() of () (Sensing block)

"() of ()" redirects here. For the Operators block with the same name, see () of () (Operators block).

() of ()
[ v] of ( v)
Category	Sensing
Type	Reporter
Introduced in	05Oct07 (1.2 Alpha)

The () of () block is a Sensing block and a Reporter block. The block will report a specified value of the specified sprite or the stage.

Below are the values that can be reported:

• X Position
• Y Position
• Direction
• Costume or Backdrop number
• Costume or Backdrop name
• Size
• Volume
• Variables local to the specified sprite, or global variables if the stage is specified

If the block is used on a sprite which has clones, the reported value will be of the original sprite, and never of the clones. This makes it impossible to access information about clones using this block.

If there is nothing in the second drop-down, or if a sprite that was deleted or is non-existent is in the second drop-down, it reports the value as 0.

Example Uses

This block allows sprites and the stage to have access to other sprites' special values. With this, projects can have a lot of connectivity between sprites.

This block renders eight blocks unnecessary (except when used by clones):

• x position
• y position
• direction
• costume [ v]
• backdrop [ v]
• size
• volume
• (variable)

Also, Scratch 1.4 and all versions after it, the sprite name area can have an expression/variable put into it so that a script can access any other sprite's variables or properties given that sprite's name. To specify the stage, the name must be "_stage_". This is useful in projects where one wants to be able to generalize things:

set [index v] to [0]
repeat (length of [names v])
   change [index v] by (1)
   replace item (index) of [values v] with ([myVar v] of (item (index) of [names v]))

Some common uses for the () of () block include:

• Making a sprite follow another by setting their X and Y positions to the X and Y positions of the other, plus or minus a certain number:

when gf clicked
forever
   go to x: (([x position v] of (Sprite2 v)) - (10)) y: (([y position v] of (Sprite2 v)) - (10))

• Waiting for a different sprite to reach a certain costume

wait until <([costume# v] of (Sprite1 v)) = (target)>

• Checking volume to adjust a sprite's own volume accordingly

set volume to ([volume v] of (Sprite1 v))%

Workaround

Main article: List of Block Workarounds

The functionality of this block can be recreated with the following scripts:

Put this in every sprite:

when green flag clicked
forever
set [Sprite1: X v] to (x position)// Change "Sprite1" to the name of the sprite for each of these
set [Sprite1: Y v] to (y position)
set [Sprite1: Direction v] to (direction)
set [Sprite1: Costume# v] to (costume [number v]::looks)
set [Sprite1: Costume Name v] to (costume [name v]::looks)
set [Sprite1: Size v] to (size)
set [Sprite1: Volume v] to (volume)
end

And then for the stage:

when green flag clicked
forever
set [Stage: Backdrop# v] to (backdrop [number v]::looks)
set [Stage: Backdrop Name v] to (backdrop [name v]::looks)
set [Stage: Volume v] to (volume)
end

And then to call those:

set [output v] to (Sprite 1: X)