Dia (software)

Dia

Dia 0.97 in Norwegian on Windows Vista
Developer(s)	Dia developers
Stable release	0.97.1 / January 24, 2010; 21 months ago (2010-01-24)
Written in	C
Operating system	Unix-like, Windows
Type	Diagramming software
License	GPL
Website	live.gnome.org/Dia/

Dia ( /ˈdiːə/)^[1] is free and open source general-purpose diagramming software, developed originally by Alexander Larsson. Dia uses a controlled single document interface (CSDI) similar to GIMP and Sodipodi.

Features

Dia has a modular design with several shape packages available for different needs: flowchart, network diagrams, circuit diagrams, and more. It does not restrict symbols and connectors from various categories from being placed together.

Dia has special objects to help draw entity-relationship models (tedia2sql can be used to create the SQL DDL), Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and simple electrical circuits. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) to draw the shape.

Dia loads and saves diagrams in a custom XML format, which is, by default, gzipped to save space, and can print large diagrams spanning multiple pages.^[2] It can also be scripted using the Python programming language.

Exports

Dia can export diagrams to various formats including the following:

• EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)
• SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
• DXF (Autocad's Drawing Interchange format)
• CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile defined by ISO standards)
• WMF (Windows Meta File)
• PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
• VDX (Microsoft's XML for Visio Drawing)

Development

Dia was originally created by Alexander Larsson but he moved on to work on GNOME and other projects. James Henstridge then took over as lead developer but also moved on to other projects.

Dia is maintained by a group of developers Hans Breuer, Lars Clausen, Steffen Macke, Sameer Sahasrabuddhe.

Dia is written in C, and has a system of extensions that can be written in Python.

See also

Free software portal

• yEd
• Inkscape
• List of UML tools
• List of vector graphics editors
• Calligra Flow
• Graphviz
• ATLAS Transformation Language – Dia diagrams may be generated by ATL model transformations

References

1. ^ "Dia Frequently Asked Questions". http://live.gnome.org/Dia/Faq. Retrieved 2008-08-12. 
2. ^ "Dia". ohloh. Geeknet, Inc.. http://www.ohloh.net/p/dia. Retrieved 2010-05-30. 

External links

• Dia Project Homepage
• Dia for Windows
• Dia for Mac OS X (via Darwin Ports)