Suggestion: Measure on selecting

[ygoe]

I think I've seen this in another application before, I just don't know which.

I'm drawing a floor plan and often need to measure things and see how much space there is. Now I'm using a helper rectangle that I place where I need it and see what size it has. It can also be used to construct things and align at it.

Anyway, it would be much easier to quickly measure things if the selection rectangle would already show the size of the selection area. So I would just pretend to select something in the empty space between two objects, but actually see the distance between them. The tooltip currently shows how many objects I've already enclosed. Instead (or in addition) I'd like to see the size of the area (width & height, maybe even area in mm², cm² or whatever the document uses) that I've marked. When using a non-10-based scale, the area isn't useful, however. (My plan has 1 m : 2 cm. It's easy enough for lengths, not so much for areas.)

Would that be possible?

[GarryP]

It might help people to get behind your idea if you give some more information about what you mean by certain things.

For instance, what do you mean by “distance between them”? Horizontal distance, vertical distance, diagonal distance, or something else?

Also, what if you have more than two layers selected, what would the “distance” be then?

Also, what about non-rectangular, or irregular, shapes? Which "distance" would you want to be measured?

Also, what do you mean by “the size of the area”? The size of the area that encompasses the selected layers, or the total area of the selected layers, or the area that encompasses the selected layers minus the areas of the selected layers, or something else?

I’m sure you have a good idea of what you mean but people reading your post might not have the same idea as you so it’s better to be specific, with images if possible.