I was wondering if anyone can help with batching a dissolve. I have a few hundred polygon shapefiles that I want to dissolve based on an attribute. I would like to do this in QGIS or FWTools.
fTools is a python plugin for QGIS that can do it and you could hack it into fitting your needs.
An easier alternative is the QGIS GRASS plugin, which includes v.dissolve, but then you're easier off scripting with GRASS directly. If you're not familiar with PostGIS, this may be a faster approach.