PlayPauseButton

PlayPauseButton (from scenerystack/scenery-phet) is a round toggle button bound to a Property<boolean>: it shows a triangular "play" icon when stopped and a two-bar "pause" icon when running, swapping between them as the Property changes (from any source, not just the button itself). It's generated programmatically from vector shapes rather than raster images, and is normally used inside TimeControlNode rather than constructed on its own — TimeControlNode composes exactly one PlayPauseButton alongside optional step buttons and speed radio buttons.

import { PlayPauseButton } from 'scenerystack/scenery-phet';
import { Property } from 'scenerystack/axon';

A minimal example

const isPlayingProperty = new Property<boolean>( true );

const playPauseButton = new PlayPauseButton( isPlayingProperty, {
  tandem: tandem.createTandem( 'playPauseButton' )
} );

Constructor

new PlayPauseButton(
  isPlayingProperty: Property<boolean>,
  providedOptions?: PlayPauseButtonOptions
)

PlayPauseButton extends the more general PlayControlButton (which takes an arbitrary "end playing" icon Node; PlayPauseButton fixes that icon to the standard two-bar pause shape).

Options

Option	Default	Effect
radius	SceneryPhetConstants.PLAY_CONTROL_BUTTON_RADIUS (28)	Button radius — distinct from the smaller SceneryPhetConstants.DEFAULT_BUTTON_RADIUS used by most other round buttons
scaleFactorWhenNotPlaying	1	Scales the button up (or down) while showing the "play" icon — PhET convention is to enlarge the play button when pressing it does not immediately resume stepping the model
includeGlobalHotkey	true for PlayPauseButton specifically	Wires the alt+K global hotkey (via PlayControlButton.TOGGLE_PLAY_HOTKEY_DATA) to toggle isPlayingProperty, when interactive description is supported
startPlayingAccessibleName / endPlayingAccessibleName	localized "Play" / "Pause" strings	PDOM accessible names for each state
valueOnSoundPlayer / valueOffSoundPlayer	shared 'play' / 'pause' sound players	Sounds played on each toggle direction

Public API

Being a BooleanRoundToggleButton under the hood, PlayPauseButton shares the same toggle-button surface — no additional public members beyond the options above.

Don't drive time from the button itself

PlayPauseButton only flips a boolean — it never calls step() for you. Read isPlayingProperty from your model's own step/animation-frame logic (as shown in TimeControlNode) rather than trying to hook additional behavior into the button's listener.