Green Flag, Arrow and Stop Button

[zirschkyd]

I am exploring Enchanting in hopes of using it with elementary students and Lego NXT robots. In my exploration of the program I find that the Green Flag, Upload Arrow and Stop Button are inactive. Are those only active when connected to the NXT? Is it possible to write a program and test run it on the stage screen?
Thank you for your response.

[clintonb]

I am exploring Enchanting in hopes of using it with elementary students and Lego NXT robots. In my exploration of the program I find that the Green Flag, Upload Arrow and Stop Button are inactive. Are those only active when connected to the NXT?

Yes, that's right. The buttons only do something useful when a robot is connected to the computer. (You can actually clicked on them when they are inactive, and they'll give you a status message, like "No device is connected.")

Is it possible to write a program and test run it on the stage screen?
Thank you for your response.

Enchanting doesn't provide a simulation tool because, in my opinion:

• it'd be confusing -- if the stuff you draw in Enchanting appears on the NXT screen, how would you draw an environment in which to simulate a robot?
• it'd be a lot of extra effort, especially as new capabilities are added to Enchanting
• if your virtual robot performs well in a simulation, you might be disappointed if it doesn't act the same way in real life

However, that has not stopped another developer who feels this same need from making a project to do it, called "NXT On Stage". It lets you simulate an NXT rover robot and export the code to Enchanting. The developer has done some very nice work.

Clinton