Batik is a pure-Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 library that can be used to render, generate, and manipulate SVG

Scalable Vector Graphics

Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...

 graphics. (SVG is an XML

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

 markup language for describing two-dimensional vector graphics

Vector graphics

Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...

.) IBM supported the project and then donated the code to the Apache Software Foundation

Apache Software Foundation

The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...

, where other companies and teams decided to join efforts.
Batik provides a set of core modules that provide functionality to:

• render and dynamically modify SVG content,
• transcode SVG content to some raster Graphics file formats, such as PNG, JPEG
  JPEG
  In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
  
   and TIFF,
• transcode Windows Metafile
  Windows Metafile
  Windows Metafile is a graphics file format on Microsoft Windows systems, originally designed in the 1990s. Windows Metafiles are intended to be portable between applications and may contain both vector graphics and bitmap components....
  
  s to SVG (WMF or Windows Metafile Format is the vector format used by Microsoft Windows
  Microsoft Windows
  Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
  
   applications),
• and manage scripting and user events on SVG documents.

The Batik distribution also contains a ready-to-use SVG browser (called Squiggle) making use of the above modules.

The name of the library comes from the Batik painting technique

Batik

Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. Batik or fabrics with the traditional batik patterns are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Singapore.Javanese traditional batik, especially from...

.

Status

Batik was long the most conformant existing SVG 1.1 implementation and is just a small fraction behind Opera

Opera (web browser)

Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...

.

The latest 1.7 version, made available on January 10, 2008, has an "almost full" implementation of the current state of the sXBL

SXBL

sXBL is a mechanism for defining the presentation and interactive behavior of elements described in a namespace other than SVG's . sXBL is very similar to XBL, as it does for SVG documents what XBL does for XUL documents...

 specification, a nearly complete implementation of SVG declarative animation SMIL

Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language

SMIL , the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, is a W3C recommended XML markup language for describing multimedia presentations. It defines markup for timing, layout, animations, visual transitions, and media embedding, among other things...

 features, and some of the SVG 1.2 late October 2004 working draft (see SVG's Development history).

See also

• Scalable Vector Graphics
  Scalable Vector Graphics
  Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
  
  
• Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
  Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
  SMIL , the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, is a W3C recommended XML markup language for describing multimedia presentations. It defines markup for timing, layout, animations, visual transitions, and media embedding, among other things...
  
  
• sXBL
  SXBL
  sXBL is a mechanism for defining the presentation and interactive behavior of elements described in a namespace other than SVG's . sXBL is very similar to XBL, as it does for SVG documents what XBL does for XUL documents...
  
   : a mechanism for defining the presentation and interactive behavior of elements described in a namespace other than SVG's
• Comparison of layout engines (SVG)

External links

• Apache Batik Project
• Current status of Batik's sXBL implementation
• The official SVG page at W3C, SVG Working Group