[Resolved] Screen calipers or other measuring tools ...

[Diana (Cda)]

It occurred to me that you folks here probably have tools you use to help refine already-built GUIs. I remember I used to have a screen caliper tool some years ago but can't remember what it was. And a search on the forums didn't turn up discussions on 3rd party tools of this type. Perhaps there's even an AutoIt thing that can be done that I don't know about (?).

At any rate, thought I'd ask here first since it's probably come up before where other people besides me would like a tool to easily position a new button on a completed GUI, as when one wants to add a new feature to an existing box. Sure would beat the trial-and-error business <g>.

Thx.

Edited August 12, 2008 by Diana (Cda)

[NELyon]

On the first page of Example Scripts:

http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=78010

[ResNullius]

It occurred to me that you folks here probably have tools you use to help refine already-built GUIs. I remember I used to have a screen caliper tool some years ago but can't remember what it was. And a search on the forums didn't turn up discussions on 3rd party tools of this type. Perhaps there's even an AutoIt thing that can be done that I don't know about (?).

At any rate, thought I'd ask here first since it's probably come up before where other people besides me would like a tool to easily position a new button on a completed GUI, as when one wants to add a new feature to an existing box. Sure would beat the trial-and-error business <g>.

Thx.

I used to use Screen Calipers. It was freeware, but a few years ago went to a paid model.

You can still dowload their last free version (v1.5) from their website at http://www.iconico.com/caliper/old.aspx

Nowadays I prefer Meazure (freeware) at http://www.cthing.com/Meazure.asp

[Diana (Cda)]

I used to use Screen Calipers. It was freeware, but a few years ago went to a paid model.

You can still dowload their last free version (v1.5) from their website at http://www.iconico.com/caliper/old.aspx

Nowadays I prefer Meazure (freeware) at http://www.cthing.com/Meazure.asp

Hi, thanks! Yes, I have v1.0 somewhere myself and dl the newer v1.5 yesterday. And actually I wasn't sure it would be what I needed and after trying it again yesterday found it wasn't going to help much in this particular situation. I've always found MS Paint's co-ordinates display at the bottom-right to be very handy and have always wished to find something to do the same for something on the screen. But I realized yesterday that positions are relative so it would have to be a very unique type of app to register co-ordinates in relation to a box itself and not the screen. I'm guessing that some sort of screen capture app that shows co-ordinates as you move the mouse _might_ do the trick. But in the meantime, Screen Calipers doesn't seem to be a viable solution for this particular case.

Meazure sounded interesting. It turned up repeatedly in a google search on the archives of alt.comp.freeware. But unfortunately, it probably does the same as Screen Calipers on top of being a 3 meg dl. So I was stumped yesterday when trying to position a new button to an existing GUI. It wasn't appearing for the longest time as it was off to the side beyond the visible portion of the box itself. In the end I found a solution that doesn't involve messing with the original code of the script either. This might handy for other newbies, too, once they reach the stage where something like this becomes a problem. It was simple, really, I launched my script, then launched Koda and created a box and positioned it over my GUI, playing with the size until it was the same. I then stuck a button on the Koda one and took the code for that button from Koda. I then just needed to fine-tune things a little bit after that to get it just right. But this turned out to be "like, d'uh" thing in the end; very easy, in other words <g>.

Though I won't do an active search anymore at this point, I'm still going to keep my eyes open for a tool to help do this without resoring to this workaround. But for now, though cumbersome, Koda does the job and it's something we already have.

Thanks everyone! I'm still going to keep Screen Calipers v1.5 on my USB flash drive. Never know when I might need it.

[Diana (Cda)]

On the first page of Example Scripts:

http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=78010

Thanks. Sounds interesting. I'll give it a try at some point.