Good information! Thanks Jeff
I was editing the record in the data pane. If I edit the parameter in the plug-in object "shape" pane it does update on the drawing the way I wanted it to do, perfect. Now I am trying to write a script (plug-in tool) to edit the plug-in object. I now know that editing the parameter does the job, but the new scipt (edit tool) is giving me an error " { Error: Assignment to a constant is not allowed. }". I guess a parameter is a constant? Is it possible to edit (re-initialize) the value of the parameter from a script??