svg-ultralight 0.1

Write SVG files with Python.

svg_ultralight

The most straightforward way to create SVG files with Python.

Four functions only:

from svg_ultralight import new_svg_root, write_svg, write_png_from_svg

new_svg_root

x: float,
y: float,
width: float,
height: float,
pad: float = 0
-> etree.Element

Create an svg root element from viewBox style arguments and provide the necessary svg-specific attributes and namespaces. This is your window onto the scene. The arguments are the same you'd use to create a rect element (plus pad):

See namespaces below.

• x: x value in upper-left corner
• y: y value in upper-left corner
• width: width of viewBox
• height: height of viewBox
• pad: The one small convenience I've provided. Optionally increase viewBox by pad in all directions.

namespaces (svg_ultralight.NSMAP)

new_svg_root will create a root with several available namespaces.

• "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/",
• "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#",
• "rdf": "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#",
• "svg": "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg",
• "xlink": "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink",
• "sodipodi": "http://sodipodi.sourceforge.net/DTD/sodipodi-0.dtd",
• "inkscape": "http://www.inkscape.org/namespaces/inkscape",

I have made these available to you as svg_ultralight.NSMAP

write_svg

svg: str,
xml: etree.Element,
stylesheet: Optional[str] = None,
do_link_css: bool = False,
-> str:

Write an xml element as an svg file. This will link or inline your css code and insert the necessary declaration, doctype, and processing instructions.

• svg: path to output file (include extension .svg)
• param xml: root node of your svg geometry (created by new_svg_root)
• stylesheet: optional path to a css stylesheet
• do_link_css: link to stylesheet, else (default) write contents of stylesheet into svg (ignored if stylesheet is None)
• returns: for convenience, returns svg filename (svg)
• effects: creates svg file at svg

write_png_from_svg

inkscape_exe: str,
svg: str
png: Optional[str]
-> str

Convert an svg file to a png. Python does not have a library for this. That has an upside, as any library would be one more set of svg implementation idiosyncrasies we'd have to deal with. Inkscape will convert the file. This function provides the necessary command-line arguments.

• inkscape_exe: path to inkscape.exe
• svg: path to svg file
• png: optional path to png output (if not given, png name will be inferred from svg: 'name.svg' becomes 'name.png')
• return: png filename
• effects: creates png file at png (or infers png filename from svg)

write_png

inkscape_exe: str,
png: str,
xml: etree.Element,
stylesheet: Optional[str] = None,

Create a png without writing an initial svg to your filesystem. This is not faster (it may be slightly slower), but it may be important when writing many images (animation frames) to your filesystem.

• inkscape_exe: path to inkscape.exe
• png: path to output file (include extension .png)
• param xml: root node of your svg geometry (created by new_svg_root)
• stylesheet: optional path to a css stylesheet
• returns: for convenience, returns png filename (png)
• effects: creates png file at png

Full Documentation and Tutorial