x2svg

Description

x2svg is a collection of ant tasks that can be used to convert various heirarchical tree structural forms into a visual representation. e.g. convert a DTD into an SVG. Various input and output formats are supported by these tasks.

The current implementation supports a main 'x2svg' task (that supplies global configuration settings) with a parser sub-task, that is responsible for actually parsing and converting files ot the requested output format(s).

The parser sub-task can either auto-detect (based on file extension) the type of file being parsed, or force the type by setting a task parameter.

Current supported input formats

Current supported output formats

Parameters

The parameters on the x2svg task are global properties that are applied to all sub-tasks that are exectued under this main task.

Attribute Description Required
debugEnabled If set to true, x2svg will output verbose debugging information. This is a global setting that applies to all sub-tasks. No, default is false
propertiesLocation If specified, x2svg will try to load the properties configuration from the given location. If not specified, the task will attempt to load x2svg.properties from the system classpath. If this fails, then default values are used. No

Nested elements

output

Zero or one output elements are allowed within an x2svg task.

The nested output element specifies the output formats that should be produced. This element is optional - if no output formats are specified, then only SVG will be outputted. If, however, this element is specified, then one or more format elements must be specified. Also, SVG will NOT be automatically outputted if an output element is present, it must be explicitly specified.

Parameters specified as nested elements

format

One or more format elements are allowed within an output element.

The output sub-task allos for one or more output formats to be specified. ~For each specified format tag inside an output tag, an appropriate renderer will be used to produce output in the requested format. If the format specified is invalid, it is ignored.

Attribute Description Required
type

Specify the format that the parsed output tree will be rendered as. If an unknown format is specified, it will be ignored. The following format output options are supported:

  • svg - Output the parsed tree in SVG format NB: not specifying the output tag at all implicitly selectes this option.
  • pdf - Output the parsed tree as a PDF. The PDF is currently sized to to the tree (not standard paper sizes).
  • png - Output the parsed tree as a PNG bitmap.
  • jpg - Output the parsed tree as a JPEG bitmap.
  • eps - Output the parsed tree as a EPS postscript file.
 Yes

parser

One or more parser elements are allowed within an x2svg element.

The nested parser element specifies a set of files or folders (as one or more filesets) that should be processed to convert their native form into a graphical representation.

Parameters

Attribute Description Required
mode Specify the type of file that is being parsed by this sub-task. Specifying auto will force the parser to evaluate each file in turn, and attempt to best-guess the format for parsing. Any files encountered whose format cannot be determined will be logged, and skipped. Yes

Parameters specified as nested elements

comment

Zero or one comment elements are allowed within an parser element.

The parser sub-task supports zero or one nested <comment> elements that specify the comment to be annotated to each parsed output.

Parameters

Attribute Description Required
message Specify the message or comment that should be added to each generated SVG. No

fileset

One or more fileset elements are allowed within an parser element.

The parser sub-task supports one ot more nested <fileset> elements that specify the files that are to be included in this parse/conversion process.

parser sub-task example

See the doc/examples/ directory of the distribution for a sample build file.

<x2svg debug="true" propertiesLocation="x2svg.properties">
    <output>
        <!-- Output each (valid) parsed input as a PDF, and PNG. -->
        <format type="pdf" />
        <format type="png" />
    </output>

    <parser mode="auto">
        <!-- A parser sub-task that will attempt to auto-detect which parser to use  -->
        <!-- based on the extension of the encountered file.  -->
        <fileset dir="${build}/classes" excludes="**/Test.class" />
    </parser>

    <parser mode="dtd">
        <!-- A parser sub-task that will only attempt to parse DTDs -->
        <!-- the includes is not neccessary, but helps clarity. -->
        <comment message="These examples demonstrtes parsing DTD files." />
        <fileset dir="${build}/resources/dtd" includes="**/*.dtd" />
    </parser>
</x2svg>

convertor

One or more convertor elements are allowed within an x2svg element.

The nested convertor element specifies a set of files or folders (as one or more filesets) that should be converted from SVG into different specified graphical representations.

Parameters specified as nested elements

fileset

One or more fileset elements are allowed within an convertor element.

The convertor sub-task supports one ot more nested <fileset> elements that specify the SVG files that are to be included in this conversion process.

convertor sub-task example

See the doc/examples/ directory of the distribution for a sample build file.

<x2svg debug="true">
    <output>
        <!-- Output JPG converted files. -->
        <format type="jpg" />
    </output>

    <convertor>
        <!-- A convertor sub-task that will attempt to convert SVG files  -->
        <!-- to the output formats specified above.  -->
        <fileset dir="${build}/images" includes="**/*.svg" />
    </convertor>

</x2svg>