Re: Batik an epic svg app

Hi everyone,


(Sorry for the delay in answering - when failing to find better
pointers for Doug, this message ended up being forgotten in my
Drafts...)


(Francis)
>> I have not directly used Batik.

Why not? :-p Batik is rather easy to get a taste, specially if you use
the Java Web Start for Squiggle [1] (the SVG Viewer application which
is part of the framework), nicely provided within Cameron's nightly
builds [2]. ;-)


(Francis)
>> With all browsers using native SVG, what will be the
>> future of this wonderous project?

In the scope of Web applications, even when all browsers have native
support, I still see Batik as a heavy-weight alternative:
1. It can be used as a way to level up current implementations (by
using  a Batik-based applet, you'll get the same level of SVG coverage
and user interface behavior -- zoom/pan behavior, etc -- in all
browsers);
2. In terms of SVG coverage, Batik is still one of the most conformant
implementations;
3. In terms of performance, Batik is also an example (although native
browser implementations have been doing major improvements in this
matter) although a bit conditioned by the Java plug-in overhead,
specially during loading.

Naturally, there are a lot more reasons out of this scope. :-)

Disclaimer: I've always been a big fan of Batik and am currently part
of the committer team. ;-)


(Francis)
>> I think Batik includes many fine methods that could be considered in
>> SVG DOM 2.

(Doug)
> I wasn't aware that Batik had new DOM methods than those defined in SVG 1.1.
>  Do you have a pointer?

AFAIK, Batik supports a subset of the SVG 1.2 specification already
[4] (even if parts of the implementation are based in outdated
drafts). I also recall a bunch of utility methods to manipulate the
DOM, ease transformations, etc. [5] (but can't find better pointers
right now), from which I believe the most handy might be folded into a
future version of the SVG standard. :-)

Cheers,
 Helder


[1] http://mcc.id.au/batik-nightly/webstart/squiggle.pl
[2] http://mcc.id.au/batik-nightly/
[3] http://www.codedread.com/svg-support.php
[4] http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/dev/svg12.html
[5] http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/javadoc/org/apache/batik/dom/util/DOMUtilities.html

Received on Thursday, 4 November 2010 06:59:54 UTC