| Introduction |
This page describes the main features of Squiggle the SVG browser that comes with Batik. It discusses the following: Downloading and installing the browser Starting the browser Viewing SVG documents Printing and Converting SVG files Inspecting the SVG source Configuring Squiggle Navigating SVG documents (zooming, panning, rotating, transform, thumbnail)
| Downloading the browser |
Refer to the download area to find out how to download Batik. Remember that you can get either the source distribution or the binary distribution. Refer to the installation page for instructions on how to install the Batik download on your system.
| Starting the browser |
The method for starting the browser depends on the distribution of Batik that you chose to download. The following describes how to start the browser for each distribution(binary distribution and source distribution)
| Starting the browser for the binary distribution |
If you downloaded the binary distribution of Batik, you should have gotten a file called `batik-1.5beta3.zip`, which, when expanded, created a `batik-squiggle.jar` file. To start the browser, type the following on the command line: cd <installationDirectory> `java -jar batik-squiggle.jar` You can pass options to the command line: `java -jar batik-squiggle.jar` [ `-font-size` <fontSize>] [svgURL]* Where: -font-size <fontSize> will make the browser use small fonts in the GUI. [svgURL]* the URLs for the SVG files the browser should open when it starts For example: `java -jar batik-squiggle.jar -font-size 10` starts the browser with small fonts. `java -jar batik-squiggle.jar -font-size 10 samples/batikLogo.svg` starts the browser with the `batikLogo.svg` file open and small fonts, because of `-font-size`
| Starting the browser for the source distribution |
If you downloaded the source distribution of Batik, you should have gotten a zip file batik-src-1.5beta3 that expanded into a directory called `xml-batik`. In that directory, you can find build scripts for the platform you are running on. For example, there is a `build.bat` script for users of the Windows platform and there is a `build.sh` script for UNIX users. To start the browser you should: Make sure the `xml-batik` directory is in your `PATH` environment variable Make sure the `ANT_HOME` environment variable is set to the `xml-batik` directory Make sure that your `JAVA_HOME` environment variable is set to your JDK installation directory Open a command line window and go to the `xml-batik` directory where the Batik distribution was expanded At the command prompt, type: Windows: `build squiggle` UNIX: `build.sh squiggle` This will start the browser You can pass options to the browser as follows: Windows: `build squiggle` [`-font-size` <fontSize>] [svgURL]* UNIX: `build.sh squiggle` [`-font-size` <fontSize>] [svgURL]* Refer to "Starting the browser for the binary distribution" for an explanation of these options. Note: that the number of files which can be opened on Windows, from the command line is limited because batch files take at most 9 parameters.
| Squiggle screen shot |
The following image shows the result of starting the browser, in the binary distribution or source distribution, with the `-font-size 10 samples/batikFX.svg` options.
| Viewing SVG Documents |
The browser has several features to view and browse SVG documents: Opening a local SVG file Opening an SVG file from the web Using the location text field to view an SVG file Browsing SVG files Viewing multiple SVG files
| Opening a local SVG file |
In situations where you want to open SVG files locally on the machine where you are running Squiggle, you can use "File->Open File" menu item to open that file, or use the "Ctrl-F" key accelerator. Doing so brings up a file choser that lets you select the file you want to view.
| Opening an SVG file from the Web |
There are many situations where the SVG content you want to view is not local to the machine where Squiggle is running. In that case, you can use the "File->Open Location" menu item, or use the "Ctrl-A" key accelerator to open that page. Doing so brings up a dialog box where you can type in the URL for the file you want to view.
| Using the location bar text field to view an SVG file |
When you know the URL of the document you want to view, you can enter it directly in the location bar text field at the top of Squiggle, the same way you can enter a URL in an HTML browser
| Browsing SVG Files |
As with HTML content, it is common to navigate back and forth between SVG files (remember that SVG files contain hyperlinks, just like HTML does) and, as described later in this document, it is possible to zoom into SVG documents, pan and rotate. Squiggle, the SVG browser, offers multiple features to help you browse SVG files: Navigating between files. The "Go->Back" menu item (or the Ctrl-left arrow keyboard acceleration) and the "Go->Forward" (or the Ctrl-right arrow keyboard acceleration) let you move to the previous and next visited SVG documents History. The "Go" menu also contains a list of the visited SVG documents, which gives you a way to randomly access any document you have already visited. Navigation between views. The "View->Previous Transform" menu item (Ctrl-k) and the "View->Next Transform" menu item (Ctrl-L) let you go to the previous or next view you have had of a document. This is useful when, for example, you pan or rotate and document and want to go back to any previous view you had of the document (i.e., before you panned or rotated it).
| Viewing multiple SVG files |
Squiggle, the SVG browser, can display multiple files simultaneously in different windows. To view a new file in a separate window, simply select the "File-> Create New Window" menu item or use the Ctrl-N keyboard accelerator.
| Reloading an SVG document |
When working on an SVG document, you may want the browser to reprocess a document that you have modified. The "File-> Reload Document" menu item or the Ctrl-R keyboard accelerator will cause the document to be reprocessed by the browser.
| Exporting and Printing SVG documents |
The "File->Print" menu item or Ctrl-P will print the currently displayed SVG document when selected. The "File->Export As" menu offers the option to export the currently displayed SVG document to various raster formats. Currently, the browser supports the PNG, JPEG and Tiff formats.
| Inspecting the SVG Source |
The browser offers two ways to inspect the source of an SVG document: viewing the plain source or viewing the document tree. Both are explained hereafter.
| Viewing the source |
When the browser displays an SVG file, you can select the "View-> View Source..." menu item or use the Ctrl-U keyboard accelerator to view the source code.
| Viewing the document tree |
When the browser displays an SVG file, you can select the "View-> DOM Viewer..." menu item or use the Ctrl-D keyboard accelerator to open a dialog that shows the SVG document in the form of a tree. The dialog lets you navigate the tree, select individual elements, such as a path element, and view the attributes and CSS values that apply to these elements.
| Configuring Squiggle |
The "Edit->Preferences" menu item or Ctrl-Gbrings up the dialog box shown in the following figure. This dialog contains several types of options, which can be selected with the left-hand side list. For each type of option, a panel lets you configure various browser parameters: Network Options Panel. This panel lets you configure the proxy server to use if you are working from behind a firewall. Languages Panel. This is the panel shown in the above figure. That panel lets you select your languages. The user language can be used in SVG documents to choose between alternate contents. For example, open the samples/moonPhases.svg example. Then, change the user language to french and reload the document (Ctrl-R). You will see that the text is now displayed in french. You can do the same with Japanese and the text will be shown in Japanes. Browser Options Panel. This panel lets you choose some optional behaviors: Show Rendering. When on, the browser will update the canvas while processing an SVG document. This turns on progressive rendering. Auto Adjust Window. When on, the browser window is resized to fit any newly loaded document Enable Double Buffering. When on, the browser uses additional memory resources which improves the quality of effects such as zooming and panning. Show debug traces. When on, so debug messages will be printed to the standard output. This is only for developers. Stylesheet Panel. This panel lets you specify a user stylesheet which can override some of the default settings in viewed SVG documents. This might be useful if you want, for example, to override the font size used in text elements.
| Navigating SVG documents: Zooming, panning, rotating, transform and thumbnail |
The Batik browser offers multiple way to navigate SVG documents: Zooming in and out Panning Rotating Arbitrary Transforms Thumbnail
| Zooming in and out |
There are several methods to zoom in or out an SVG Document: You can select the View -> Zoom In or View -> Zoom Out menu item You can click on the "Zoom In/Out" tool bar button (the ones that show a magnifying glass with a "+/-" signs) You can use the "Ctrl+I" and "Ctrl+O" keyboard acceleration If the mouse is over the document in the display area, you can press the Ctrl key then click the left mouse button and drag to select the area of interest in the document. This can only be used to zoom into a document. If the mouse is over the document in the display area, you can press the Shift key then click the right mouse button and drag it. This is called the 'real time' zoom and can be used both for zooming in and out.
| Panning a document |
Some documents are too big to fit into the browser, especially when you zoom in with a large zoom factor. In these circumstances, it is usefull to be able to 'move around' the document and pan to view different parts of the documents. Again, there are multiple ways to do this: With the mouse cursor over the SVG document, press the Shift key and then click and drag the left mouse button to a new location. When you release the mouse, the document will be translated to the new mouse location. If you have the thumbnail open, you can select the marker showing the current area of interest and move it to the desired location
| Rotating a document |
It is sometimes useful to be able to rotate a document (maps for example). You can do this in the Batik browser by first pressing the Ctrl key and then clicking and dragging the right mouse button to a new location. The browser will dynamically rotate the image as you move your cursor. When you are satisfied with that angle, you can release the mouse button and the document will be displayed with that new angle.
| Using the Transform Dialog |
While the mouse and keyboard interactions give interactive way to navigate an SVG document, it is sometimes desirable to be able to define precisely the amount of zoom, pan or rotation desired. The Transform dialog, available through the "View->Transform" (Ctrl-E) menu offers that feature.
| Thumbnail |
Panning in the document window can be difficult after you have zoomed into a document because you cannot see the whole document. Panning on large documents (or with a large zoom factor) is made easy by the thumbnail that you can bring up through the "View -> Thumbnail" menu item or Ctrl-Y keyboard acceleration. The thumbnail shows a rectangular marker that represents the "Area of Interest", i.e., the region currently displayed in the window (the visible portion of the document). You can drag out a rectangular marker with the left mouse button pushed down to select a new area of interest which will then be shown in the main window.

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