Draggable Sprite Feature

This article or section documents something not included in the current version of Scratch (3.0). It is only useful from a historical perspective. For information on the feature that replaced this one, see Set Drag Mode () (block).

The draggable sprite feature was a tool in Scratch 2.0 and Scratch 1.x that allowed a sprite to be dragged while the project was being played. It was removed in Scratch 3.0 in favor of the set drag mode [draggable v] block. The option was visible in early mock-ups of Scratch 3.0.

Access

The area that was clicked to toggle the feature on and off.

The tool is turned off by default. To turn it on, one looked in the sprite pane, clicked the "i" by a sprite, then clicked the checkbox, as shown at the left.

While it is easy to access, many Scratchers would like it to be more visible.

Workaround

Sometimes, it was necessary to have a sprite that is only draggable sometimes or drags in a special way. Scripts can be used to make a sprite draggable and are much more flexible than the Draggable Sprite feature. One script that can be used to make a sprite draggable is this:

when this sprite clicked
repeat until <not <<mouse down?> and <touching [mouse-pointer v]?>>
go to [mouse-pointer v]

However, this will make the sprite the cursor is dragging snap to the center. In order to drag a sprite relative to where the cursor is, use this script:

when green flag clicked
forever
if <<touching [mouse-pointer v]?> and <mouse down?>> then
set [offset x v] to ((x position)-(mouse x)
set [offset y v] to ((y position)-(mouse y)
repeat until <not <mouse down?>>
go to x: ((mouse x)+(offset x)) y: ((mouse y)+(offset y))

The Set Drag Mode () released in 3.0 made it possible to set the drag mode using a single block or change the drag mode in a script.

Example Uses

The tool had many uses, the most popular of which were:

• Quicker project testing
• Reduced scripts (very useful in One Sprite One Script Projects)
• "Drag and drop" games
• Paint projects where a paintbrush, pen, or pencil was moved around
• Dress-up and makeup projects
• Customization projects, such as scene creators