Measuring a Line

[Pep]

Hi all
I'm new to this forum so padon me if this has been covered.
I need to know how to measure a line that may not be straight.
To make my self clearer, i know how long it take my laser to travel
from point A to point B, for instance if it is cutting at 100mm per min
but how can i find out if the line is straight,
Sorry this is harder to explain then i thought
Thanks Pep

[sallybode]

Lines are already measured for you in the property bar or on the transform bar (which isn't up by default but you can open it -- I keep mine open always). You can tell if a line is straight by the endpoints. Lines which are straight have nodes on the end but NO edit handles. If there are edit handles, the line has a curve to it. You can straighten a line by clicking on the end points. On one of the edit handles you have an option called "To Line", this makes both node straight line end node.

[Pep]

Thanks for the reply
I understand what your saying, but the measurement given is as a straight line
i need to know the complete length including cuves.
eg 1 foot of rope curved or straight is 1 foot of rope or on a street map the road could be 1 mile as the bird flies or 10 mile with cuves.
Wat i need to work out is the full cutting path of a line
Thanks Pep

[Grafixman]

I seem to remember Peter Clifton has a script that measures the length of a line, straight or curved. Anybody has the link for that?
OK, did the search myself. Here's Mr. Clifton's site:
http://www.clifton89.freeserve.co.uk/
You want the Curve Length Calculator.

[Pep]

I seem to remember Peter Clifton has a script that measures the length of a line, straight or curved. Anybody has the link for that?
OK, did the search myself. Here's Mr. Clifton's site:
http://www.clifton89.freeserve.co.uk/
You want the Curve Length Calculator.

Thank you, i think thats wat i need

[Pep]

Hi Grafixman
Thanks for the link, i grabed it but i can't get
it to work, i get an run time error 611
am i doing something wrong, cause i've never used scripts before
Thanks Pep

[Grafixman]

What version of Draw are you using? Some scripts are version specific and might incompatible. Peter is also a Talkgraphics member, perhaps he could shed some light on this. I'm a complete coding moron, so I wouldn't know what the error means . But the script works on my Corel Draw 11.

[Peter Clifton]

Pep

You can edit the script in notepad and change the line

coreldraw.automation.xx

Where xx is the version number of Draw I am guessing that for X3 you enter 13 in place of 11.

Or you can use the following VBA code which works a little bit better, for instructions on creating a blank VBA project to cut and paste into, see the Draw programming guide for VBA PDF included in the documentation branch of the CorelDRAW Windows Start/Programs menu, around page 16.

Sub readCurveLength()

Dim doc As Document
Dim s As Shape
Dim drawingScale As Double
Dim shortUnit As String

'Get current document settings
Set doc = ActiveDocument
'preserve document settings
doc.SaveSettings
doc.Unit = doc.Rulers.HUnits

Select Case doc.Unit
Case cdrMillimeter
shortUnit = "mm"
Case cdrCentimeter
shortUnit = "cm"
Case cdrMeter
shortUnit = "m"
Case cdrInch
shortUnit = "in"
Case cdrFoot
shortUnit = "ft"
Case cdrYard
shortUnit = "yds"
Case cdrPixel
shortUnit = "px"
Case cdrPoint
shortUnit = "pt"
End Select

Set s = ActiveShape
If Not s Is Nothing Then
If s.Type = cdrCurveShape Then
MsgBox (CStr(s.Curve.Length * doc.WorldScale) + _
" " + shortUnit), vbApplicationModal + vbInformation
Else
MsgBox ("Not a curve")
End If
End If

doc.RestoreSettings

End Sub

[sallybode]

Excellent post, thanks Peter.

[Pep]

Thanks Peter
I changed the text to 13 and that's worked great
That's exactly what i needed
I've never worked with VBA so the rest of your info is a bit lost to me
even after reading the PDF

Once again thank you
Pep