Re: Restricting object resizing in one direction only, not all directions

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

On 19 Dec 2003, j. e. s. t. e. r. wrote:
> Hello,
>
> This would be two of two, thanks for the patience as I learn.

You're most welcome, I'm happy to hear you have an application for Dia that
I haven't heard of anyone doing before.

> This one has to do with how the objects I create behave when I try to
> resize them.
>
> After creating an object, and putting it into a sheet, I have no problems
> dropping that new shape into a Dia drawing.  The problem is I can only
> resize the object in a proportional fashion.  So if the shape is a 2" x
> 4", I can make it 4" x 8", but not 2" x 24".  Depending on what I am
> trying to draw, I need to be able to restrict the object in one direction
> (say the 2" size) but the other size needs to be "adjustable", for lack
> of a better word.  I know I want to use a board that is 2" in size, but I
> need to show that it is, say, 37 3/4" long.
>
> Question: Is there a way to do this WITHOUT digging into the code?  

I don't think there's currently a way to restrice the object itself, but if
you hold down Control when dragging, it restricts cursor movement to either
vertical or horizontal

> Among the things I want to teach myself, is Python.  I know slightly less
> than nothing about it right now, and from what I can see, Dia is coded in
> XML.  I know less about XML than Python.  If I don't have to learn XML
> right now, I'd rather not.  I'd rather be in my wood shop.  <grin>

Dia itself is coded in C, the shapes and diagrams are XML (which is not a
language, just a way to structure data, pretty much like HTML), and plugins
can be written in Python.  Hans Breuer will have to judge whether a plugin
could help on this, I am somewhat doubtful.

-Lars

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause)| HÃrdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I   |----------------------------
will defend to the death your right to say it."   | Where are we going, and
    --Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire  | what's with the handbasket?