The AutoDIAL FAQ

An uptodate copy of this document can be
found at http://www.aarontrevena.co.uk/opensource/autodia/faq.txt

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 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
aaron.trevena@gmail.com