# Block Properties

Block ▸ Block Properties… sets the shape of one block: its name, how many
lines and tracks it has, and how many command pages each cell carries. It
shows the block you were on when you opened it, and stays on that block while
the song plays on.

Every field here changes the block's **shape**, so saving afterwards rewrites
the module rather than patching the original file.

## Name

Up to 64 characters, applied with **Enter** or **SET**. The playing-sequence
and block lists show it, and give the full name on hover however narrow the
side panel is.

Names are **Latin-1 only**: MED stores a block name one byte per character,
so a character outside Latin-1 (an emoji, most non-European scripts, curly
dashes pasted from elsewhere) cannot be saved. The dialog warns as soon as
one is typed, rather than letting the save fail later.

## Lines

1 to 3200, the range OctaMED and MED SoundStudio allow. Lines are added to or
taken from the end of the block, and shortening a block asks first when the
lines it would remove hold anything. The arrows step by one; Shift steps by
ten, like the Amiga's double arrows.

## Tracks

1 to 64. Tracks are added to and removed from the **end** of the block. To put
a track in the middle, or to change every block at once, use Track ▸ Insert /
Delete instead.

## Cmd pages

How many command columns each cell has, counted from one: 1 is the ordinary
command column alone. Each extra page gives every cell of the block another
command, and all of a cell's commands play together on the same line. While
editing, **Tab** cycles through the pages.

There is no fixed maximum. MED's own guide gives none, and Windows MED stops
at 9999. What actually limits it is size: every page adds a command slot to
every cell, and the total has to stay within what a module can be re-opened
with. A small block (64 lines × 4 tracks) can take thousands of pages; the
largest possible block (3200 × 64) can take five. Mediante says how many a
block will take if you ask for more.

Removing pages that still hold commands asks first, and says how many
commands would go.

## The line under the fields

A summary of the block as it stands: lines × tracks = cells, how many command
levels it has, whether it carries the second command level (Windows MED's
command extension), and how many rows are marked (Block ▸ Highlight).