Objects > Common Object Attributes

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.