using dia-lib for a simple program

[julienjavaloyes yahoo fr]

dear Dia developer,

I would need to make a small specific C (or C++) program.

Depending if I take the good or the bad path, I can have this done in 2 years or 2 weeks.

This is why I would greatly appreciate your advices.

The program must do the following. 

- Open a main window with a simple toolbar containing a few elements.

--- The element "Square" with two connectors (input/output)

--- The element "triangle" with three connectors (2 inputs/1 output)

--- Maybe a few variations.

- Drag and drop and connect the elements.

- The elements should be clickable to define some parameters (here, some floats and ints )

- Saving  the elements properties.

- Saving the connectivity of the diagram (ideally) in a boolean matrix connecting all output to all inputs.

I am happy to get comments only at the level of the C program. How to do that ?

So far, my best bet is to use GTK and dia-lib. Is is a good idea ? Is it possible to use dia-lib ?

However, just in order to give you the full picture, I have to say that this C or C++ program will become a function to be used within Octave/Matlab.

The function call will open the window and will return the element properties and the matrix upon closing.

In the unlikely case you are not familiar, transforming a C function into an Octave/Matlab function can be done via the Mex interface.

This is usually restricted to number crunching C program but, as a preliminary example, I already converted some simple C examples of gtk into such Octave functions.
It opens a window with a few clickable elements, I click and the function return the numbers. so it is possible in principle.

This function will be part of a GPL toolbox for Octave/Matlab and must run on Linux OSX and Windows.

I know that Matlab provides for simulink, a diagram editor. But there are no equivalent with Octave and I want to maintain compatibility.

I also know that what I want to do can be done with Dia, directly, but I would prefer to get what I need without the user to install an extra program.

I don't know if this library scavenging attitude is encouraged. However credit to dia and dia-lib will be paid of course.

My best Regards,

Julien.