Atom hack to show vertical ruler at cursor position on keypress

atom_cursor_vert_ruler.md

config.cson:

editor:
  softWrap: false
  softWrapAtPreferredLineLength: false

---

keymap.cson:

# PC
'atom-text-editor:not([mini])':
  'alt': 'placeRuler'
  '^alt': 'hideRuler'

# Mac
'.platform-darwin atom-text-editor:not([mini])':
  'alt': 'placeRuler'
  '^alt': 'hideRuler'    

---

init.coffee:

# if RULER_TIMEOUT > 0 then comment out the ^alt keybind in keymap.cson:
#   ruler will disappear after this many seconds
RULER_TIMEOUT = 0

if RULER_TIMEOUT == 0
  atom.commands.add 'atom-text-editor', 'placeRuler': (event) ->
    return unless _editor = atom.workspace.getActiveTextEditor()
    _position = _editor.getCursorScreenPosition()
    atom.config.set('editor.preferredLineLength', _position.column)
else
  RULER_TIMEOUT *= 1000
  atom.commands.add 'atom-text-editor', 'placeRuler': (event) ->
    return unless _editor = atom.workspace.getActiveTextEditor()
    _position = _editor.getCursorScreenPosition()
    atom.config.set('editor.preferredLineLength', _position.column)
    f = () ->
      atom.config.set('editor.preferredLineLength', 800)
    setTimeout f, RULER_TIMEOUT
    event.abortKeyBinding()

atom.commands.add 'atom-text-editor', 'hideRuler': (event) ->
    return unless _editor = atom.workspace.getActiveTextEditor()
    atom.config.set('editor.preferredLineLength', 800)
    event.abortKeyBinding()

atom.getCurrentWindow().on 'blur', ->
    atom.config.set('editor.preferredLineLength', 800)

---

styles.less:

atom-text-editor .wrap-guide {
    width: 1px;
    opacity: 0.3;
    background-color: #83a598;
}