Way back in X4 (which I continued to use until recently), I could select (Shift-click) 2 guidelines and the distance between them could be seen in the box at the top. Now with 2018, that doesn't work and can not find any settings that allow it. The box just remains grayed out. This is causing a great deal of pain over here because this function is badly needed. I played with the dimensioning tool but it doesn't really take the place of the function that I seem to have lost. Can anybody please help?
TIA
Quacker said:This is causing a great deal of pain over here because this function is badly needed.
Are you running the full version of CorelDRAW (i.e., not the Home and Student version)? If so, then a VBA macro might address this need.
I wrote a VBA macro that displays the distance between two selected parallel guidelines.
VIDEO: Guides Distance demo 01
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I've added a post for that macro to my blog:
#17: Macro - "Guides Distance".
Thanks Sooooo much! It runs beautifully! Is this still an active project for you? If so, I have a wish...
Would it be possible for you show both X and Y readouts simultaneously if both are selected? Else a switch on the popup that toggles between them?
Please feel free to say "no." Just asking.
Thanks again!
If toggling between horizontal and vertical distance is useful to you, then you can get a lot of what you want by using "selection groups".
When you press "1", the two vertical guidelines are selected.
When you press "2", the two horizontal guidelines are selected.
In each case, the macro should automatically update the number displayed when the selection changes.
The beauty of doing it that way is that you don't have to have both guidelines in the view in order to select a predefined pair of guidelines. So, you can be zoomed in very close to position one of the guidelines, and can use the selection group number to select the pair - and update the measurement - without having to zoom back out.
Another cool thing is that a shape can be a member of more than one selection group. If you used the same vertical line line in multiple selection groups, you could, for example, click one key to see the distance from the left edge of the page, and click another key to see the distance from the right edge of the page.
Ha! That is very slick! Even better, I can move one of the deselected guides in a set to a different distance and with only a single press, get the new measurement.
I'm glad that this is useful for you!
I had never though of using guidelines that way to measure, but I like the idea. I have on occasion drawn a rectangle to do that sort of thing, but this has a number of advantages over that.
Eskimo is such a great contributor! ; )
FWIW, I very rarely use guidelines.Instead I do what you suggest John, and create temporary rectangles that are used for measuring and positioning of objects.Works great for me. :-)