<div class="intro" style="min-height: 184px;">
    <p>
        <img src="{{componentAssets}}/img/path-tool-capture.png" alt="Screen capture of Graphics path tool"  style="border: 1px solid #bfbfbf; float:right; height:149px; margin: 0 0 8px 8px; width:395px;"/>
        This simple tool helps you by generating code while you interactively
        draw graphic paths. This was used to draw the <a href="graphics-violin.html">violin example</a>.
    </p>
</div>

<div class="example newwindow">
    <a href="graphics-path-tool-example.html" target="_blank" class="button">
        Run Tool in New Window
    </a>
</div>

<h2>The Path Tool</h2>

<p>As you drag the pencil icon, corresponding graphics code is auto-generated.
This code can be copied and pasted into a graphics instance to reproduce
the paths you created with the pencil.
</p>


<h2>Initial State</h2>
<p>When the tool window is loaded, its generated code is placed
in the text area control. The generated code assumes you will have a separate
page to paste it into. This separate page must contain the following code:
A graphics container such as this,</p>
```
<div id="mygraphiccontainer"></div>
```
<p>CSS such as this,</p>
```
#mygraphiccontainer {
    position: relative;
    width: 700px;
    height:400px;
}
```
and a YUI instance containing a `Graphics` object such as this.
```
YUI().use('graphics', function (Y) {

    var mygraphic = new Y.Graphic({render:"#mygraphiccontainer"});
    // generated code from the path tool goes here

});
```
<p>The tool generates paste-able code for an `addShape` method that will
create and render a path. It generates some fill and stroke placeholder code.
You can change this to change the attributes of the fill and stroke
after it's pasted into your code.</p>
<p><Strong>Note:</strong>
As you draw paths with the pencil, they won't have these attributes; you'll
only see thin, red lines for precision. The placeholder attributes below will
only show after you paste the code in your page.</p>
```
{
   type: "path",
   stroke: {
       weight: 2,
       color: "#00dd00"
   },
   fill: {
       type: "linear",
       stops: [
       {color: "#cc0000", opacity: 1, offset: 0},
       {color: "#00cc00", opacity: 0.3, offset: 0.8} // Opacity of stops not available in IE
       ]
   }
}
```

<h2>LineTo (Drag Pencil)</h2>
<p>Drag the pencil icon. The `drag:end` event sets the `lineTo` XY value.</p>

<h2>MoveTo (Shift + Drag)</h2>
<p>Drag the pencil icon with the shift key down to move without drawing a line.</p>

<h2>CurveTo (Alt + Drag)</h2>
<p>Drag the pencil icon with the alt key down. This draws a curve and displays
two draggable control points. The curve adjusts while you drag the control points.
Clicking the pencil icon, or starting another line, finalizes the `curveTo`.</p>

<h2>New Path Object</h2>
<p>Crate a new path object with a new name by changing the name in the
'Graphic Object Name' text input, then clicking the 'New' button.</p>

<h2>Trace an Image</h2>
<p>You can modify the CSS of #mygraphiccontainer to include an image background.
This will allow you to trace the contours of an image.</p>

```
#mygraphiccontainer {
    background: url(assets/images/my-dog.jpg);
}
```

<img src="{{componentAssets}}/img/my-dog.jpg" alt="Tracing a picture of my dog
with a Graphics path" width="652" height="268"/>

zooming the browser can be helpful in accuracy.

