| These basic hints were created and constructed by Gary Stager the foremost authority and educator on LOGO and MicroWorlds. For more information visit his website: www.stager.org |
Hatching a New Turtle
1) Click on the turtle tool in the tool palette
2) Put the cursor on the page where you want the turtle to appear
3) Click the mouse
Remember that in MicroWorlds the turtle's pen is up unless you change it to PE or PD.
Naming a Turtle
New turtles are automatically named, T1, T2..., unless you specify a name. If you wish to refer to a turtle by name, you must give it one when manually or when you create a new turtle with NEWTURTLE.
1) Choose the turtle or eye tool from the tool palette
2) Click directly on a turtle
3) Type a name in the Name box. You should name your turtle
in order to talk to it later!
Turning a Turtle Manually
You may change the heading of a turtle by setting it's shape to 0 or Turtle and dragging it's nose.
1) SETSH "Turtle
2) Click on the nose of the turtle and with the mouse button pressed,
turn the turtle in the desired direction
Putting a Costume (New Shape) on a Turtle
1) Open the shapes center by clicking on the dog in the command
center
2) Click once on the shape you wish to have the turtle wear. Remember
that you may scroll through the shapes.
3) Click the hand cursor on the turtle you wish to dress
You may also do this under program control by talking to a turtle or turtles (last one clicked on, created, or addressed via Talkto, Ask, or typing it's name followed by a comma.
1) Type SETSH the.shape.number or the.shape.name
SETSH 23
SETSH "Bird1
In MicroWorlds 2.0, you may give SETSH a list of shapes to automatically flip between. For example:
SETSH [bird1 bird2]
will cause the current turtle to automatically change shapes over and over again in the order they appear in the list.
Designing a Shape or Editing an Existing One
Each LogoWriter project can have 45 turtle shapes. These shapes can be multi-colored and resized manually or under procedural control. You can design a new turtle costume or edit an existing one in the shapes center.
1) Choose the shapes center by clicking on the dog icon in
the command center
2) Select the shape or blank space you wish to edit
3) You may paste a new shape from the clipboard or design the
shape with the drawing tools.
4) To design your own shape, double-click on the shape and use
the drawing tools
5) It is a good idea to name the shape
Resizing a Turtle
1) Click on the + magnifying glass or - magnifying glass depending
if you wish to enlarge or reduce a shape
2) Click the magnifying glass on the turtle you wish to resize
until you get the desired size
or use the SETSIZE # command to adjust the size of the
current turtle
Cutting an Object (turtle, textbox, button, slider, sound, melody, movie, audio cd)
1) Choose the scissors tool or 1) Choose the arrow tool
2) Click on the object to remove it 2) Drag a rectangle around
the object(s)
3) Press the Delete key
Stamping a Turtle's Shape
1) Put the desired size shape on a turtle and either:
a) Type Stamp
b) Click on the rubber stamp icon in the tool palette
Click the rubber stamp on the turtle
Repeat the process by dragging the turtle and clicking on it again
Giving a Turtle a Script or Editing an Existing One
1) Choose the turtle tool from the tool palette
2) Click on the turtle
3) Type the commands you wish the turtle to follow when clicked
on into the instruction line
4) Decide whether you want the script to be run once or forever
by clicking on one of the two buttons, Once or Many
Times
If a turtle is running a script many times, you may stop it by clicking on it.
Talking to a Turtle
There are several ways to address a turtle in MicroWorlds...
1) Click on the turtle
This tells that turtle to act on all instructions until another
turtle is selected.
2) Type the name of the turtle in the command center with a comma after it, as in: Horse, fd 10
3) Use TALKTO "turtle.number or TALKTO "turtle.name
4) Use ASK to address a list of turtles, as in: ASK [T1 T2 T3 FROG] [FD 5]
You may also give the same instruction(s) to every turtle on the page by using the command EVERYONE. For example, EVERYONE [fd 50]
Creating a Button
1) Choose the button tool from the tool palette
2) Click on the page
3) Give the button a name/instruction list. The name of the button
is the command(s). MicroWorlds will try to run when the button
is clicked on. If you want the button to cause a horse shaped
turtle to Gallop, then there needs to be a gallop procedure on
the procedures page.
4) Decide between running Once or Many Times
5) Click OK
Stop a Many Times button by clicking on it again.
Editing an Object
(Button, Slider, Text Box, Audio CD clip, Melody, Laserdisc Clip,
QuickTime Movie or Turtle)
1) Choose the eye tool or the tool that created the object
from the tool palette
2) Click on the object
3) Make changes
4) Click OK
Creating a Slider
Unlike the button, a slider is a reporter - not a command. The slider continuously reports it's value.
1) Choose the slider tool from the tool palette
2) Click the mouse on the page
3) Name the slider and define the highest and lowest values it
may report
4) Click OK
Edit a slider by clicking the slider tool on it as in editing a button.
Programming a Color
MicroWorlds allows you to program a color to do something when a turtle is over it or the mouse is clicked on it.
1) Open the drawing center by clicking on the paintbrush in
the tool palette
2) Choose the color you wish to program by double-clicking on
it. All shades of that color will carry the same instructions.
3) Enter the instructions for the turtle and/or mouse click and
press OK
Creating a Text Box
1) Choose the text tool from the tool palette
2) Click and drag a frame for the text on the screen
3) Type in the text frame or print in it from a procedure or the
command center.
You may give a text box a name other than the default (Text1,
Text2, etc...) by clicking the eye tool on it or by double clicking
on it while holding down the shift-key. Resize a text box by shift-clicking
on it and then dragging one of its handles.
While there, you may change the appearance of the textbox. Check out the following commands: SHOWTEXT, HIDETEXT, TRANSPARENT, OPAQUE in the User's Guide or online help for more things to do with text boxes.
Using Balloon Help
You may find out the name and number of a shape or color by clicking the mouse on their respective item in the shape center or drawing center. Balloon help is more extensive and is useful for identifying turtle names and colors.
1) Choose ? from the Help Menu, press H or press the HELP key
on extended keyboards
2) Click on something
3) Repeat step 1 to turn help off
You may past your own text and graphics into a balloon by clicking the ? cursor on the page and pressing V to paste in the contents of the clipboard. The next time balloon help is clicked on that color or turtle, the new balloon will appear.
Turning a Graphic into a Turtle Shape
If the shape is in the clipboard...
1) Open the shapes center
2) Select the shape you wish to replace by clicking once on the
shape
3) Choose Paste from the Edit menu or use V
If the shape is already painted on the screen...
1) Hatch a turtle
2) Place the new turtle in the center of your graphic
3) Open the shape center
4) Select the shape you wish to replace by clicking once on the
shape
5) Click the cursor on the new turtle to change its shape (or
just use the SETSH command instead of steps 3 & 4)
6) Type the command, SNAPSHAPE in the command center. See also
Snaparea
Voila! The turtle now wears a costume of the static graphic!
or...
1) Open the drawing center
2) Choose the selection/marquee tool
3) Select the area on the screen you wish to make into a turtle
costume
4) Copy it to clipboard with C, Edit-Copy (menu) or the COPY command
5) Open the shapes center
6) Select the shape you wish to replace
7) Paste what is in the clipboard with V, Edit-Paste (menu)
Transitions
MicroWorlds 2.0 allows users to create visual transitions between pages. You can specify that a particular transitional effect appear whenever a page is loaded. The transition you choose in the dialog box (below) will take effect whenever you go to that page. In other words, you are telling MicroWorlds which effect should happen when you go to the current page.
1) Choose Transitions from the Pages menu
2) Select a transition and click OK
Note: The top center choice means use no transition
Other Stuff...
You may go to another page in a project by just typing the
name of the page in the command center, as a button name, or in
a procedure.
You can get an explanation of the last error message by choosing
Last Message... from the Help menu.
Create a laserdisc, audio CD or QuickTime movie clip in the same
way you create a new turtle, button, slider, or melody - except
select the appropriate object creation tool!
You may play a recorded sound, audio CD clip, laserdisc clip or
melody by typing its name.
You may report the contents of a text box by typing its name.
You may report the name of the current turtle by typing SHOW WHO.
All procedures must be on the procedures page .
All procedures must begin with the word TO followed by the procedure
name and any inputs followed by a CARRIAGE RETURN
Make cool visual transitions when you change pages by exploring
the Transitions option in the Page menu.
All procedures must end with the word END on its own line.
further information on this article is available from the author Gary S. Stager