Re: Dia-list digest, Vol 1 #758 - 5 msgs

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, Alan Horkan wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 18 Feb 2003, Lars Clausen wrote:
> 
>> > 500 records. Instead of typing them in, I have a file with all of
>> > these values. I cannot simply open the Dia file with a text editor and
>> > add them as the file seems to be encrypted or in binary form, so is
>> > there a way to add this data without having to enter it in through the
>> > Dia GUI?
> 
> I pondered the idea of text import/insertion, would be cool to be able to
> import loads of text and split it up into differnt textboxes based on
> linebreaks or other string tokens.  For something as much as 500 records
> autolayout code would be a godsend but now i am off in the blue skies
> with the wishful thinking and the stream of consciousness and the sleep
> deprivation and the ... mmmhoi! *
> 
>> The file isn't encrypted, it's simply gzipped.  You can either uncheck
>> the option of compressing files when you save the diagram, or
>> uncompressed the file using gunzip.
> 
> I would humbley suggest that to avoid these kinds of questions in future
> that gzip compression be off by default.
> 
> What are the reasons for having it on by default?

The reason is that XML files tend to be large and very compressible.  For
instance, the 15K compressed file samples/AST.dia uncompresses to 600K, a
factor 40.

> If diskspace is really a concern (and i have started to notice
> the cumulative effect of almost never compressing my files) then
> being able to save as .dia compressed with bzip2 would be a nice
> enhancement.

The difference between gzip and bzip2 is a small amount of size and a
somewhat greater amount of 

> I quite like the way Abiword has gzipped abiword as a seperate file
> format (.zabw).  Adobe Illustrator (amongs others) has gzipped SVG as a
> seperate format (.svgz).
> 
> It also makes things simpler when programs dont use the same extension
> for different contents, but i should know better and use "file" instead
> of crude guessing based on file extension.

I agree that having a different extension would be nice.  Maybe .diaz?
.zdia?  I prefer .zdia.  

-Lars

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause)| HĂ„rdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I   |----------------------------
will defend to the death your right to say it."   | Where are we going, and
    --Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire  | what's with the handbasket?