How to edit Inkscape measure text for small measures?

Question

Here's an example: open Inkscape 0.91, draw a line about 10+ pixels in lenght, and use the Extensions / Visualize Path / Measure Path ... :

Set the font to 5 px here; and note the text box of measure tool shows only "13", whereas the lenght (from the W box above) is 13.385 px.

If you say OK to this, and select the text box:

If you select it with normal pointer, it says below "Text on path [truncated]" (see also Inkscape - Dev - NEW: truncated text indication); if you switch to the text tool as on the image, you get a red outline, and if you open the XML editor, you can see that the full text is actually "13.38 px", but only "13" is shown, because the text is, well, truncated.

So my question is - how can I get this text box to show the entire text? It is namely NOT a frame, and there are not ANY properties in the XML that allow for the changing of the box size - so I cannot edit the size of this text box?!

Answer 1

Here I've done essentially the same thing as you... I drew a tiny line and opened up the Measure Path dialog.

Here is the result with Font size set at 5 and Precision set at 1 (open images in new tab to see full size):

Now here is the same line with Font size set to just 1 and Precision cranked up to 5:

So now if you just click Apply and close the dialog this leaves you with ridiculously tiny text.

But all you have to do is select the text and manually make it as big as you'd like:

Answer 2

I did this for you in Inkscape 0.92

Your problem is that your very short line is limiting the display of your measurement. What you call the text box is anchored to your object (the line) and will not spill over it. Pull on the line-endings with your mouse and see how the text box responds. I cannot edit the measurement either, but...

One work-around: If you want full editing power, just make a normal text-box over the line. You probably hate this answer. Sorry.

Still, using your approach, I noticed that you are not even using all the available space in your screen-shots: Try setting the text anchor from left to center and so at least you can use the entire length of the line (or rather its shortness) for your text. If you then set your defaults to a condensed font, you should be able to get your decimal part visible above such a short line.

Many more work-arounds, but you are not giving many details about your context. Have you noticed that the width of your measurement changes, if you pull the length of your line afterwards, but: the numbers do not change. So place your measurement, pull the line longer to show all decimal points and the unit and then "cover" the surplus part of the line. That way you have a genuine measurement and fully visible lable and your line still looks 13 pixels long. (I am amazed about fractions of pixels like 0.385 px - does not seem to agree with the definition of a pixel as I know it.)