Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 76518
Useful: Measuring lines following objects
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:33:27 UTC
Currently, measurement lines snap to object lines/points, but remain unchanged when objects are subsequently moved. I would like the ability to assign measuring lines to objects, so if you move objects, the measurement is automatically updated. I see two strategies for this: A) Measuring from object part to object part. In this case, for either end of the measurement, we need to identify the object and the measuring point on the object. (top, left, bottom, right, center, near edge, far edge) B) Measuring from glue point to glue point. In this case, it would be useful to have measurement lines with the same behaviour as connection lines. Caveats: * This feature may be impossible to implement within the current open document standard. As far as I can see, the Open Document specification does not provide for assigning objects (and optionally, glue points) as targets of measurement lines. The connector object seems to have the necessary components, but there is no connector type with the "legs" associated with measurement lines. * In the case of near/far edge, overlapping objects may give rise to undeterminable/ambiguous decision of measurement points. This pertains to A). * Direction of measurement can be along a set angle (i.e. horizontal/vertical measurement, in most cases), or along the path from object to object. Which behaviour is desired (fixed measurement angle and adjustable "legs", or equal length legs and measurement angle adjusted automatically according to object placement), should be selectable on a per-measurement basis. This pertains to both A) and B). I have not done a very thorough analysis with different object shapes and implications thereof, so additional caveats may exist. The B) alternative should be easier to implement, but somewhat less useful. This is near to CAD functionality, which the Open Doc. specification is perhaps not intended for.
Reassigned.
If the dimension line & object are grouped, the behaviour is simulated - so how about automatically grouping them as created?
*** Issue 40749 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 76518 has been confirmed by votes. ***
Measurement updates nicely when grouped with the measured object, so grouping works in some cases, but automatically grouping is not necessary, and in my view undesirable. The grouping approach is just for measuring single objects, not for measurement between objects, and furthermore, the snap (to guide line/point) is on group edges, not on object edges. In those cases, automatic grouping just clutters up the drawing. Please don't try to implement the suggested functionality through automatic grouping. It's so simple to manually group items when needed (just shift-click and press ctrl+shift+G) that automating this task is superfluous, and it's only a partial solution anyway.
May be you can do measuring lines as one more type of connecting lines?! It coud be a best variant, imho.
I totally agree with denis0, handling as connecting lines should be the best solution. Today, measuring lines are defined as standard lines only which do not provide the automatic connection function.