Interactive

The Interactive window is where you type commands: to draw, to edit, to set variables and points, and to work things out. Open it from the menu, View › Panels › Interactive; it docks below the drawings.

Every command here is also how the drawing is saved: a drawing file is a list of these commands, one per line (a block over as many as it takes, and a statement over more than one inside brackets), so what you type is exactly what the drawing file holds.

The Interactive window

Using it

Click in the Command box at the bottom of the window.
Type a command, such as LINE P0,P2, or an expression, such as DISTANCE(P0,P2).
Press Enter or click Go.

To run several statements at once, paste them in (as many lines as you like), or press Shift+Enter to start a new line, then press Enter or click Go. Several can also go on one line, separated by ; (P4=[100,0] ; LINE P0,P4), and a statement can go on over the end of a line inside brackets. They run one after another, each shown as it runs; if one can't be read or carried out, the reason is shown in red and the rest aren't run. What ran is undone in one step.

To run a file, click … (Browse) and choose a drawing (.piq) or a script saved as one: its statements are put in the box and run at once, into the drawing that is open, just as if you had pasted them.

What you typed is added to the list above the box, and:

A command is carried out on the drawing. If it can't be, the reason is shown in red, and nothing changes.
An expression on its own is worked out, and shown with its value in grey: DISTANCE(P0,P2) → 640.312424.
A line that starts with // is a comment: it is added to the list and nothing else happens. A comment can also follow a command on its line (LINE P0,P2 // the diagonal): the command is carried out, and the comment ignored.
A command that can't be read is said in plain words in red ("There is no variable, point or command called TUCKK. Did you mean TUCK?"), the parser's own message, with a ^ under the place where reading stopped, under Details. Show me puts the statement back in the box with the problem selected, and Fix it puts it right where that is safe: see Check Design and Fixing Problems.

Each command is undone with Edit › Undo (Ctrl+Z), in one step, however many points, variables and elements it made; so are several statements run together, or a file run with ….

What undo steps are called

Every step on the undo history has a name that says what it does, in the app's language. Edit › Undo and Edit › Redo say which step they take back or do again (Undo Fold angle = 120°; just Undo when there is none), as do their tips and the drawing's right-click menu's, and the Interactive window says it as it is undone (Undo: Variable TUCK = 40) or redone. For example:

What you did	The step is called
A variable set (in the Variables panel, the 3D page's Variables panel or typed here)	Variable TUCK = 40
A setting of the 3D page's Scene panel changed	Scene: Rows = 5
A panel folded by hand	Fold angle = 120°
Creases moved on the timeline	Fold steps (timeline)
The Boolean tool applied	Boolean (Subtract)
A product's pocket cut	Product pocket
A shape drawn with a tool	the tool's name, as the Tool menu has it (Circle)
A menu command	the menu item, and what it was set to (Fold Order: Base First)

Copy as Statement only puts text on the clipboard, so it isn't a step on the undo history.

A variable or point given a new value that would break the drawing (such as an arc whose ends would be the same point) is put back as it was, with the reason shown in red, just as in the Variables and Points panels.

To zoom to the whole drawing after every command, set the system variable #ZA to TRUE (#ZA=TRUE).

How commands are written

KEYWORD argument,argument,…

Keywords and names are not case sensitive: line p0,p1 is LINE P0,P1.
Points are named P and their number: P0, P12. In a new drawing P0 to P3 are the corners of the box, L (500) across and W (400) up. Make a new point with an assignment: P4=[250,200].
Elements are named @ and their id: @1. A command that adds an element can be given one, LINE @1,P0,P1, so later commands can name it.
Lists of points are in square brackets: [P1,P4,P5], or [P1..P5] for P1 to P5.
Numbers and sizes can mostly be any expression: a variable, L/2, DISTANCE(P0,P1) … Elements and sizes are defined from points and variables, never fixed in space, so they follow when those change.
Strings are in double quotes: "Lid".
Yes or no is TRUE or FALSE.

What every element command shares, its id, layer, and the BRIDGES, TOOL, LINEWIDTH, HIDDEN and NOPLOT that can follow it, is in Element settings; the settings of dimensions are in Dimension settings.

Commands

Values

Command	Does
name=expression	Give a variable or point a value.
expression	Show an expression's value.
RENAME	Rename a variable.
LABEL	Describe a variable.
PRINT	Evaluate expressions.
DESCRIBE	Show how elements, points and variables are defined.
DEPENDS	Show what something depends on, as a Mermaid graph.
SELECT	A variable chosen from named choices (a material and its thickness), others going with it.

Lines, arcs and curves

Command	Does
LINE	A straight line.
PARALLEL	A line parallel to two points, a distance away.
ARC	An arc round a centre.
ARC3	An arc through three points.
BULGE	An arc that turns through an angle.
CIRCLE	A circle.
ELLIPSE	An ellipse.
ELLIPTICALARC	Part of an ellipse.
ELLIPTICALARC3	An elliptical arc through three points.
BEZIER	A cubic Bézier curve.
QUADRATICBEZIER	A quadratic Bézier curve.
POLYLINE	Lines and arcs through a list of points.
SPLINE	Elements joined end to end.
CUBICSPLINE	The smoothest curve through points.
CATMULLROM	A smooth curve through points, shaped locally.
HERMITE	A curve through points with given tangents.
BSPLINE	A curve pulled towards control points.
NURBS	A NURBS curve.
PIECE	Part of another element.
OFFSET	A parallel copy of an element.

Points, text, images and parts

Command	Does
POINT	A point element, such as a drill hole.
TEXT	Text.
RASTERIMAGE	A picture on four points.
BARCODE	A barcode or QR code on four points.
BRAILLE	Braille in a box on four points, at Marburg Medium or ADA sizes.
VECTORIMAGE	A drawing within the drawing.
PART	A part (or a page) placed by name, its variables scoped.
PARTDEF	A drawing kept in the part library, by name.
SWITCHPART	One of several parts, picked by a variable.
NEST	A part laid out on a sheet as many times as fit.
IMPORT	Read a file and place it as a part or picture.
MERGE	Merge another drawing file into this one (File › Import › Merge Drawing…).
CALLOUT	Text in a box, with a leader.
MAGNIFIER	A magnifying glass: part of the drawing shown larger in a callout.
SHEET	A drawing sheet: a border showing a page of the drawing in its viewport.
VIEWPORT	A border's view area, where a sheet shows a page.
MATE	Where a folded part meets another: a lid on its box, a drawer in its sleeve.
GROUND	The panel a folded shape stands on: a carton on its bottom, a display on its foot.
CURVEDBEND	A panel bent round along its length: its score lines, and its curve in 3D.
FILL	Hatch lines, a colour or a gradient filling an area.
BOOLEAN	Closed shapes united, intersected, subtracted, exclusive or split; follows them.

Dimensions

Command	Does
DIMHORIZONTAL	Distance across.
DIMVERTICAL	Distance up.
DIMALIGNED	Straight distance.
DIMPERPENDICULAR	Distance from a point to a line.
DIMRADIUS	Radius.
DIMDIAMETER	Diameter.
DIMORDINATE	X or Y from an origin.
DIMANGULAR	Angle.

Editing

Command	Does
TRANSFORM	Move points by a transformation.
JOIN	Join elements end to end.
EXPLODE	Break elements into their parts.
INTERSECT	Split or trim elements where they cross.
SPLIT	Split an element at fractions of its length.
SPLITALONG	Split an element at distances along it.
FILLET	Round a corner.
CHAMFER	Cut a corner, two distances.
CHAMFEREQUAL	Cut a corner, one distance.
CHAMFERDISTANCEANGLE	Cut a corner, a distance and an angle.

The drawing

Command	Does
LAYERTABLE	A standard set of layers.
LAYER	Add or change a layer.
NOTE	Keep a note with the drawing.
CLASSIFY	Say what the drawing is: its category, style, tags …
ZOOM	Zoom the drawing.
PAGE	Work on a page (made if new), or delete or rename one.
CLEAR	Empty the drawing back to a new one.

Loops, choices and functions

Statements that make geometry a command on its own can't, and stay parametric: see Blocks and control flow.

Statement	Does
FOR	A block for each of a run of numbers.
FOREACH	A block for each of some points or values.
WHILE	A block again and again, while something is true.
IF	A block, or another: the first whose condition is true.
FUNCTION	A function of your own.
FUNCTION … JAVASCRIPT	A function of your own, written in JavaScript.
CALL	A function's geometry drawn.