Editor controls in the visual designer

In the visual designer the editor rulers, guides, and grids help you to position visual objects precisely.

Rulers

When visible, rulers appear along the top and left side of the available window. The ruler origin also determines the grid's point of origin.

To show or hide rulers, select View > Rulers.

Pixels are used as the default unit of measurement. You can change the default unit of measurement on the Visual Designer page of the Preferences window.

To change the unit of measurement:

Select View > Preferences
Select Visual Designer from the tree.
Select one of Visual Designer Ruler Unit to specify the default units for the ruler. Your options are pixels, inches, or centimeters.

Guides

Guides appear as nonprinting lines above the scene and the objects it hosts.

To create a vertical guide, click somewhere on the horizontal ruler.

To create a horizontal guide, click somewhere on the vertical ruler. A new guide is drawn over the whole scene at the chosen position. You can also move the guides you created to new positions using the drag-and-drop method.

To remove a guide, select the guide and with the left mouse button pressed, drag it outside the ruler.

Grid

Use the grid for laying out elements symmetrically.

The grid is also drawn as nonprinting. By default, the grid displays whenever you open the Visual Designer.

To show or hide the grid, select View > Grid.

The grid's point of origin is located at the coordinates 0,0, which normally is at the center of the scene.

Note: The changes applied to the ruler's unit of measurement do not have any affect on the grid. Grid units always have a fixed size.

Snap to Grid

Use the Snap to Grid option to unbind objects and control their moving regardless to the visibility of the grid.

To move the scene components regardless to the visibility of the grid, select View > Snap to Grid. The objects are unbound and can be moved on the scene regardless to the grid.