22 AutoCAD and Its Applications—Basics Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. NOTE NOTE Toggle dynamic input on and off by picking the Dynamic Input button on the status bar or pressing [F12]. By default, you must check the Dynamic Input option in the status bar Customization fl yout to add the Dynamic Input button to the status bar. You can issue commands without dynamic input or the command line on. Command Line The command line, shown in Figure 1-18, provides the same function as dynamic input but uses a more traditional command input format. The command line also allows you to display extensive command history and search for information about commands. Depending on your working preference, disable dynamic input to use only the command line, use the command line with dynamic input, or disable the command line to use only dynamic input. NOTE NOTE The command line offers an alternative method to activate and use layers, text styles, dimension styles, visual styles, blocks, and hatch patterns, as explained later in this textbook. The command line is a palette that can fl oat, dock, or be resized. If dynamic input is on, and you want to type a command at the command line, pick the command line input area to display a text cursor. If dynamic input is off, typing a command auto- matically takes place at the command line. COMMANDLINE Ribbon View Palettes Command Line Type COMMANDLINE [Ctrl]+[9] Figure 1-20. Dynamic input fields change while a command is in use. In this example, the coordinates of the crosshairs appear first. Once you select the first endpoint, AutoCAD displays the distance and angle of the crosshairs relative to the first endpoint. Crosshairs Selecting Next Point Current X location of crosshairs Current Y location of crosshairs Prompt Selecting First Point First point of line Current distance from first point Current angle from 0° A B