Got a ruler?

[Arantor]

So here's a fun little thing... I've been doing web stuff for a lot of years but before I did web stuff, I did desktop stuff back in like 2000. I originally did Visual Basic for my A-Level Computing Course, and just carried on with it for a bit, did a bunch of random fun things.

One of the things I did back in the day was a screen ruler. And now here I am experimenting with remaking it from scratch in PureBasic because I wanted to try a small scale GUI app.

So here I am.



You can drag it around, you can rotate it horizontally and vertically, you can make it partially transparent to see through to the windows below, you can move it precisely with the keyboard, you can also make it longer with keyboard shortcuts. Just need to make it so you can drag the ruler out longer from the edges and I'm about done with it. Just a few evenings work, and maybe I might style up the quit button. Maybe add buttons for the rotation stuff too.

It's been a fun little project dipping back into desktop apps.

 

[Tiffany]

Love your ruler; amazing work! I've only been able to conquer graphic work. Someday, I wouldn't mind learing animated graphics. Your ruler is just that....code, graphic and animated. Very cooll!

 

[Retro]

Sounds like a useful app, especially due to its simplicity. Will you be releasing it for everyone to use, or just have it for yourself?

If you release it, you can make it a resource on here, perhaps.

 

[Arantor]

I probably will release it for free once it’s done, there’s a few minor features to go, then I need to test out what happens on split monitors and high DPI yet but we’ll see. It will be Windows only for now, and I think I need a better name than “Ruler”…

 

[Retro]

That will be cool and I'll be happy to beta test it for you.

Ruler is actually very good name for it. Sometimes, the simplest and most obvious are the best. For example, Snipping Tool in Windows. Does exactly what it says.

 

[Tiffany]

I'd use the "ruler". It would be excellent for graphic work. I've literally held a physcal ruler up to my screen when doing general measurements.

 

[Arantor]

Been thinking about the name. Names are important.

A couple of years ago I started work on a game called Undaunted, and I ended up with a partial skeleton pixel art app called Unpainted and a mapping tool called Uncharted. I'm now thinking about picking some of those up and revamping them - and perhaps adding this to the tool chest, under the name Unmeasured.

 

[Crims]

Been thinking about the name. Names are important.

A couple of years ago I started work on a game called Undaunted, and I ended up with a partial skeleton pixel art app called Unpainted and a mapping tool called Uncharted. I'm now thinking about picking some of those up and revamping them - and perhaps adding this to the tool chest, under the name Unmeasured.

I've not made enough progress on my game to log it, though I'm working on a Source 2 game which I planned a long while ago with online friends. I'm at a similar stage.

 

[Retro]

Been thinking about the name. Names are important.

Yeah, but it's gotta be Ruler cuz I like it!

 

[Arantor]

The new colour schemes are coming together.

 

[Tiffany]

Love the colors!

 

[Retro]

Nice, I like it. You could also have a second colour scheme in the official NerdZone blue and yellow colour scheme.

 

[Arantor]

Technically that would be the fourth colour scheme it has

I haven't settled on greens, blues or purples yet or whether I end up having light/dark versions of all of the above.

The fun will be when I start to deal with 'remembering what the user picked last time'...

 

[Retro]

I've just had a thought: the colour scheme I suggested could be called NerdZone Blue and comprise of a blue ruler with black measurement markings (or other suitably contrasting colour) and the yellow NerdZone logo on the left. I think that would look really cool and you could release it as a resource on the forum, either free or paid.

Waddya think?

 

[Tiffany]

Emerald colors; blues, purples, pinks/magenta and rich greens

Can't wait to see your color schemes!

 

[Uncrowned]

I actually really like this. Trying to size things the same between programs can be a nightmare and this seems to make that a wee bit simple.

 

[Mars]

That will be cool and I'll be happy to beta test it for you.

Ruler is actually very good name for it. Sometimes, the simplest and most obvious are the best. For example, Snipping Tool in Windows. Does exactly what it says.

I agree.
I also think 'Ruler' is the perfect name: it is simple and direct. It says exactly what it is, you need nothing else.
Just grab the ruler and do your measurements. 'Ruler' rules ok!

 

[Arantor]

So I did a bit more work on it...



It now sports some remembering of preferences, so if you set it to a certain colour and opacity, it'll remember that on quit and start with that next time. I'm working on doing that with position too, but position is much harder (e.g. if you last had it open on, say, laptop + external monitor and then only have it on the laptop screen... it's going to get that wrong right now)

Also need to fix a weird bug with window resizing then I think I might be done...

(NB: it doesn't do multiple rulers at once)

EDIT: The colours as given are listed in the UI as, in order, Space Grey, Tomato Red, Industrial Yellow, Mint Green, Forest Green, Sky Blue, Dour Blue, Blurple Purple.

 

[Tiffany]

Your rulers are awesome and so is your premise!! Love the colors too! The colors work for everyone's taste in both warm and cool colors.

 

[Retro]

Looks good Arantor and I like the colours, especially the orangy ones, keep at it. It's something I'm likely to use too should you decide to release it.

Been thinking of updating the NerdZone theme with a professionally produced one for a while now and dark with orange highlights appeals to me. Might go with Pixel Exit as they have a good repuation.

Note that I'll keep the original theme as an option. Unfortunately, it has a few bugs in it that the creator, one of my friends, never fixed, despite gentle nudging over some considerable time to do so. For example, select line formatting and what you get is a black line against a very dark background, making it next to invisible, like so:

---

Change the theme to the original XF one and suddenly it's clearly visible as it should be. There's a few other little gremlins like this and I'm tired of living with them just because he's too lazy to fix them and not keeping his promises (you know who you are). I'm quite pissed off about this. Apologies for dragging your thread off topic into a bit of a rant.

 

[Tiffany]

@Retro I'm sorry you have frustrating issues that haven't been fixed yet on your theme. Totally get that, and I hope you will find someone that can help you with the graphics and "look" you want.

I dabbled with an orange and a neon blue a few months ago when I was working on a website. I loved them both together. I'll have to look for my notes on those two RGB colors. The orange was an amazing orange.