feat: an open box zoom draws the frame the release will apply

The controller has always tracked its selection; nothing drew it, so a Ctrl or
Shift drag framed a range with no feedback until the release.

The preview is the area the release will change, not what the pointer swept:
Ctrl frames the x range only, so a band across the plot is what it will zoom,
where the sliver a straight horizontal drag sweeps is only the gesture. The
plot carries the rect a host hands it -- it learns nothing about pointers --
and the renderer draws a low-alpha fill under a light border over everything
else inside the axes.

README.md

@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@ run touched a GPU, so read it as an upper bound and a record of the software pat
 - input parity across hosts: pinch-zoom and pan gestures on Qt6 and GTK4 drive the same
   controller paths as mouse and wheel (touch parity), with keyboard panning
   (arrow keys), Escape cancelling a drag or box-zoom, double-click re-fitting the axes,
-  and modifier-masked box zoom (Shift = both axes, Ctrl = x only, Alt = y only);
+  and modifier-masked box zoom (Shift = both axes, Ctrl = x only, Alt = y only), the area being
+  chosen framed as the drag runs -- a low-alpha fill under a light border, widened along the axis
+  the release will *not* zoom, so Ctrl's frame is the band it is about to apply rather than the
+  sliver a straight horizontal drag sweeps;
 - DPI-consistent sizing: metrics are logical units converted once through
   `Style::ui_scale`;
 - an anti-aliased embedded monospaced font, plus an optional runtime TrueType backend

adapters/gtk4/gtk_plot_area.cpp

@@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ u32 PlotArea::pointer_row() const noexcept {
   return row_in(row_rects_, pointer_.y);
 }
 
+void PlotArea::sync_selection_frames() noexcept {
+  const auto frame_for = [](input::Controller& c) -> Rect {
+    return c.drag_mode() == input::DragMode::BoxZoom ? c.selection_preview() : Rect{};
+  };
+  if (figure_ != nullptr) {
+    for (u32 i = 0; i < row_controllers_.size(); ++i) {
+      // An empty rect on the rows that are not choosing: `Rect` has no equality to compare
+      // with, and a store of the same value is what keeps this path free of anything else.
+      figure_->plot(i).set_selection_rect(frame_for(*row_controllers_[i]));
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+  plot_->set_selection_rect(frame_for(controller_));
+}
+
 void PlotArea::sync_figure_crosshair() noexcept {
   if (row_rects_.empty() || row_controllers_.empty()) return;
   const u32 row_count = static_cast<u32>(row_rects_.size());
@@ -534,6 +549,9 @@ void PlotArea::render() noexcept {
   // `::resize` ratio, not `gtk_widget_get_scale_factor()` -- the latter is the
   // ceiling under fractional scaling and would over-scale the chrome by up to 60%.
   renderer_->style().ui_scale = mapping_.factor;
+  // After the scale and before the draw: the preview reads the row's layout, and a layout measured
+  // with the previous frame's scale is not the one being drawn.
+  sync_selection_frames();
   renderer_->begin_frame(static_cast<u32>(viewport.w), static_cast<u32>(viewport.h), viewport);
   if (figure_ != nullptr) {
     renderer_->draw(*figure_);

adapters/gtk4/gtk_plot_area.hpp

@@ -397,6 +397,17 @@ class PlotArea {
   /// Spreads one row's crosshair over the whole figure (see "Figure mode"). Run once
   /// per frame, from the render callback, after this frame's row rects are cached.
   void sync_figure_crosshair() noexcept;
+  /// Hands each row's plot the box-zoom frame its controller is showing, or takes it off
+  /// the ones whose gesture is over. Run once per frame from the render callback, like
+  /// the crosshair's spread and for a related reason: a frame has to go away when a drag
+  /// ends by *any* route -- the release, Escape, a row rebuilt mid-gesture -- and a
+  /// per-event hook would have to be repeated at every one of them, which is how a frame
+  /// ends up stuck on screen after a cancelled zoom.
+  ///
+  /// Reads `selection_preview()`, which needs the row's layout, only for a controller
+  /// actually in `BoxZoom`: the cost is paid while a range is being chosen and never
+  /// otherwise.
+  void sync_selection_frames() noexcept;
   /// `figure_->set_viewport(px)`, one `layout()` into the rect cache, and each row's
   /// own rect to its controller. The figure-mode half of `refresh_viewport()` and of
   /// `render()`, which must not drift apart.

docs/interaction.md

@@ -192,6 +192,16 @@ without knowing what a pointer is. `hovered_cursor()`, `grabbed_cursor()`, `hove
 `grabbed_region()` and `region_grab(u32)` expose the same answers to a host (a resize cursor, a
 tooltip, a status line).
 
+The frame an open box zoom is drawing is published the same way and for the same reason
+(`Plot::set_selection_rect()`), and the plot still learns nothing about pointers: the host reads the
+rect off the controller -- `Controller::selection_preview()` -- on every frame of the drag and takes it
+off the plot when the gesture ends. The preview is deliberately not what the pointer swept. Shift
+frames both axes and its preview is the swept box; Ctrl frames x only, so its preview is widened to the
+full height of the axes, and Alt's to the full width. The swept sliver is the *gesture*; the widened
+rect is what the *release* will apply, which is the one worth showing while it is still only a
+gesture. Nothing is previewed until the drag has swept every axis the release will act on: an empty
+rect widened is a band the width of the plot, which would claim a range that does not exist yet.
+
 ## Live follow
 
 An x axis has a follow state, `XFollow::Off` (the default) or `XFollow::Live`

include/plot/input/controller.hpp

@@ -229,6 +229,18 @@ class Controller {
   DragMode drag_mode() const noexcept { return mode_; }
   /// The current box-zoom selection in pixels; meaningful while BoxZoom.
   Rect selection_rect() const noexcept { return selection_; }
+
+  /// The rectangle a host should *draw* for the open box zoom: the swept area, widened to the full
+  /// axes along whichever axis the modifier's mask will not zoom. Ctrl frames the x range only, so its
+  /// preview is the band that spans the plot -- which is what the release will zoom -- where the area
+  /// a purely horizontal drag sweeps is a sliver a few pixels tall. Shift (and any other combo) frames
+  /// both, and gets the swept box itself.
+  ///
+  /// Meaningful while `BoxZoom`, like `selection_rect()`; the zero rect otherwise.
+  ///
+  /// Defined in the implementation: widening the preview to the axes needs the plot's layout, and
+  /// `Plot` is only forward-declared here.
+  Rect selection_preview() const noexcept;
   /// The cursor under the pointer -- a vertical marker or a horizontal ruler, whichever
   /// line the pointer is nearer -- or `kInvalid` when the pointer is outside the plot area
   /// or no cursor is within a few pixels.

include/plot/plot/plot.hpp

@@ -144,6 +144,13 @@ struct PlotLayout {
   /// clamped against the rect it was measured for, so nothing of the readout can be drawn
   /// over a label strip or into a figure's neighbouring row.
   CrosshairLayout crosshair;
+  /// The box-zoom frame, when a modified drag has one open: the area the gesture is framing, in
+  /// viewport pixels, already widened along whichever axis the modifier will *not* zoom (see
+  /// `input::Controller::selection_preview()`, which is where that is decided). Here rather than
+  /// derived by the renderer, for the regions' reason -- the frame draws exactly these numbers -- and
+  /// left as the zero rect whenever no gesture is open, which is what both the fill and the four
+  /// border segments read as "draw nothing".
+  Rect selection;
 };
 
 /// What a pointer is on, as of the last pointer event: the cursor marker under it, the
@@ -753,6 +760,21 @@ class Plot {
   /// calls this when the pointer leaves the axes.
   void clear_crosshair() noexcept { crosshair_.active = false; }
 
+  /// The box-zoom frame the host is showing, in **viewport pixels**, or the zero rect for none.
+  ///
+  /// Set by the host from `input::Controller::selection_preview()` while a modified left drag is
+  /// choosing a range, and taken off when it ends. It is the *host's* job and not the plot's because
+  /// the plot has no controller and learns nothing about pointer, button or modifier (see
+  /// `plot::input`): this is the receiving end of that boundary, exactly as `set_hot_handles()` is.
+  /// Drawn as a frame -- a slightly opaque fill under a light border -- over everything else inside
+  /// the axes, so the area being framed stays legible against the traces it covers.
+  void set_selection_rect(Rect rect) noexcept { selection_ = rect; }
+  /// Takes the frame off, leaving the same state as before any drag: the next one starts from nothing.
+  void clear_selection_rect() noexcept { selection_ = Rect{}; }
+  /// The frame as set -- what `layout()` measures into `PlotLayout::selection`, and what a host or a
+  /// test reads back without paying a layout.
+  Rect selection_rect() const noexcept { return selection_; }
+
   /// Switches the readout panel off -- or back on -- without moving the crosshair: the lines and
   /// the per-trace markers stay, the panel is not measured and no row is listed. A host that wants
   /// the pointer's column marked but not a panel over its data sets this once; it is deliberately
@@ -969,6 +991,11 @@ class Plot {
   /// The crosshair's state (see Crosshair): at most one per plot, placed by
   /// `set_crosshair()` and read back by `crosshair()` and `layout()`.
   Crosshair crosshair_{};
+
+  /// The host's box-zoom frame (`set_selection_rect()`): viewport pixels, the zero rect when no
+  /// modified drag is choosing a range. State rather than a `PlotLayout` field alone because a host
+  /// sets it on every drag motion and reads it back; `layout()` only carries it through.
+  Rect selection_{};
   /// The samples `crosshair_value()` reads a span through: `Series::gather()` appends
   /// `(x, y)` pairs and never clears, so the lookup clears this and refills it with the at
   /// most two samples a span covers. Sized to hold them from construction -- four floats is

include/plot/render/renderer.hpp

@@ -654,6 +654,11 @@ class Renderer {
   /// pointer is on: a readout the legend covered would be the feature failing at its one job.
   void draw_crosshair_readout(const Plot& plot, const PlotLayout& layout);
 
+  /// The host's box-zoom frame (`PlotLayout::selection`): a fill at `selection_fill` under a border at
+  /// `selection_edge`, or nothing at all when nothing was swept. Drawn last of the interior passes, so
+  /// the area being framed is legible over the traces, the regions and the readout alike.
+  void draw_selection_frame(const PlotLayout& layout);
+
   /// One marker shape (`Marker`) at a viewport-pixel centre: `Cross` two
   /// segments, `Circle` an 8-gon, `Square` four. Staged into the line batch in
   /// pixel space, at `size_px` half-extent, so a marker's size is device pixels

include/plot/render/style.hpp

@@ -55,6 +55,14 @@ struct Style {
   Color axis_text = Color::hex(0xC8D0DC);
   Color cursor = Color::hex(0xFFB020);
   Color measure_fill = Color::hex(0xFFB020, 0.15f);
+  /// The box-zoom selection's frame, drawn while a modified left drag is choosing a range: a light
+  /// neutral near full alpha for the border and the same neutral at a low one for the fill. Neutral
+  /// and not a trace colour, on `invalid_fill`'s argument -- the frame says "this is the area", and a
+  /// tint a trace could have would read as data. The fill's alpha is chosen against the same floor:
+  /// low enough that what is under the frame stays readable, because the point is to show what is
+  /// being selected, not to hide it.
+  Color selection_fill = Color::hex(0xC8D0DC, 0.12f);
+  Color selection_edge = Color::hex(0xC8D0DC, 0.85f);
   /// The shading over a span the host has declared invalid (`Plot::set_invalid_spans()`): the
   /// axis furniture's own neutral grey at a low alpha, on the same model as `measure_fill`
   /// above. Neutral and not a trace colour on purpose -- a band is the *absence* of data, and

src/input/controller.cpp

@@ -751,6 +751,31 @@ void Controller::pan(const PointerEvent& e) {
   }
 }
 
+Rect Controller::selection_preview() const noexcept {
+  // Nothing to preview off a box zoom: the mask bits outlive the gesture -- `end_drag()` clears the
+  // selection, not them -- so widening without this guard would hand out a full-band rect for a drag
+  // that finished minutes ago.
+  if (mode_ != DragMode::BoxZoom) return Rect{};
+  // And nothing has been framed until the drag has swept every axis the release will apply: at the
+  // press instant the selection is an empty rect at the pointer, and the *widened* form of that is a
+  // band the width of the plot, which is a claim about a range that does not exist yet. Ctrl's other
+  // axis is deliberately not required: a drag with no vertical movement at all is a band across the
+  // plot, which is exactly what Ctrl is for.
+  if ((box_zoom_x_ && !(selection_.w > 0.0f)) || (box_zoom_y_ && !(selection_.h > 0.0f))) return Rect{};
+  Rect preview = selection_;
+  if (box_zoom_x_ && box_zoom_y_) return preview;
+  const Rect& axes = plot_->layout().axes;
+  if (!box_zoom_x_) {
+    preview.x = axes.x;
+    preview.w = axes.w;
+  }
+  if (!box_zoom_y_) {
+    preview.y = axes.y;
+    preview.h = axes.h;
+  }
+  return preview;
+}
+
 void Controller::box_zoom_update(const PointerEvent& e) {
   const f32 x = std::min(origin_x_, e.x);
   const f32 y = std::min(origin_y_, e.y);

src/plot/plot.cpp

@@ -1101,6 +1101,10 @@ const PlotLayout& Plot::layout() {
   // its rows are the sample values nearest a data x -- so it wants the transforms the
   // settled layout pins, exactly as the legend and the regions do.
   build_crosshair();
+  // The box-zoom frame is not measured, only carried: the host already has it in viewport pixels from
+  // the controller that produced it, and re-deriving it here would be a second rounding of the same
+  // rectangle -- and a second place for it to disagree with what the gesture is doing.
+  layout_.selection = selection_;
   return layout_;
 }
 

src/render/renderer.cpp

@@ -545,6 +545,9 @@ void Renderer::draw_plot(Plot& plot, const PlotLayout& layout) {
   // panel is drawn over the legend and every other overlay rather than under them, and its
   // text joins the frame's over flush with the tick labels and titles.
   draw_crosshair_readout(plot, layout);
+  // The selection frame last of all: it is the gesture still in progress, and nothing inside the axes
+  // should be able to sit on top of the area being chosen.
+  draw_selection_frame(layout);
   clear_clip();
   draw_tick_labels(plot, layout);
   draw_titles(plot, layout);
@@ -1960,6 +1963,27 @@ void Renderer::stage_marker(plot::Marker marker, Vec2 centre_px, f32 size_px) {
   }
 }
 
+void Renderer::draw_selection_frame(const PlotLayout& layout) {
+  const Rect& frame = layout.selection;
+  // Two guards, not one: a drag swept flat in one direction has a real extent on one axis and none on
+  // the other, and a border on that is still the gesture's own answer -- the fill is what a zero
+  // extent has nothing of.
+  if (!(frame.w > 0.0f) && !(frame.h > 0.0f)) return;
+  if (frame.w > 0.0f && frame.h > 0.0f) fill_pixels(frame, style_.selection_fill);
+  // The border frames the pixels the fill covers and not the measured rect's own fractional edges:
+  // the readout panel's rounding and the readout panel's reason, since a hairline straddling a
+  // fractional edge is a frame bright on two sides and dim on the others.
+  const f32 left = std::ceil(frame.x - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
+  const f32 right = std::ceil(frame.right() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
+  const f32 top = std::ceil(frame.y - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
+  const f32 bottom = std::ceil(frame.bottom() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
+  lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {right, top});
+  lines_.add_segment({left, bottom}, {right, bottom});
+  lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {left, bottom});
+  lines_.add_segment({right, top}, {right, bottom});
+  flush_lines(pixel_mapping(), style_.selection_edge, style_.device(1.0f));
+}
+
 void Renderer::draw_readout_panel(const Rect& panel, Color border) {
   if (!(panel.w > 0.0f) || !(panel.h > 0.0f)) return;
   // The frame's own background at a partial alpha, which dims whatever it covers instead of erasing

tests/test_controller.cpp

@@ -2403,3 +2403,54 @@ PLOT_TEST(an_unselectable_cursor_is_neither_hovered_nor_grabbed) {
   PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.cursor(readout).x, before, 1e-12);
   PLOT_CHECK(c.grabbed_cursor() == normal);
 }
+
+PLOT_TEST(a_ctrl_box_zoom_previews_the_band_it_will_zoom) {
+  // What a host draws for an open box zoom is not always the area the pointer swept. Ctrl frames the
+  // x range only, so what its release will change is a *band* across the plot -- and a pointer dragged
+  // straight across sweeps a sliver a couple of pixels tall, which would be the frame showing the
+  // gesture instead of its effect. Shift frames both axes and gets the swept box itself; Alt is the
+  // other single-axis mask, and gets the other frame.
+  plot::Plot p;
+  p.set_viewport({0, 0, 800, 400});
+  p.add_x_axis({"t", {0.0, 800.0}, true, plot::AxisPlace::Bottom, false});
+  const plot::Rect axes = p.layout().axes;
+  constexpr plot::u32 kAlt = static_cast<plot::u32>(plot::input::Mod::Alt);
+  plot::input::Controller c(p);
+  c.set_viewport({0, 0, 800, 400});
+
+  c.on_pointer({100, 200, 0, 0, plot::input::Button::Left, kCtrl, true, true, false});
+  // Nothing framed until something was swept: the press alone is an empty rect at the pointer, and a
+  // full-width band derived from it would claim a range that does not exist yet.
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(c.selection_preview().w, 0.0, 1e-6);
+  c.on_pointer({300, 202, 200, 2, plot::input::Button::Left, kCtrl, true, false, false});
+  const plot::Rect ctrl = c.selection_preview();
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(ctrl.x, 100.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(ctrl.w, 200.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(ctrl.y, axes.y, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(ctrl.h, axes.h, 1e-6);
+  // The gesture's own geometry is untouched: the widening happens in the preview, so the range the
+  // release computes is still the one the pointer described.
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(c.selection_rect().h, 2.0, 1e-6);
+  c.on_pointer({300, 202, 0, 0, plot::input::Button::Left, kCtrl, false, false, true});
+
+  c.on_pointer({100, 50, 0, 0, plot::input::Button::Left, kShift, true, true, false});
+  c.on_pointer({400, 150, 300, 100, plot::input::Button::Left, kShift, true, false, false});
+  const plot::Rect both = c.selection_preview();
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(both.x, 100.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(both.y, 50.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(both.w, 300.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(both.h, 100.0, 1e-6);
+  c.on_pointer({400, 150, 0, 0, plot::input::Button::Left, kShift, false, false, true});
+
+  c.on_pointer({100, 50, 0, 0, plot::input::Button::Left, kAlt, true, true, false});
+  c.on_pointer({110, 150, 10, 100, plot::input::Button::Left, kAlt, true, false, false});
+  const plot::Rect alt = c.selection_preview();
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(alt.x, axes.x, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(alt.w, axes.w, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(alt.y, 50.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(alt.h, 100.0, 1e-6);
+  c.on_pointer({110, 150, 0, 0, plot::input::Button::Left, kAlt, false, false, true});
+  // Closed: a frame on a finished gesture would claim the old selection is still open.
+  PLOT_CHECK(c.drag_mode() == plot::input::DragMode::None);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(c.selection_preview().w, 0.0, 1e-6);
+}

tests/test_plot.cpp

@@ -2789,3 +2789,22 @@ PLOT_TEST(an_annotation_can_be_moved_by_id) {
   p.set_annotation(42u, other);
   PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.annotation(id).x, 3.5, 1e-12);
 }
+
+PLOT_TEST(the_selection_frame_is_carried_and_taken_off) {
+  // The box-zoom frame is the host's to set -- the plot has no controller and learns nothing about
+  // pointers -- so what it owes is to carry it: out through `layout()` unchanged, because it is
+  // already in viewport pixels and a second derivation would be a second rounding of the same
+  // rectangle, and gone when the host takes it off, because a frame left behind claims the selection
+  // is still open.
+  plot::Plot p;
+  p.set_viewport({0, 0, 800, 400});
+  PLOT_CHECK(p.layout().selection.w == 0.0f && p.layout().selection.h == 0.0f);  // nothing swept
+  p.set_selection_rect({10.0f, 20.0f, 30.0f, 40.0f});
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.selection_rect().x, 10.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.layout().selection.y, 20.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.layout().selection.w, 30.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.layout().selection.h, 40.0, 1e-6);
+  p.clear_selection_rect();
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.selection_rect().w, 0.0, 1e-6);
+  PLOT_CHECK_NEAR(p.layout().selection.h, 0.0, 1e-6);
+}

tests/test_render_smoke.cpp

@@ -7461,3 +7461,61 @@ PLOT_TEST(a_repaired_invalid_span_is_fainter_than_a_missing_one) {
               missing_ink, m_lo, m_hi, repaired_ink, r_lo, r_hi);
   ctx.destroy();
 }
+
+PLOT_TEST(the_box_zoom_frame_lands_exactly_where_it_says) {
+  // The frame a host sets has to reach the framebuffer and cover exactly the rect it names. Both halves
+  // are read back rather than trusted, and the two renders are compared: what is under the frame is a
+  // trace, the grid and the axis chrome, so the assertions are differential -- a predicate guessing
+  // those colours would be testing the guess.
+  plottest::HeadlessContext ctx(kW, kH);
+  plot::Status st;
+  PLOT_CHECK(ctx.create(&st));
+  PLOT_CHECK(plot::gl::load(nullptr));
+  plot::Renderer r;
+  PLOT_CHECK(r.init(&st));
+
+  plot::data::ArraySeries s(sine_samples(), 0.0, 1.0);
+  plot::Plot p;
+  p.set_viewport({0, 0, static_cast<plot::f32>(kW), static_cast<plot::f32>(kH)});
+  const plot::u32 ax = p.add_x_axis({"t", s.x_bounds(), true, plot::AxisPlace::Bottom, false});
+  const plot::u32 ay = p.add_y_axis({"v", {-1.0, 1.0}, true, plot::AxisPlace::Left, false});
+  p.add_trace({&s, plot::Color::hex(0x40C0FF), 1.5f, ax, ay});
+
+  // The *floor* of a pixel rather than its luminance: the fill is the axis furniture's light neutral at
+  // a low alpha, so over a saturated trace it can lower a channel while it raises the floor, and the
+  // floor is what says "something light was laid over this".
+  const auto floor_of = [&](plot::u32 x, plot::u32 y) {
+    plot::u8 px[4] = {};
+    PLOT_CHECK(ctx.read_pixel(x, ctx.height - 1u - y, px));
+    return static_cast<int>(std::min(px[0], std::min(px[1], px[2])));
+  };
+  // The renderer does not clear -- that is the host's -- and a second draw over the first would double
+  // every trace and change every pixel for reasons that have nothing to do with the frame.
+  const auto draw = [&](bool framed) {
+    if (framed) p.set_selection_rect({200.0f, 100.0f, 200.0f, 120.0f});
+    plot::gl::glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);
+    plot::gl::glClear(plot::gl::GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
+    r.begin_frame(kW, kH, {0, 0, static_cast<plot::f32>(kW), static_cast<plot::f32>(kH)});
+    r.draw(p);
+    r.end_frame();
+  };
+
+  draw(false);
+  const int border_before = floor_of(200, 160);   // the frame's left border, mid-height
+  const int inside_before = floor_of(300, 160);   // the middle of the framed area
+  const int outside_before = floor_of(500, 160);  // to the right of it
+  draw(true);
+  const int border_after = floor_of(200, 160);
+  const int inside_after = floor_of(300, 160);
+  const int outside_after = floor_of(500, 160);
+
+  // A frame, not a wash: the border is nearly opaque, the fill is not.
+  PLOT_CHECK(border_after > inside_after);
+  PLOT_CHECK(border_after > border_before + 60);
+  // A fill, not a panel: it lightens what it covers and leaves it readable.
+  PLOT_CHECK(inside_after > inside_before + 10);
+  // Exactly the rect, and not a pixel beyond it: this is the assertion that the frame matches the area
+  // the gesture is choosing rather than merely being somewhere on screen.
+  PLOT_CHECK(outside_after == outside_before);
+  p.clear_selection_rect();
+}