Canvas to SVG

Summary

Richard Suchenwirth 2002-11-05: SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an application of XML to describe images in terms of elements, which often resemble Tk's [[canvas] items.

The following code attempts to dump canvas contents into a well-formed SVG string. Having neither the complete SVG spec nor a viewer at hand, it is just a first shot - no warranty, feel free to improve and edit this page!

Try [Inkscape|https://inkscape.org/ ].

See Also

can2svg
coccinella

Description

proc canvas2svg {c} {
    set res "<svg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'[att width [$c cget -width]][att height [$c cget -height]]>\n"

    # Adjustment when scroll region is shifted
    lassign [concat [$c cget -scrollregion] 0 0 0 0] x0 y0 x1 y1
    set dx [expr {-$x0}]
    set dy [expr {-$y0}]

    foreach item [$c find all] {
        set type [$c type $item]
        set atts ""
        foreach {x0 y0 x1 y1} \
            [string map {".0 " " "} "[$c coords $item] "] break
        catch {set fill [rgb2xcolor [$c itemcget $item -fill]]}
        catch {set stroke [rgb2xcolor [$c itemcget $item -outline]]}
        catch {set width [expr round([$c itemcget $item -width])]}
        set pts {}
        foreach {x y} [$c coords $item] {
           lappend pts [list [expr {round($x) + $dx}] [expr {round($y) + $dy}]]
        }
        switch -- $type {
            line {
                set type polyline
                append atts [att points [join $pts ", "]]
                append atts [att stroke $fill #000000]
                append atts [att stroke-width $width 1]
            }
            oval {
                set type ellipse
                append atts [att cx [expr {($x0+$x1)/2}]]
                append atts [att cy [expr {($y0+$y1)/2}]]
                append atts [att rx [expr {($x1-$x0)/2}]]
                append atts [att ry [expr {($y1-$y0)/2}]]
                append atts [att fill $fill #000000][att stroke $stroke none]
                append atts [att stroke-width $width 1]
            }
            polygon {
                append atts [att points [join $pts ", "]]
                append atts [att fill $fill #000000][att stroke $stroke none]
                append atts [att stroke-width $width 1]
            }
            rectangle {
                set type rect
                append atts [att x $x0][att y $y0]
                append atts [att width  [expr {$x1-$x0}]]
                append atts [att height [expr {$y1-$y0}]]
                append atts [att fill $fill #000000][att stroke $stroke none]
                append atts [att stroke-width $width 1]
            }
            text {
                append atts [att x $x0][att y $y0][att fill $fill #000000]
                set text [$c itemcget $item -text]
            }
            default {error "type $type not(yet) dumpable to SVG"}
        }
        append res "  <$type$atts"
        if {$type=="text"} {
            append res ">$text</$type>\n"
        } else {
            append res " />\n"
        }
    }
    append res "</svg>"
}
proc att {name value {default -}} {
    if {$value != $default} {return " $name=\"$value\""}
}
proc rgb2xcolor rgb {
    if {$rgb == ""} {return none}
    foreach {r g b} [winfo rgb . $rgb] break
    format #%02x%02x%02x [expr {$r/256}] [expr {$g/256}] [expr {$b/256}]
}
# Test code:
if {[file tail [info script]] == [file tail $argv0]} {
    catch {console show} ;# for Win and Mac
    pack [canvas .c]
    .c create rect 10 10 90 90 -fill red -outline yellow -width 2
    .c create oval 110 10 190 90 -fill blue
    .c create poly 175 37 190 80 235 80 190 107 212 150 175 125 \
        138 150 152 107 115 80 160 80 -fill yellow 
    .c create line 50 50 150 50
    .c create text 100 100 -text Hello -font {Helvetica 18}
    foreach item [.c find all] {
        puts $item:[.c type $item],[.c itemconfig $item]\n
    }
    puts [canvas2svg .c]
    bind . <Escape> {exec wish $argv0 &; exit}
}

This is what comes out of the test:

<svg width="377" height="264">
  <rect x="10" y="10" width="80" height="80" fill="#ff0000" stroke="#ffff00" stroke-width="2" />
  <ellipse cx="150" cy="50" rx="40" ry="40" fill="#0000ff" stroke="#000000" stroke-width="1" />
  <polygon points="175 37, 190 80, 235 80, 190 107, 212 150, 175 125, 138 150, 152 107, 115 80, 160 80" fill="#ffff00" stroke="none" stroke-width="1" />
  <polyline points="50 50, 150 50" stroke="#000000" stroke-width="1" />
  <text x="100" y="100" fill="#000000">Hello</text>
</svg>

For a more elaborate dumper see http://hem.fyristorg.com/matben/download/can2svg.tcl


VI 2007-09-11: Just using that in an svg file causes Firefox to display say - No style information. And it displays the xml source rather than the graphic. The minimum I required to add was an xmlns parameter to the svg tag, like this (only first line is below).

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="377" height="264">

KPV 2019-10-07: added fix to handle when scroll region is shifted plus added VI's xmlns fix into the code.