context menu.

Different properties apply to different kinds of objects:

Properties

Applies to

Purpose

Object

All objects

Inspect and navigate an object’s relationship to other objects in the sketch and control whether the object is visible and whether it can be selected by the Arrow tool.

Label

All objects that can show labels

Change an object’s label, show or hide the label, and determine whether the label is used in custom tools.

Value

Measurements, calculations, and parameters

Determine how a parameter, measurement, or calculation is displayed.

Parameter

Parameters

Determine how a parameter is animated and how it’s controlled by keyboard adjustments.

Table

Tables

Determine whether the last row of a table tracks values as they change in the sketch.

Iteration

Iterations and iterated objects

Determine the depth of an iteration and how it’s constructed.

Opacity

Polygons, circle interiors, arc interiors, pictures, iterations and loci of these objects, and angle markers

Determine how much the background of an object shows through it

Axis

Axes

Determine whether an axis is numbered using decimal numbers or using fractions and multiples of π.

Function

Data-defined functions

Determine the amount of smoothing to be applied to the function.

Plot

Loci and sampled transformed paths

Determine the number of samples and whether the locus or sampled transformed path is displayed continuously or discretely.

Plot

Function plots and parametric plots

Determine the domain of the plot, the number of samples, and whether the plot is displayed continuously or discretely.

Plot

Sampled transformed picture

Determine the number of samples and allowable distortion for a sampled transformed picture.

Marker

Angle markers and tick marks

Determine the type of tick mark or angle marker, the number of strokes used to mark it, and the form in which it's displayed.

Hide/Show

Hide/Show buttons

Determine whether the button hides or shows and whether it selects the objects when it shows them.

Animate

Animation buttons

Determine the type and speed of an animation.

Move

Movement buttons

Determine the speed of a movement and how it handles a moving destination.

Presentation

Presentation buttons

Determine whether the presentation is simultaneous or sequential and control various aspects of the presentation.

Link

Link buttons

Determine the destination of the link.

Scroll

Scroll buttons

Determine whether the target point is at the center or top left of the window after it’s scrolled.