PyDia and Metapost (was Re: 0.95-pre1 uploaded)

[Hans Breuer <hans breuer org>]

On 14.02.2006 19:45, Rob McDonald wrote:
> Is it possible to run Python plugins (group_props.py) in the Windows version
> of Dia?  Obviously, changing group properties would be very nice.
Sure - if you have Python installed as well as a compiled version of Dia's
Python bindings (pydia) as well as Gtk+ Python binding (pygtk).

The latter is only required to run Dia Python plug-ins with GUI like 
group_props.py. Other stuff implemented in Python like diasvg(_import).py
or codegen.py will work without pygtk.

> I am using the MetaPost export functionality.  When the diagram is imported
> into LaTeX, the font sizes and positions (vertically) are wrong.  I can
> mostly fix this by scaling the font to be too small in Dia, but that would
> be much easier with group_props.py (:
Fixing the Metapost plug-in would first require to reproduce the issue on
a developers machine. One step in that direction would be a complete bug
report including all the necessary files and steps description to reproduce
and understand the bug :

 - sample diagram
 - sample integration in Latex (command line, tex 'container' file)
 - suggested (manually modified) .mp output of Dia

Even better would be a thorough analysis of the transfer function for the
text size. It may be just a linear scale, but it also may depend on the
diagram size, the TeX environment or something completely different ...

> Of course, a better font sizing & positioning routine would be even better.
> Is it practical to hack on the MetaPost export routine without setting up a
> huge Windows development environment?
Being able to compile Dia should be enough:
http://dia-installer.sourceforge.net/compiling.php

> Is there anyone in particular that is the 'keeper' of the MetaPost plugin?
Not really. But if the info requested above would be available I may be
interested enough to look into it.

        Hans

-------- Hans "at" Breuer "dot" Org -----------
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to
get along without it.                -- Dilbert