[Tex/LaTex] Show Bounding Box for Any Object

boxes

This seems like such a simple problem but I cannot seem to find an answer mixed in all the questions about drawing boxes.

I want to be able to draw a bounding, not a frame, but a bounding box. One with zero extra size around any object: a minipage, a paragraph, a tikz picture, a figure, a table, whatever.

For the purposes of illustrating how large something is on the page I want to encapsulate it a box. This means that adding the bounding box to the page must not change any of the page layout.

I of course expect these boxes to be ugly, their only purpose is for drafting needs to measure distances, similar to the showframe option for \geometry.

If my understanding about TeX is correct, everything ever drawn on a page is a box. Is there a way to simply draw this box?

EDIT—————————————————————–

I have added a minimum working example depicting the problems with the (at the time of 1:53pm) suggestions so far.

\documentclass[fontsize=12pt,twoside=false,]{scrbook}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{listings}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{parskip}

\usepackage{lipsum} % Just for the MWE


\begin{document}
%Phelype Oleiniks Suggestion
\fboxsep=0pt \fboxrule=1sp

%This doesnt work
\fbox{\lipsum[1]}

%This doesnt work either
\fbox{Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Ut purus elit, vestibulum
ut, placerat ac, adipiscing vitae, felis. Curabitur dictum gravida mauris. Nam arcu
libero, nonummy eget, consectetuer id, vulputate a, magna. Donec vehicula augue
eu neque. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada
fames ac turpis egestas. Mauris ut leo. Cras viverra metus rhoncus sem. Nulla
et lectus vestibulum urna fringilla ultrices.  Phasellus eu tellus sit amet tortor
gravida placerat.  Integer sapien est, iaculis in, pretium quis, viverra ac, nunc.
Praesent eget sem vel leo ultrices bibendum. Aenean faucibus. Morbi dolor nulla,
malesuada eu, pulvinar at, mollis ac, nulla. Curabitur auctor semper nulla. Donec
varius orci eget risus. Duis nibh mi, congue eu, accumsan eleifend, sagittis quis,
diam. Duis eget orci sit amet orci dignissim rutru}

%Putting it inside a minipage works for unknown reasons.
\fbox{\begin{minipage}[t]{\linewidth}%
    \lipsum[1]%
\end{minipage}}

%demonstration of poor baseline with \frame{}
Oh how \fbox{Frustrating!}!

Oh how \frame{Frustrating!}!


%this even breaks the compiler
% \fbox{\begin{lstlisting}
%     Here is some code

%     More code = 4;
% \end{lstlisting}}

\end{document}

Best Answer

\frame{...} draws a frame around its content without additional space:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
\sbox{0}{Hello!}\the\wd0, \the\ht0

\sbox{0}{\frame{Hello!}}\the\wd0, \the\ht0
\end{document}

Second Case:

For your second case simply do:

\savebox\IBox{\raisebox{\depth}{\fbox{$\displaystyle E=mc^2$}}}

A more low level way to push the depth to the height would be:

\savebox\IBox{...}
\sbox\IBox{\raise\dp\IBox\box\IBox}

This has the benefit that you can use the lrbox environment instead of \savebox to allow verbatim or other special material which doesn't allow an macro wrapped around it.

First Case:

For your first case you still have to plan in the rule width and the separation (as \fbox does), which should be added to \mywidth and \myheight. You should then center the box vertically and horizontally.

Alternatievly add the extra height and width manually:

\documentclass[cmyk]{minimal}

\usepackage{pstricks}

\newsavebox\IBox

\newlength\mymargin
\setlength\mymargin{2pt}
\savebox\IBox{%
    \raisebox{\dimexpr\depth+\mymargin\relax}
    [\dimexpr\totalheight+2\mymargin\relax]{\hspace\mymargin$\displaystyle E=mc^2$\hspace\mymargin}}

\newdimen\mywidth
\newdimen\myheight
\mywidth=\wd\IBox
\myheight=\ht\IBox

\paperwidth=\mywidth
\paperheight=\myheight
\voffset=-1in
\hoffset=-1in
\topskip=0bp

\special{papersize=\the\mywidth,\the\myheight}

\parindent=0cm
\pagecolor{cyan}

\begin{document}
\begin{pspicture}(\mywidth,\myheight)
\psframe[linecolor=red](\mywidth,\myheight)
\rput[lb](0,0){\usebox{\IBox}}
\end{pspicture}
\end{document}

Result

[Tex/LaTex] Bounding box for each letter

A LuaTeX solution. Should work in all situations that I am aware of:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{luacode,luatexbase}
\begin{document}
\begin{luacode*}
local GLYPH_ID = node.id("glyph")

local number_sp_in_a_pdf_point = 65782

function math.round(num)
  return math.floor(num * 1000 + 0.5) / 1000
end

-- width/height/depth of a glyph and the whatsit node
local wd,ht,dp,w

-- head is a linked list (next/prev entries pointing to the next node)
function showcharbox(head)
  while head do
    if head.id == 0 or head.id == 1 then
      -- a hbox/vbox
      showcharbox(head.list)
    elseif head.id == GLYPH_ID then
      -- Create a pdf_literal node to draw a box with the dimensions
      -- of the glyph
      w = node.new("whatsit","pdf_literal")
      wd = math.round(head.width  / number_sp_in_a_pdf_point)
      ht = math.round(head.height / number_sp_in_a_pdf_point)
      dp = math.round(head.depth  / number_sp_in_a_pdf_point)

      -- draw a dashed line if depth not zero
      if dp ~= 0 then
        w.data = string.format("q 0.2 G 0.1 w 0 %g %g %g re S f [0.2] 0 d 0 0 m %g 0 l S Q",-dp,-wd,dp + ht,-wd)
      else
        w.data = string.format("q 0.2 G 0.1 w 0 %g %g %g re S f Q",-dp,-wd,dp + ht,-wd)
      end
      -- insert this new node after the current glyph and move pointer (head) to
      -- the new whatsit node
      w.next = head.next
      w.prev = head
      head.next = w
      head = w
    end
    head = head.next
  end
  return true
end

luatexbase.add_to_callback("post_linebreak_filter",showcharbox,"showcharbox")
\end{luacode*}

A \emph{wonderful} serenity has taken {\large possession} of my entire soul, like these
\textsl{sweet}
\textbf{mornings} of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the
charm of existence in this spot, \textbf{which} was created for the bliss of souls like
mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of
mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of
drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was
a greater artist than now.

\end{document}

which yields:

text with boxes

(detail)

detail on text with boxes

Bonus: it draws the base line if the depth of the glyph is not 0.

Here is a solution that replaces the glyphs by black rectangles (rules):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{luacode,luatexbase,microtype}
\begin{document}
\begin{luacode*}
local GLYPH_ID = node.id("glyph")

-- head is a linked list (next/prev entries pointing to the next node)
-- parent it the surrounding h/vbox
function showcharbox(head,parent)
  while head do
    if head.id == 0 or head.id == 1 then
      -- a hbox/vbox
      showcharbox(head.list,head)
    elseif head.id == GLYPH_ID then
      r = node.new("rule")
      r.width  = head.width
      r.height = head.height
      r.depth  = head.depth

      -- replace the glyph by
      -- the rule by changing the
      -- pointers of the next/prev
      -- entries of the rule node
      if not head.prev then
        -- first glyph in a list
        parent.list = r
      else
        head.prev.next = r
      end

      if head.next then
        head.next.prev = r
      end
      r.prev = head.prev
      r.next = head.next

      -- now the glyph points to
      -- nowhere and we should remove
      -- it from the memory
      node.free(head)

      head = r
    end
    head = head.next
  end
  return true
end

luatexbase.add_to_callback("post_linebreak_filter",showcharbox,"showcharbox")
\end{luacode*}

\hsize6cm

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet
mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the
charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like
mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of
mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of
drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was
a greater artist than now.

\end{document}

glyphs replaced by black rules

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Is it possible to use \newsavebox with more accurate bounding box

Second Case:

First Case:

[Tex/LaTex] Bounding box for each letter

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