Re: DIA 0.95

[Cordoba Muñoz, Oscar <oscar cordoba itp es>]

Title: Mensaje

Dear Lars:

 

Thanks for your quick answer.

 

Regarding API for plug-ins your answer is quite satisfying, I am looking forward to version 1.0.

 

I would like to point out that I was not trying to compare compilation speed between different platforms. I was trying to note that compilation without libtool is much faster than with it in the same platform, at least in LINUX (gcc in distro suse9.3 for pentium 4). I am  sorry, but my English is not good and perhaps the comment was not clear.

 

In the last point, I will write what I would like from dia. Perhaps it is done and an indication of the best way to manage it could be provided.

-I based my plug-ins construction in the UML plug-in code. In that code it  is taken the decision of how many connections there are in the objects and also the position. This is good if you know exactly the objects to be programmed but I built a C++ generic wrapper for future plug-ins where the user knows how many connection wants, but does not want to know anything about graphical properties at the plug-in coding level. Is there any posibility to define the connections position within an object at the level of defining the *.sheet file? I know there are custom-shapes with examples in the web sitte but I want them to work in my plug-ins and perhaps you could tell me which are the functions I have to call when drawing them. So far, if I want to include new objects in a library I build a pixmap included in the *.sheet file and the plug-in drawing function places it in the canvas when I drag and drop it. I would prefer to use svg but as pixmaps are mandatory for the pannel (I think)  I do not want to enforce the user to build both, pixmaps and svg. Could I load svg in the pannel? is there an automatic way to convert pixmaps in sgv and draw them in the canvas?

-How can I change the connections aspect?I would like them to be a bigger black point for example.

-I would like that my plug-in pass information to dia for the specific connections in such way that the user who is building the diagram is able to distinguish between differen connections within an object. For example, a bubble showing information, appears when the user puts the mouse over the connection.

 

These are the most important challenges at the minute. Thank you for the attention

 

Oscar

 

________________________________________________

Saludos/Regards
Oscar Córdoba Muñoz
ITP Performance Team
Tel +34 91 2079437
Fax +34 91 6764676

________________________________________________

 

 

On Thu, 2006-03-02 at 10:36 +0100, Cordoba Muñoz, Oscar wrote:
> Dear sirs or madams,
> 
> I would like to thank you the effort in the program you develop,
> provided I have been taking benefit from it. I plug my own plug-ins in
> the same way as your UML library does do. My plug-ins are physical
> modelling libraries where the dragged and dropped objects are not only
> to make beautiful diagrams but to input data inside objects and
> build topologies. My plug-ins use a C++ architecture in such way
> that users could build its own libraries and dia would recognize
> automatically the objects structure, the connections,etc.
>
> I would like to make you three questions:
> -Do you have any idea about what is the dia future?. From v0.93 to
> v0.94 the C structures changed completely and I had to rebuild my
> libraries with a big effort. Now with v0.95 the API has changed again.
> The effort has been lower but had to recompile again all my libraries.
> Do you plan to change the plug-ins interface in every new version? It
> would be nicer to keep plug-ins through newer versions.

Until version 1.0, we will not guarantee that the API stays stable.  We
try to avoid changes when possible, but some of the things we implement
do require changes rather than just additions.  What we should do is
document carefully when we change it.

> -For Linux platforms I am using libtool, but not for windows and it
> works. The use of libtrool makes compilation slower, is it possible to
> do not use libtool in the rest of platforms?

You cannot compare the compilation speed between Windows and Linux, both
the OSes and the compilers are vastly different.  I don't think it is
practical to do without it on Unix systems

> -The policy I am following is do not modify any line in your code, to
> be compatible with new versions. In that case mayI send you a few
> requirements for you to be considered?. May I ask you question about
> the best way to do some tasks?. So far, I know I am using a low
> percentage of dia capabilities and perhaps the work is already done.

You shall certainly be welcome.  We get little enough input from plugin
developers as it is.  You can do it either here on the list or in
bugzilla.

-Lars