On Oct 22, 2008, at 1:44 AM, antonio wrote:

> at v4, etoys mode:
>
> - create an instance, of ellipse for example,
> - create a script with the order (cat. miscellaneous) do menu  
> item_adhere to edge...
> - run the script
>     then (and not before) appear the menu with options (bottom,  
> left...) but you never more can clear of it.

Indeed.

"Do menu item" offers the opportunity to execute any menu item  
contained in an object's "halo menu" programatically.

Most menu items are fine to use this way, even in a ticking script,  
because they simply execute.  But some menu items result in a  
secondary prompt or menu being put up, and when invoking such a menu  
item in a continuously-running (ticking) script, the follow-on prompt  
or menu will continuously be put up, so that your user will always be  
in a state of needing to respond to the prompt or menu, thus denying  
her the chance to do anything else interactively.

So...  There are various ways in etoys that you can "hose yourself",  
particularly through injudicious use of a ticking script.  This is a  
good example.

We could, case by case, try to reduce the number of such danger  
points, but I don't think we can altogether eliminate them without  
unacceptably limiting the expressive power of the system.  (e.g. in  
this example, there's no problem at all unless/until the user chooses  
to set the script to "ticking"...)

One proposal (from Yoshiki) to reduce the chance of abuse of "do menu  
item" is not to offer "do menu item" in the viewer unless the  
eToyFriendly flag is turned off.  What do people think of that idea?

Cheers,

   -- Scott