Draw -> SVG

On my (RISCOS) Draw→SVG app, you have to convert most text to path before using the app – the only exceptions are standard Trinity, Homerton & Corpus, which are converted to Times, Arial and Courier of course. Even those are sometimes better changed to paths first – the metrics aren’t identical. All other fonts are converted to Arial, and of course any characters not in standard locations will go completely wild.

I picked up this thread by searching the forum on ‘svg’. My problem is the opposite one: I would like to view/convert an .svg file using a RISC OS app, if any such exists?

I would like to view/convert an .svg file using a RISC OS app, if any such exists?

NetSurf can render SVG files (via libsvgtiny), and can also save pages as RISC OS Draw files – I’ve used that in the past to do what you ask. Some really complex SVGs get scaled slightly strangely but that’s easy to fix up in Draw afterwards.

NetSurf does a good job with SVG files, if you need to view them, !ImageView works great, but doesn’t allow editing them in !Draw / !Arworks/ !Procad…
I created an application that decodes SVG files into Draw files, it doesn’t know how to do everything… it evolves, because I use it.
Version 0.07
https://jeanmichelb.riscos.fr/XML.html#SVG_to_Drh

The application does better than NetSurf for text (orientation). bows. but there are still features to be implemented..

If necessary I can help you, jmc.bruck(à)orange(point)fr

Thanks for the prompt help!

@Sprow:

NetSurf can render SVG files (via libsvgtiny)

I downloaded libsvgtiny’s Tar file, and de-archived it: it contains a directory ‘libsvgtiny-release’ which contains a directory ‘0/1/8’, which in turn contains a number of sub-directories and data files. TBH I have no idea what to do with these.

@Jean-Michel: thanks, I’m contacting you directly via the address you gave.

I think the idea is that you use NetSurf, not the library. View it in NetSurf, save it as a draw file.

View it in NetSurf

Netsurf (3.11) won’t open an svg file which Firefox on Windows will, however.

Well, then the library won’t help, it’s how NetSurf opens them.

The problem with trying to convert SVG to Draw, or to anything on RISCOS, is that SVG – like most if not all mainstream file formats – is a constantly moving target, moving faster than RISCOS can hope to keep up. You can write an SVG → Draw conversion app that works with today’s SVG format, and tomorrow it’ll only work with a subset of SVG because SVG’s grown.

Draw conversion app that works with today’s SVG format, and tomorrow it’ll only work with a subset of SVG because SVG’s grown.

I agree, this is what happens each time a possibility is added to my Svg2Draw application…

Just for information.
Mr G.T. Greenfield, allowed me to discover that if you need to export a Draw file to SVG, you can use !MuView.
You must save the draw file as a PDF, then open it with !MuView. This application allows you to export to SVG. Which makes one more tool for Draw to SVG.

Note that if the PDF file contains an image it is saved in the file as a Base64 encoded image.