CAD::Drawing.pm - Methods to create, load, and save vector graphics

ABSTRACT:

This module provides a uniform interface to loading, saving, and
manipulating geometric data.  It utilizes other Perl modules to support
multiple file formats.  Support for additional formats should be fairly
trivial to add, and the data structure has room for storage of format-
specific data if needed (though this is strongly discouraged by the very
principle of the module design.)

Currently, the module supports loading and saving dxf and dwg entities
through the use of CAD::Drawing::IO::DWGI, which is an Inline wrapper on
the OpenDWG consortium's toolkit (library and header files to be 
obtained by the user directly from the consortium due to their licensing
terms.)

COPYRIGHT INFO:

The CAD::Drawing module is copyright 2003 Eric Wilhelm and A. Zahner Co.
It is freely distributable under the same licensing terms as Perl.  See
the GPL or Artistic Licenses in the Perl source code for details.

This software is provided with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  

All responsibility for the performance of this software lies with the
user and in no way shall the Author or any other entity be held liable
for any damage which may result from the use of this software.

AUTHOR:
Eric L. Wilhelm
ewilhelm AT sbcglobal DOT net
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mycroft

WHERE IS THE MODULE:

I'm still working on it, though it should only be released soon.  The
original version had problems with indexing, namespace, and structure.

Vast improvements are being made as you read this file, with a new data
structure that will allow naming of entities and increase the
flexibility of the module as a whole.

The package will consist of several modules, though the "front-end"
interface will be accessible by simply "use CAD::Drawing" and via the
creation of a Drawing object.  

Multiple drawings can be open in one program simultaneously and one
drawing can be saved to multiple formats (or loaded from multiple
formats when support for more loading more formats arrives.)


RELATED MODULES:

	CAD::Drawing
	CAD::Drawing::Defined
	CAD::Drawing::Manipulate
	CAD::Drawing::IO
	CAD::Drawing::IO::Image
	CAD::Drawing::IO::PostScript
	CAD::Drawing::IO::DWGI

ABOUT:

There are currently no Perl modules available for loading and
manipulating geometric data from dxf and dwg formats.  This module does
this and much more, providing a quick and consistent interface
regardless of source or destination format.  It encapsulates what I
think is a robust and flexible data structure for 2D geometric data.

It currently supports loading and saving dwg and dxf formats via the
openDWG toolkit.  Saving is also possible to Image::Magick formats and
to postscript (via PostScript::Simple.)  The driving idea behind this
module is to unify the interface to multiple file-formats and
encapsulate the geometric data in an organized way.  Adding support for
other file types is just a matter of writing a load or save function for
that type and will not change the programming interface.

Entity selection and tracking is available through the use of hash
references which act as addresses.  Any manipulation function (move,
copy, rotate, clone, mirror, clip, offset, delete) can operate on an
entity (point, line, arc, circle, text, polyline) using only the
address.  This trivializes the writing of programs which deal with
multiple drawings and formats and prevents errors and omissions when
dealing with multiple entity types.  It has been developed for use in
batch-processing, but also makes geometric one-liners possible and would
work well for prototyping cad software (though it currently has no gui
components.)

