The AutoDIAL FAQ An uptodate copy of this document can be found at http://droogs.org/autodia/faq/ Q: Why is autodia. not processing my file A: Have you used the -i option, if not try autodia -i filename or autodia -i "filea fileb filec" Q: I get a "can't locate Template.pm in @INC" error mesage or similar A: It is likely that you don't have template toolkit installed, it is not part of the perl core libraries, but is available through CPAN as Template. Q: Why does only the first file get processed? A: If you are entering the filenames as -i filename filename rather than -i "filename filename" only the first will be processed. If you aren't using any other options than -i it would probably be easier to just use 'autodia filename filename'. Q: When I use the -O option I get stuff mixed in with my xml, how do I stop that happening? A: When using -O, the usual messages are output to STDOUT, as well as the xml - but the xml will not contain any messages it can be used as is. To stop any output to STDOUT other than the dia xml use the -S option which suppresses messages. Q: Why does my option get ignored? A: If you don't use the -i option to specify which file to use autodial just takes the argument as a list of files to use and ignores any options. Q: How do I make autodia handle my preferred language? A: Read the guide to creating your own handler in the DEVELOP file. Q: Why does it take so long? A: AutoDia does all kinds of strange things and has been designed for clarity and reliability rather than speed - for an idea of how long things should take see the benchmarks in README and DEVELOP. Q: Why didn't you do this in C (or java or python)? A: Because it is so much easier in perl. Perl is good for parsing text and also interfaces very well with databases and other sources of data making it the prime choice of language for this task. Q: Why isn't this in CPAN? A: Because its more of an application than a module, although about 90% of the code/work is in a group of modules called by the main script, so if enough people ask I'll put it there for general use. Q: Why don't you do this for Visio A: i) Because Visio *STILL* uses proprietary formats and requires lots of NDAs and license fees to be able to integrate with. ii) Because Dia is used by perl developers more than Visio. iii) Because Visio is Proprietary and Dia is free software, I want to Dia to be better and more popular than Visio and I hope this helps. Q: Why is AutoDia so rubbish. A: Because Trelane told me to 'just release it'. Any corrections or contributions to the faq should be mailed to me at ajt@droogs.org