Re: export .dia independant from custom shapes ?

[Lars Ræder Clausen <lars raeder dk>]

On Wed, 2009-05-13 at 10:38 +0200, Edheldil wrote:
> Hans Breuer wrote:
> > At 21.08.2006 21:36, Pascal Ronecker wrote:
> > > I wonder : is it possible to export a .dia file that uses some specific
> > > shapes into a .dia file that would not refer to thoses shapes, but
> > > replace them by the "standards" polygon and beziers line that compose
> > > the shape ?
> >
> > If you are still interested in this feature (or anyone else): it got
> > implemented for dia-0.97 as:
>
> Hi all,
>
> would not a better approach be to include the shapes used as a part of
> the .dia document? This way you would not lose the structural information.
>
> Of course the 'substitute' approach might be needed for programmed
> objects (like UML, for example), but IMO the result should still be that
> the .dia document refers shapes, which are defined elsewhere in the
> document.
>
> User can then decide whether they want to use embedded shapes always or
> only when a local shape is not available.
>
> Embedded shapes should be used only with the document they are embedded
> in, to avoid proliferation of 'neutered' shapes and possibly some IP
> issues, although that might be hard to ensure.

I have pondered dumping an SVG representation of each shape into
the .dia file, mainly for allowing rendering without having to
reimplement e.g. the UML classes. It does open some IP issues, such as
whether the SVG rendering of a GPLed shape can be used in a non-GPL
program. This wouldn't allow for editing, though.

-Lars