Keeping an Eye Out with Monitors
You have probably noticed that Scratch displays a small check box just to the left of certain code blocks in the blocks palette, as demonstrated in Figure 3.13.
Figure 3.13. An example of a code block capable of displaying a monitor on the stage.
The presence of a check box indicates that the code block is capable of displaying a monitor on the stage. A monitor is a small block that displays the value currently assigned to the code block. To display the monitor, just click on the check box to select it. When you do so, a gray block is automatically displayed on the stage, as demonstrated in Figure 3.14.
Figure 3.14. By default, a monitor displays the name of its associated code block.
You can modify the way the monitor looks by right-clicking on it and selecting Large Readout from the popup menu that appears. As a result, the appearance of the monitor will change, as demonstrated in Figure 3.15.
Figure 3.15. Monitors can be configured to display a large readout.
Tip
You can also toggle between monitor formats by double-clicking on the monitor.
Variable-based monitors support a third format, which includes a slider bar, as demonstrated in Figure 3.16. You will learn about variables and their use in Chapter 7, “Storing and Retrieving Data.”
Figure 3.16. Variable monitors also support a display format that includes a slider bar.
