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## Setting operator attributes

Each operator type has its own operator attributes window used to set attributes for that operator type. You activate Operator attribute windows by selecting the operator type from the OpAtts (Operator attributes) menu shown in figure.

Figure 9

When there is only one operator of a given type in a plot's operator list, setting the attributes for that operator type will affect that one operator. When there are multiple instances of the same type of operator in a plot's operator list, only the active operator's attributes are set if the active operator is an operator of the type whose attributes are being set. The active operator is the operator whose attributes are set when using an operator attributes window and can be identified in an expanded plot entry by the highlight that is drawn around it (see Figure4-8). To set the active operator, expand a plot entry and then click on an operator in the expanded plot entry's operator list.

Figure 10

Figure 11

Setting the active operator is useful when you have multiple operators of the same type applied to the same plot. For example, you might have applied two Transform operators so you can scale a plot with one operator and then rotate the plot with the second Transform operator. If there was no way to set an active operator, changing the attributes for the Transform operator would cause both instances of the operator to get the same operator attributes. You can make sure the first operator only gets scaling information by making it the active operator. To set the attributes in the second instance of the Transform operator, you can click on that second Transform operator in the expanded plot entry, to make it the active operator, and then set the rotation attributes for that second Transform operator.