Yes. While in the Sketcher, under the Tools pull-down menu, there are 2 items that you need to be aware of.
One is a toggle, 'Delay Sketch Evaulation' and the other is a direct action button, 'Evaluate Sketch'. As long as the first item is toggled ON, editing sketch dimensions or constraints will have no effect on the sketch.
When you wish to update the Sketch you have several options. You can either go to Tools and toggle the 'Delay Sketch Evaulation' OFF and the sketch will update. Or you can select the 'Evaluate Sketch' icon and the sketch will update, but it will have no effect on the status of the toggle status of the 'Delay Sketch Evaluation' icon. Also note that if the toggle is ON and you've made edits, if you leave the Sketch task, the sketch will automatically update (we do NOT want to leave an unevaluated sketch left sitting in the model waiting to suprise someone). Be aware though that when you return to the sketch task later, the toggle will still be ON.One other situation that will trigger an update is if you attempt to drag any un/under-constrained curves. In order to show a valid result we must force an update, so don't be surprised if you run into that.
Note that if you intend to use these tools frequently, you can turn on their icons on the Sketch toolbar.
Now, even if the toggle is ON, you can still add curves and the appropriate constraints will be still be created, such as the tangent constraints when creating a fillet, etc.
Anyway, I think this should provide you the flexiblity that you're looking for.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA