I´ve been asked how I create the datafile for CatanAid - so here is the code I used for CatanAid v. 0.1 (current version):

#!/usr/bin/perl

use GD;
use Tk;
use MIME::Base64;

open (DATA, ">graphicsdata");

foreach (<images/*>) {
   my $type = (split/\//, $_)[1];
   foreach (<$_/*.gif>) {
      my $name = (split /\./,((split/\//, $_)[2]))[0];
      print "Adding imagedata to datafile: $type/$name ($_).\n";
      open (GIF, $_);
      $data = encode_base64((newFromGif GD::Image(GIF))->gif);
      close GIF;
      print DATA "<" . $type . "/" . $name . ">\n" . $data;
   }
}

close DATA;
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The images are regular .gif images placed in a simple directory structure:

images/interface/expansionbutton.gif
images/interface/background.gif
images/interface/standardbutton.gif
images/landscapes/mountain.gif
images/landscapes/dessert.gif
images/landscapes/forest.gif
images/landscapes/hill.gif
images/landscapes/pasture.gif
images/landscapes/plain.gif
images/landscapes/sea.gif
images/ports/mountain.gif
images/ports/forest.gif
images/ports/hill.gif
images/ports/surprise.gif
images/ports/pasture.gif
images/ports/plain.gif
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Well... this should put at lid on this discussion i´ve been having with myself. :-)

Regards Søren Schimkat