diff --git a/src/perl/make_pardialog_source.pl b/src/perl/make_pardialog_source.pl
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/perl/make_pardialog_source.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,303 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl 
+
+#
+# $Id$
+#
+#  This file is part of the Virtual Leaf.
+#
+#  The Virtual Leaf is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+#  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+#  (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#  The Virtual Leaf is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#  GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+#  along with the Virtual Leaf.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+#  Copyright 2010 Roeland Merks.
+#
+
+# input: parameter file + types
+# format: par_name = default_value/type
+
+# output: C++ source code of class Parameter
+# and sample parameter file
+
+%funname = (
+	    "double" => "toDouble",
+	    "int" => "toInt",
+);
+
+%typetrans = (
+	      "double" => "double",
+	      "float" => "double",
+	      "int" => "int",
+	      "bool" => "bool",
+	      "char *" => "char *",
+	      "string" => "char *",
+	      "directory" => "char *",
+	      "doublelist" => "double *",
+              "label" => "label",
+	      "title" => "title",
+);
+
+$basename = "pardialog";
+
+open parfile,"<$ARGV[0]";
+open cppfile,">$basename.cpp";
+
+$i=0;
+while (<parfile>) {
+  if (/^#/) {
+    next;
+  }
+  @line=split(/=/);
+#ignore empty lines
+  if ($#line<1) {
+    next;
+  }
+  $param[$i]=$line[0];
+  $value_type=$line[1];
+  
+  @typel=split(/ \/ /,$value_type);
+  $value[$i] = $typel[0];
+  $type[$i] = $typel[1];
+
+  #get rid of spaces
+  $type[$i] =~ s/ //g;
+  $type[$i] =~s/\n//g;
+  $convtype[$i]=$typetrans{$type[$i]};
+  $param[$i] =~ s/ //g;
+  if ($convtype[$i] ne "label" && $convtype[$i] ne "title") {
+   #get rid of spaces
+     $value[$i] =~ s/ //g;
+  }
+  if ($convtype[$i] eq "char *") {
+    $value[$i] = "\"$value[$i]\"";
+  }
+  #print cppfile "param = $param, value = $value, type = $type\n";
+
+  $i++;
+}
+
+$lines=$i;
+
+
+print cppfile <<END_HEADER;
+#include "$basename.h"
+#include "parameter.h"
+#include <cstring>
+#include <qdialog.h>
+#include <qlabel.h>
+#include <qlineedit.h>
+#include <qmessagebox.h>
+
+ParameterDialog::ParameterDialog(QWidget *parent, const char *name, Qt::WindowFlags f) : QDialog(parent,name,false,f) {
+  extern Parameter par;
+END_HEADER
+
+for ($i=0;$i<$lines;$i++) {
+  if ($convtype[$i] eq "label" || $convtype[$i] eq "title") {
+    next;
+  }
+  if ($convtype[$i] eq "double *") {
+    print cppfile  "  QString $param[$i]_string(\"";
+    @paramlist = split(/,/,$value[$i]);
+    for ($j=1;$j<=$#paramlist;$j++) {
+      print cppfile "%$j,";
+    }
+    print cppfile "%$j\");\n";
+    print cppfile "  $param[$i]_string = $param[$i]_string";
+    for ($j=0;$j<=$#paramlist;$j++) {
+      print cppfile ".arg(par.$param[$i]\[$j\])";
+    }
+    print cppfile ";\n";
+    print cppfile "  $param[$i]_edit = new QLineEdit( $param[$i]_string, this, \"$param[$i]_edit\" );\n";
+  } else {
+    if ($convtype[$i] eq "bool") {
+      print cppfile "  $param[$i]_edit = new QLineEdit( QString(\"%1\").arg(sbool(par.$param[$i])), this, \"$param[$i]_edit\" );\n";
+    } else {
+      print cppfile "  $param[$i]_edit = new QLineEdit( QString(\"%1\").arg(par.$param[$i]), this, \"$param[$i]_edit\" );\n";
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+
+print cppfile <<END_HEADER3;
+  // make a 1x1 grid; it will auto-expand
+  QGridLayout *grid = new QGridLayout( this, 1, 1 );
+  
+  // add the first four widgets with (row, column) addressing
+END_HEADER3
+
+$numrows = 30;
+$c = 0;
+for ($i=0;$i<$lines;$i++) {
+  $col = 2*int($c/($numrows-3));
+  $row = $c % ($numrows-3) + $ntitles * 3;
+  if ($convtype[$i] eq "label") {
+    print cppfile "  grid->addWidget( new QLabel( \"$value[$i]\", this), $row, $col, 1, 2 );\n";
+    $c++;
+  } else {
+    if ($convtype[$i] eq "title") {
+      if ($ntitles) {
+	print stderr "Sorry, only one title allowed. Aborting source construction...\n";
+	exit(1);
+      }
+      print cppfile "  setWindowTitle( QString( \"$value[$i]\") );\n";
+      print cppfile "  grid->addWidget( new QLabel( \"<h3>$value[$i]</h3>\",this), $row, $col, 1, -1, Qt::AlignCenter);\n";
+      print cppfile "  grid->addWidget( new QLabel( \"\", this), $row+1, $col, 1, -1);\n";
+      $ntitles++;
+    } else {
+      print cppfile "  grid->addWidget( new QLabel( \"$param[$i]\", this ),$row, $col );\n";
+      print cppfile "  grid->addWidget( $param[$i]_edit, $row, $col+1  );\n";
+      $c++;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+$row = $numrows+1;
+$col = 2*int($i/$numrows);
+
+print cppfile <<ANOTHER_LABEL;
+  QPushButton *pb = new QPushButton( \"&Write\", this );
+  grid->addWidget(pb, $row, $col );
+  connect( pb, SIGNAL( clicked() ), this, SLOT( write() ) );
+  QPushButton *pb2 = new QPushButton( \"&Close\", this );
+  grid->addWidget(pb2,$row, $col+1 );
+  connect( pb2, SIGNAL( clicked() ), this, SLOT( close() ) );
+  QPushButton *pb3 = new QPushButton( \"&Reset\", this );
+  grid->addWidget(pb3, $row, $col+2 );
+  connect( pb3, SIGNAL( clicked() ), this, SLOT( Reset() ) );
+  show();
+};
+
+ParameterDialog::~ParameterDialog(void) {
+ANOTHER_LABEL
+
+for ($i=0;$i<$lines;$i++) {
+  if ($convtype[$i] ne "label" && $convtype[$i] ne "title") {
+    print cppfile "delete $param[$i]_edit;\n";
+  }
+}
+
+print cppfile <<END_HEADER4;
+}
+
+void ParameterDialog::write(void) {
+  
+  extern Parameter par;
+  QString tmpval;
+END_HEADER4
+
+for ($i=0;$i<$lines;$i++) {
+ if ($convtype[$i] eq "label" || $convtype[$i] eq "title") {
+    next;
+  }
+ if ($convtype[$i] eq "double *") {
+   @paramlist = split(/,/,$value[$i]);
+   for ($j=0;$j<=$#paramlist;$j++) {
+     print cppfile "  tmpval = $param[$i]_edit->text().section(',', $j, $j);\n";
+     print cppfile "  par.$param[$i]\[$j\] = tmpval.toDouble();\n";
+   }
+ } else {
+   if ($convtype[$i] eq "bool") {
+     print cppfile "  tmpval = $param[$i]_edit->text().stripWhiteSpace();\n";
+     print cppfile "  if (tmpval == \"true\" || tmpval == \"yes\" ) par.$param[$i] = true;\n";
+     print cppfile "  else if (tmpval == \"false\" || tmpval == \"no\") par.$param[$i] = false;\n";
+     print cppfile "  else {\n";
+     print cppfile "    if (QMessageBox::question(this, \"Syntax error\", tr(\"Value %1 of parameter %2 is not recognized as Boolean.\\nDo you mean TRUE or FALSE?\").arg(tmpval).arg(\"$param[$i]\"),\"True\",\"False\", QString::null, 0, 1)==0) par.$param[$i]=true;\n";
+     print cppfile "      else par.$param[$i]=false;\n";
+     print cppfile "  }\n";
+   } else {
+     if ($convtype[$i] eq "char *") {
+       print cppfile "  par.$param[$i] = strdup((const char *)$param[$i]_edit->text());\n";
+     } else {
+       print cppfile "  par.$param[$i] = $param[$i]_edit->text().$funname{$convtype[$i]}();\n";
+     }
+   }
+ }
+}
+
+
+
+print cppfile <<END_MIDPART;
+  Reset();
+
+}
+END_MIDPART
+
+print cppfile "void ParameterDialog::Reset(void) {\n";
+print cppfile "  extern Parameter par;\n";
+
+for ($i=0;$i<$lines;$i++) {
+ if ($convtype[$i] eq "label" || $convtype[$i] eq "title") {
+    next;
+  }
+  if ($convtype[$i] eq "double *") {
+    print cppfile  "  QString $param[$i]_string(\"";
+    @paramlist = split(/,/,$value[$i]);
+    for ($j=1;$j<=$#paramlist;$j++) {
+      print cppfile "%$j,";
+    }
+    print cppfile "%$j\");\n";
+    print cppfile "  $param[$i]_string = $param[$i]_string";
+    for ($j=0;$j<=$#paramlist;$j++) {
+      print cppfile ".arg(par.$param[$i]\[$j\])";
+    }
+    print cppfile ";\n";
+    print cppfile "  $param[$i]_edit->setText( $param[$i]_string );\n";
+  } else {
+    if ($convtype[$i] eq "bool") {
+      print cppfile "  $param[$i]_edit->setText( QString(\"%1\").arg(sbool(par.$param[$i])));\n";
+    } else {
+      print cppfile "  $param[$i]_edit->setText( QString(\"%1\").arg(par.$param[$i]) );\n";
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+print cppfile "}\n\n";
+
+# qparameter.h
+
+open hfile, ">$basename.h";
+print hfile <<END_HEADER2;
+#ifndef PARAMETER_DIALOG_H
+#define PARAMETER_DIALOG_H
+#include <qdialog.h>
+#include <qspinbox.h>
+#include <qlineedit.h>
+#include <qlayout.h>
+#include <qpushbutton.h>
+#include <iostream>
+
+class ParameterDialog : public QDialog {
+  Q_OBJECT
+ 
+  public:
+  ParameterDialog(QWidget *parent=0, const char *name = 0, Qt::WindowFlags f = 0);
+  virtual ~ParameterDialog(void);
+ public slots:
+  void Reset(void);
+
+private slots:
+  void write(void);
+
+ private:
+END_HEADER2
+
+for ($i=0;$i<$lines;$i++) {
+  if ($convtype[$i] ne "label" && $convtype[$i] ne "title") {
+    print hfile "  QLineEdit *$param[$i]_edit;\n";
+  }
+}
+
+print hfile <<END_TRAILER2;
+};
+#endif
+END_TRAILER2
+