IWBNI the were a toolbar called the Caliper Toolbar that could be used to measure the distance between any two given points, or the distance between a given object and a given point, or the distance between two given objects.

The caliper toolbar would be useful when adjusting the position of objects.

This could be implemented by adding a new toolbar called the Caliper Toolbar that would have the following controls and functionality:

There would be a Select button on the Caliper Toolbar that could be clicked to indicate that one is about to click or shift-click points on the display to specify two points, an object and a point, or two objects. Immediately after the Select button has been clicked, one could specify two given points by clicking the two points in succession, or one could specify a given point and a given object by clicking the point and then shift-clicking a point that is contained within the object (or vice versa), or one could specify two given objects by shift-clicking two points in succession, each of which is contained in one of the objects. Here, an object means some discrete shape such as the region that is bounded by the glyph of a notehead, a slur, a stem or a beam. If a point that is not contained in any object is shift-clicked, this would have the same effect as if the point were clicked (rather than shift-clicked).

The caliper toolbar would display the following information for each case:

Two Points:

The horizontal and vertical coordinates of both points.
The horizontal distance between the points.
The vertical distance between the points.
The Euclidean distance (i.e. diagonal distance) between the points.

The horizontal and vertical coordinates of the point.
The horizontal distance between the point and the object.
The vertical distance between the point and the object.
The Euclidean distance between the point and the object.

The horizontal distance between the objects.
The vertical distance between the objects.
The Euclidean distance between the objects.

For example, with the Caliper Toolbar displayed, one could use the following steps to move a given dynamic marking down until it is 3/4 spaces away from a neighboring tuplet bracket:

1. Click the Select button on the Caliper Toolbar.

 
2. Shift-click the tuplet bracket.

 
3. Shift-click the dynamic marking. At this point the Caliper Toolbar would indicate the horizontal, vertical and Euclidean distances between the objects.

 
4. Select the expression tool.

 
5. Select the dynamic expression.

 
6. Nudge the dynamic expression down while watching the Caliper Toolbar until the Euclidean distance between expression and the tuplet that is displayed on the toolbar, becomes 3/4 spaces.