Hello, New guy here. Not a programmer. But would like to contribute.
I came to Dia because Visio is no fun and I couldn't see how to add to the stencils. I am a convert and I would like to learn what I can about the creation of shapes. The docs that are available on shape creation are skimpy, and that might be a place where I can help out. Since I can't program I am probably a good person to produce instructions that a "lay user" could follow. But I need to get a really good grip on the creation and management of shapes. In looking at the shape files and sheet files themselves I can see how to add and delete connection points and similar things. But if the is a more organised way to learn about the format and syntax for these files I would like to know about it. I have tried a number of changes that seemed like they should work and gotten crashes to the system at start up. That tells me right away that trial and error in learning to make shapes could be arduous and not time efficient. I started looking in the archives and that is too much. I did notice that Alan Horkan has been working the shapes beat for years (that is why I copied you Alan). Alan, et al, are there some notes, mailing list threads, tutorials, etc. that you all can steer me towards? I thought I would start out slow and try to make a rectangle with a text box in it (like the Jackson Domain shape). I wasn't successful. That seems like something anyone trying to make a new shape should be able to do. Once that is accomplished it would be good to know how to manipulate the line style and thickness. How does one manipulate the location of the text and generally how does one handle the Cartesian coordinates of entities and connection points. How is the shape properties dialog box put together? How does one make a proper .png file and control the size of it for display in the palettes? And so on... If you all will spend time with me to figuring this out, I am willing to try and capture the experience for posterity. I It is also, possible that I have no business trying to do this at all. You all can let me know about that - I can take it. Michael Ross ================================= Cycling in Central North Carolina Linear LWB, Greenspeed GTO, BikeE CT _______________________________________________ Dia-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/dia-list FAQ at http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/faq.html Main page at http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia
