xdocs/faq.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- ========================================================================= -->
<!-- Copyright (C) The Apache Software Foundation. All rights reserved.        -->
<!--                                                                           -->
<!-- This software is published under the terms of the Apache Software License -->
<!-- version 1.1, a copy of which has been included with this distribution in  -->
<!-- the LICENSE file.                                                         -->
<!-- ========================================================================= -->

<!-- ========================================================================= -->
<!-- author vincent.hardy@eng.sun.com                                          -->
<!-- author cjolif@ilog.fr                                                     -->
<!-- version $Id$ -->
<!-- ========================================================================= -->

<!DOCTYPE faqs SYSTEM "./dtd/faq-v10.dtd">

<faqs title="Frequently Asked Questions">

<faq>
    <question>What is Batik?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>        <img src="images/batikUses.jpg" alt="Batik use cases" />
        Batik is a Java
        based toolkit for applications that want to use images in the
        <link href="http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/">Scalable Vector
        Graphics (SVG)</link> format for various purposes, such as
        viewing, generation or manipulation.        
        </p>
        <p>
        The project's ambition is to give developers a set of core modules which can be used together 
        or individually to support specific SVG solutions. Examples of modules are an
        <link href="glossary.html#SVGParser">SVG parser</link>, an 
        <link href="glossary.html#SVGGenerator">SVG generator</link>
        and an <link href="glossary.html#SVGDOM">SVG DOM </link>
        implementations. Another ambition of the Batik project is to make 
        it highly extensible (for example, Batik allows the developer to handle custom SVG tags).
        Even though the goal of the project is to provide a set 
        of core modules, one of the deliveries is a full fledged SVG Viewer implementation which 
        validates the various modules and their inter-operability. 
        </p>
        <p>
        In a nutshell, Batik provides building blocks that developers can assemble in 
        various ways in their Java technology applications to generate, 
        parse, view or convert SVG contents. For example, Batik contains
        a Swing component that can add SVG viewing capability to all Java
        technology applications. Batik can also be used to generate SVG on
        a client or on a server, and Batik can convert SVG content into
        other formats such as JPEG or PNG. Batik's goal is to make it easy
        for application developers to handle SVG content for various 
        purposes, client-side or server-side, as illustrated in the above
        diagram.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>What is SVG?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an open-standard language for describing 
        two-dimensional (2D) graphics in XML. It is a Candidate Recommendation from the 
        <link href="http://www.w3.org">W3C</link>. SVG lets you describe rich images
        with features such as gradients, transparency, filter effects and animation.
        </p>
        <p>
        SVG allows for three types of graphic objects: shapes (e.g., paths consisting 
        of straight lines and curves), images and text. Graphical objects can be grouped, 
        styled, transformed and composited (e.g., drawn with transparency). SVG has a 
        large set of static features that includes nested transformations, clipping 
        paths, masking and filter effects.
        </p>
        <p>
        In addition, SVG images can be dynamic and interactive. A rich set of event
        handlers such as onmouseover and onclick can be assigned to any SVG
        graphical object. These handlers can invoke scripts, which, in response to an
        event, can dynamically modify the SVG graphic through the SVG Document Object Model
        (DOM) API, allowing, for example scripts to change the color or location of graphical 
        elements in reaction to events. </p>
        <p>SVG graphical elements can also be animated through scripting. Alternatively,
        animation sequences can be expressed directly in XML because SVG leverages the
        <link href="http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/">SMIL</link> specification for multimedia,
        another <link href="http://www.w3.org">W3C</link> specification. 
        </p>
    </answer>
</faq>

<faq>
    <question>What can I do with Batik?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Batik contains several modules that can be used independently such as an SVG parser,
        a object oriented vector toolkit (<link href="glossary.html#GVT">GVT</link>) and
        a set of extensions to the Java 2D API (such as sophisticated fill types and 
        filter effects).</p>
        <p>
        However, Batik comes with three packaged applications: an 
        <link href="svgviewer.html">SVG viewer</link> (in the 
        org.apache.batik.apps.svgviewer package) an 
        <link href="svgrasterizer.html">SVG rasterizer</link> (in the 
        org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer package) and an SVG Generator 
        (in the org.apache.batik.util.awt.svg package) that allows
        all Java applications to export their graphics to the SVG format. 
        </p>
        <p>
        The SVG viewer can display SVG documents and lets the user zoom, pan 
        and rotate any SVG document, view the SVG source, link between SVG 
        documents, view a tree representation of the SVG DOM and more. One
        important component of the SVG viewer is the <code>org.apache.batik.refimpl.util.JSVGCanvas</code>  
        component that can be plugged in any Java application to provide SVG viewing capability.
        </p>
        <p>
        The SVG rasterizer lets the user convert SVG files to raster formats such
        as JPEG and PNG. It contains an extensible mechanism so that arbitrary
        raster formats can be added. For example, the rasterizer lets you create 
        one SVG file with a special effect (e.g., shadows, gradients, etc...), 
        turn it into an PNG image, then modify the SVG source (e.g., modify
        a piece of text or a color), and generate another PNG image from it. This
        way, you can easily generate a series of images sharing a common
        theme or look and feel to post on a web site (note that the rasterizer
        can also be used on a web server to do this conversion automatically).
        
        </p>
        <p>

        The SVG generator lets all Java application export their graphics
        as SVG, using the same code used for drawing to the screen or for
        printing. For example, an application that displays a pie chart in
        a window, can use the SVG generator to easily export the sequence
        of Java2D drawing calls for the pie chart to a SVG format.
        </p>
        <p>
        These three applications show that Batik can be used client side (the viewer
        can be used on any client machine, and the SVG generator can be used in client
        desktop applications to export SVG) and server side (the rasterizer can be
        used to serve SVG images to client machines that do not have SVG support; the
        SVG generator can be used to dynamically generate SVG content on a server).
        </p>
        <p>
        The SVG viewer and the rasterizer are only examples of the type of 
        applications Batik allows. Its architecture allows the different modules to
        be used in different ways and other applications are possible, such as 
        transcoders (to other vector formats, such as PDF, for example). Furthermore,
        the Graphic Vector Toolkit could be used to render other graphic formats
        such as XHTML.
        </p>
    </answer>
</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How can I see a demo?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        You can either <link href="dist">download</link>
        Batik or see 
        <link href="svgviewer.html">screenshots</link> 
        of the Batik SVG viewer, images created from the 
        <link href="svgrasterizer.html">rasterizer</link>
        and an <link href="svggen.html">example</link>
        of how to use the SVG Graphics2D generator.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>Why do we have such a project at Apache?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Apache's mission is to allow the web to be an open environment and
        to remain an open environment. Batik is an open source implementation of
        a key format for today and tomorow's web and fits well in Apache's mission.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How does Batik relate to other Apache projects?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Batik will likely be used in <link href="http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/index.html">Cocoon</link> 
        for server side rasterization of SVG images. In addition, the Batik and the
        <link href="http://xml.apache.org/fop/index.html">FOP</link> teams have started to work
        together to define how the projects can leverage each other's work for SVG to PDF 
        conversion.
        </p>
        <p>
        Note that Batik uses <link href="http://xml.apache.org/xalan-j/index.html">Xalan</link> for its 
        support of XSL transformations (have a look at the xsltest.svg file in the distribution).
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How did it start?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Batik started out because several teams doing SVG related projects decided to join 
        efforts with the idea that the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts. The
        following companies or institutions are part of the team that contributed and/or
        created the initial Batik project:
        </p>
        <ul>
            <li><link href="http://www.csiro.au/">CSIRO</link></li>
            <li><link href="http://www.ilog.com/">ILOG</link></li>
            <li><link href="http://www.inria.fr/koala/">Koala Team</link></li>
            <li><link href="http://www.kodak.com/">Eastman Kodak Company</link></li>
            <li><link href="http://www.sun.com">Sun Microsystems, Inc.</link></li>
        </ul>
        <p>
        In addition, the Batik project is supported by <link href="http://www.ibm.com">IBM</link>.
        </p>
        <p>
        We encourage anyone to participate. As with all ASF project, all efforts are
        volunteer-based. We are looking for individuals to work with us on
        fulfilling our goals for Batik in the spirit of collaborative open-source
        software development.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How can I contribute?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        The Batik Project is an open volunteer project based on the
        spirit of the <link href="http://www.apache.org">Apache
        Software Foundation</link> (ASF).  This means that there are
        lots of ways to contribute to the project, either with direct
        participation (coding, documenting, answering questions,
        proposing ideas, reporting bugs, suggesting bug-fixes, etc..)
        or by resource donation (publicity, hardware, software,
        conference presentations, speeches, etc...). Applications that
        use the Batik modules, such as tools or extensions, are of special 
        interest to the project.
        </p>
        <p>
        The process for contributing to Batik is the same as for other
        Java projects at Apache. A formal description of that process
        can be found on the <link
        href="http://jakarta.apache.org/guidelines/index.html">Jakarta</link>
        web site.
        </p>
        <p>
        For direct participation, we suggest you to subscribe to the
        <link href="http://xml.apache.org/mail.html">Batik mailing
        list</link> (follow the link for information on how to
        subscribe and to access the mail list archives), and to
        checkout the <link
        href="http://xml.apache.org/websrc/index.cgi/xml-batik/">latest
        code</link>.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>Where is Batik going? What is next?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        The SVG implementation is not complete, and there is more work to do to 
        achieve a fully functional viewer, especially in dynamic behavior (the 
        scripting support is not fully implemented yet and there is no SMIL 
        animation support yet).
        </p>
        <p>
        The type of applications (e.g., transcoding applications) that can or will
        be added to Batik depends on contributions and feedback.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How can I create and author SVG content?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Well, you can always use a plain text editor such as vi or 
        xemacs, but there are many graphic authoring packages that can export SVG documents 
        and that will let you author SVG content visually.</p>
        <p>
        You can get a list of tools that can export SVG from the 
        <link href="http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/SVG-Implementations#edit">implementation</link>
        section of the SVG Home page on the W3C web site. You can also 
        imagine building a tool on top of Batik: feel free to contribute!
        </p>
        <p>
        Authoring is one way of creating SVG content, and graphic authoring
        packages are useful for that purpose. However, there are many types
        of graphics which can be generated, such as stock quotes, statistical
        data, etc. For these types of graphics, there are many ways to generate
        SVG content. For example, if your data (say stock information) is contained
        in an XML document, you could use XSLT to transform your XML data into
        SVG. If your data comes from a database and you retrieve that data
        in a servlet on a Web server (e.g., using JDBC), you could use the 
        Java binding for the DOM API to generate an SVG document from the 
        data base data. You could also use Batik's SVG generator and use the
        Java 2D API to generate that graphic.
        </p>
        <p>
        The following URLs will be useful to learn more about each of 
        these solutions:
        </p>
        <ul>
            <li><link href="http://xml.apache.org/xalan-j/index.html">Xalan for XSLT</link></li>
            <li><link href="http://xml.apache.org/xerces-j/index.html">Xerces</link> and
                <link href="http://java.sun.com/xml/download.html">Crimson</link> for the DOM API</li>
            <li><link href="svggen.html">SVG Generator</link></li>
        </ul>
    </answer>
</faq>

<faq>
    <question>What other SVG products are out there?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        There are many companies supporting SVG and you will find a list of 
        available implementations on the <link href="http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/SVG-Implementations">
        W3C's SVG implementation page</link>
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>

    <question>Where can I find the SVG specification?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        The SVG specification is available from the 
        <link href="http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/">W3C Web site</link> 
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How much of SVG does Batik implement?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        The following <link href="status.html">status page</link>
        shows how much of the SVG specification Batik implements by showing which 
        of the tests in the SVG Basic Effectivity test suite Batik successfully passes.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>

    <question>What are the benefits of SVG being an XML grammar?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Being an XML grammar means SVG can leverage work done around XML, 
        and SVG actually leverages other grammars such as XLink for linking and SMIL
        for the animation.
        </p>
        <p>
        Beyond the use and mix with other XML syntaxes, being an XML grammar
        lets SVG benefit from the pletora of XML tools that make it so easy
        to manipulate, generate, search and edit SVG files.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>


<faq>
    <question>Where does the name come from?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Batik is a highly evolved art tradition that developed in Java
        (one of the islands comprising what is now called
        Idonesia). Batik is generally thought of as the quintessentially
        Indonesian textile. Motifs of flowers, twining plants, leaves,
        buds, birds, butterflies, fish, insects and geometric forms are
        rich in symbolic association and variety; there are about three
        thousand recorded batik patterns.
        </p>
        <p>
        We think that Batik gracefully evokes Java, graphics and
        high-quality, terms that constitute the core of the toolkit.
        </p>
        <p>
        The following <link href="http://www.culturalbridge.com/idgallbk1.htm">
        page</link> shows examples of what Batik textures look like.</p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>What are the System Requirements to run Batik?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        Batik is written in the Java language and requires a version 1.2
        implementation. However, version 1.3 is highly recommended, as that version
        fixes several bugs and has greatly improved performance. <strong>Linux users:</strong> we 
        recommend that you use 1.2.2 or higher.       
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How do I install Batik?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        You will need the <link href="http://java.sun.com/">JDK 1.3</link> (or 1.2 if 1.3 
        is not yet available on your platform) to run Batik. <strong>Linux users:</strong> we 
        recommend that you use 1.2.2 or higher.       
        </p>
        <p>
        To install Batik you need to <link href="dist">download</link>
        the binary or source distribution and unzip it on your computer.
        </p>
	<p>You can have a look at the <link href="install.html">installation instructions</link> for more information.
	</p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>How do I submit patches or bug fixes?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        You can submit bug fixes and patches to the 
        <link href="mailto:batik-dev@xml.apache.org">Batik developers</link>
        mailing list.
        </p>
    </answer>

</faq>

<faq>
    <question>What scripting languages can I use in my SVG files?</question>
    <answer>
        <p>
        A limited support of scripting in SVG files is provided with the
        current version of Batik (script are executed but dynamic
        update is not supported).
    	</p>
	    <p>
	    Batik can recognized the following scripting languages:
	    </p>
	    <ul>
	        <li>ECMAScript thanks to the <link href="http://www.mozilla.org/rhino">Mozilla Rhino</link> JavaScript engine included in the distribution.
	        </li>
	        <li>Python for which you need to download the <link href="http://www.jpython.org">JPython</link> engine.
	        </li>
	        <li>Tcl for which you need to download the <link href="http://dev.scriptics.com/software/java/">Jacl</link> engine.
	        </li>
	    </ul>
	    <p>
	    To get more information on how to install optional scripting languages
	    you can have a look at the <link href="install.html">installation instructions</link>.
	    </p>
    </answer>
    
</faq>

</faqs>