SXBL

sXBL (SVG's XML Binding Language) is a mechanism for defining the interactive and presentation behavior of elements that are in a namespace other than that of SVG (an XML markup language that supports vector graphics, user events, and scripted behavior). sXBL is very similar to XBL in that it allows for SVG documents what XBL does for XUL documents. For example, it is possible to create a general scroll area in sXBL and to continue using it in SVG.

Course, goals and future

The sXBL specification is derived from a specification called RCC (Rendering Custom Content), which was embedded in the working draft of the SVG 1.2 specification. The RCC part of the specification has since been removed and replaced with a more modularized approach.

As described below in the sXBL working draft:

sXBL is intended to be an SVG-specific first version of a more general-purpose XBL specification (eg, "XBL 2.0"). The intent is that, in the future, a general-purpose and modularly-defined XBL specification will be developed which will replace this specification and will define additional features that are necessary to support scenarios beyond SVG, such as integration into web browsers that support CSS . Once a general-purpose XBL is defined, sXBL would just become an SVG-specific subset (ie, a profile) of the larger XBL specification.

Although sXBL has borrowed a great deal from XBL, there are some differences between the two standards (for example, the names of some elements are different). However, there are also some subtle differences between the current status of the Mozilla XBL 2.0 working draft and the current status of the sXBL working draft.

Since the sXBL specification has not evolved since the last working draft of August 2005, and the XBL 2.0 "last call" working draft was published in September 2006, it is assumed that sXBL will be left out in favor of the more general XBL 2.0 approach .

Implementations

sXBL is a W3C working draft, it has not yet reached recommendation status. However, the Batik SVG Toolkit , a Java library that can render, generate and manipulate SVG graphics, implements a preliminary, almost completely current version of the sXBL specification in the code base .

swell

1. ↑ Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.2 - W3C Working Draft July 15, 2003
2. ↑ XBL 2.0
3. ↑ Re: A qüstion on sXBL and XBL 2.0

Web links

• Specification W3C working draft.
• Explaining the differences between sXBL and XBL 2.0 specifications
• Batik SVG Toolkit - Batik SVG toolkit website
• Current status of Batik's sXBL implementation