CorelDraw file format

Question

Is there any documentation\code on the file format used by CorelDraw CDR files?

I'm basically interested in programatically manipulating coreldraw files in simple ways without having to open up the actual program. I know the application supports scripting in VBA or something similar but I'd prefer to be able to manipulate the files without having to launch CorelDraw at all.

Answer 1

Here's a forum discussion from coreldraw.com that suggests to use CMX instead. It seems that no CDR specifications are available, but you can get them for CMX.

Another option would be to try some converters and convert into a better documented format (but then you'll have to look if information is lost while converting).

Answer 2

You could use SVG format instead of CorelDraw's CDR. The SVG specification is open, and being XML-based, editable even with a text editor.