Re: Dia VDX plug-in 0.1

[Lars Clausen <lars raeder dk>]

On Thu, 2006-05-11 at 13:33 +0100, Ian Redfern wrote:
> I've been working on a plug-in for Dia to allow it to read Visio VDX
> files.

I'm *very* glad to hear that.  I'd been just about to myself, but had to
put the new release in front.  I'd like to get your code into the main
code quickly, but I also want it to be good so it's not too hard to get
it to a high level of compatibility.  For that, I'd like to 1) do a code
review with you soon, please let me know when would be good for you, and
2) set up some automatic regression testing for the importer.

> The first version, which works on all my simple test files, is at
> http://www.redferni.uklinux.net/dia/vdx - afraid it's very much a
> testbed at this point, and the code is, ahem, wildly inelegant.

The code style I can help you with.

> I have the following problems:
>
> Not enough sample data. If anyone can send me any simple VDX files (with
> screenshots of how they ought to look), I'd appreciate them,
> particularly ones with text and curves. All mine are Visio 2002, so
> modern ones would be good - I only have samp_vdx.vdx for modern Visio,
> and that's very complex.

This I can't.  

[...]

> VSD support is still a distant dream - but since the contents are
> supposed to be the same as VDX, it makes sense to start with VDX.

I've really given up on VSD support.  It's just not worth getting into.

> I've not done XML parsing in C before, and it shows - I may switch to a
> generic string-based internal model, rather than C structures, as it's
> much more flexible.

You have looked at what the diagram loader and other XML-using parts of
Dia does, right?

-Lars