Reference

Overview

During a typical working session with Cinderella one or more main windows can be opened. In these windows most of the actions are performed. A typical main window looks like this:

Each main window of Cinderella consists of six major parts. From the top to the bottom there are:

1. The menu bar
   From there you can access almost all actions, including file export, geometric operations and selection tools.
2. A toolbar with general actions
   There you have access to actions like Save, Load, Print, Export to HTML, Undo/Redo operations and various selection tools.
3. A toolbar with geometric modes
   This toolbar contains all major geometric operations ranging from simple intersection operations to complicated operations like the generation of loci.
4. The drawing surface (view)
   This is the place where all the actions take place. Here you will construct and make your geometric explorations.
5. A toolbar with view-specific actions
   This toolbar contains operations like Zooming, Translating, Scaling, PostScript export, etc.
6. The message line
   In this line Cinderella tells you what it is currently doing or what it expects as input from you.

The Menu

Almost all functionality of Cinderella is accessible through the menu. However. it is much more convenient to use the different toolbars to access the different operations. You can (de-)collapse toolbars by a double-click on their background, if you need more space for your construction.

The menu bar has six default entries:

• File
  The standard file operations.
• Edit
  Undo, Redo and selection tools.
• Properties
  Changing the appearance of the geometric objects.
• Geometry
  Selecting the type of geometry (Euclidean, hyperbolic or spherical).
• Views
  Opening additional views of the constructino.
• Modes
  Access to the geometric operations.
• Format
  Selecting the format in which coordinates of the elements are presented..

The General Action Toolbar

The general toolbar collects actions for several purposes. There you have tools for the standard file operations, export facilities, undo and redo, and various selection tools. The operations provided in detail are the following:

File operations:	new	load	save	save as
Export tools:	print	export HTML	export exercise
Undo/Delete:	undo	redo	delete
Selection tools:	select all	select points	select lines	select conics	select none

All these actions have one thing in common: they do not rely on sophisticated mouse interaction in the view. Simply click the action and something happens (a file is saved, elements are selected, an undo is performed, etc.).

The Geometric Tools

Unlike the actions mentioned above the modes expect you to perform operations in the drawing surface. So, when you select a mode usually nothing happens immediately, the program expects additional mouse input from you. The message line tells you to exactly what Cinderella expects. Cinderella is always in a particular mode. You can easily identify the mode that is currently active, since its button is slightly darkened. A fully equipped toolbar for geometric operations looks like this:

The variety of these operations enables the full geometric power of Cinderella. The geometric tools (modes) can be roughly grouped into six categories:

• The move mode
  This mode is the key feature of Cinderella. It allows you to drag around the base elements of a construction. While you move such an element the whole construction changes consistently.
• The select mode
  This mode allows you to select elements with the mouse. Selected elements may either be used as input for definition modes or their appearance may be changed using the Appearance Editor.
• Interactive modes
  These modes are very powerful construction aids. They take full advantage of mouse interactivity. A click-drag-release sequence often constructs more than one element. Moreover, the actual definitions of the new elements are adapted with respect to the actual mouse position.
• Definition modes
  Unlike in the interactive modes, the definition modes do not require sophisticated mouse interactivity. The construction scheme provided by definition modes is fairly simple: one selects elements by mouse clicking. As soon as enough elements for the desired definition are selected, new elements are added, and the game starts again. Usually a message line supplies you with information about the kind of elements Cinderella expects as input.
• Measurements
  These modes allow elementary geometric measurements to be determined. Similarly to the definition modes, only the defining elements have to be selected.
• Special features
  These modes provide special effects like loci, animations, text or line segments.

The Geometries

In Cinderella you have "native support" for non-euclidean geometries. That means that if you want to do, for instance, hyperbolic geometry, you do not have to mimic this with Euclidean constructions, you switch to "hyperbolic" mode instead. You can choose different geometries by using the "Geometries" menu entry, or by using the corresponding buttons in the view specific toolbar.

The Views

Cinderella offers a variety of different views in which you can observe a configuration. Each view corresponds to a specific way of representing geometry. Besides standard Euclidean views there are also views for hyperbolic or spherical geometry. A textual description is also available. You can access the different views via the "Views" menu.