Apache unveils Java graphics toolkit

The open source Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has released a beta version of a Java toolkit that allows developers to build web-based applications that can handle scalable vector graphics (SVG) content.

The development is the fruit of a project called Batik run by Sun Microsystems and the ASF. SVG is a cross-platform, vendor-independent format for graphics based on XML and is developed through the World Wide Web Consortium.

As part of the project Sun donated code, including the SVGGraphics2D generator software, which allows Java technology-based applications to export graphics to the SVG format. It also provided image encoders and components such as gradient paints and filter effects.

Other modules that form Batik include an SVG viewer that can be integrated into any Java technology-based application to display SVG images, an implementation of the Document Object Model in SVG, and SVG transcoders, which allow SVG images to be converted into other formats, such as JPEG or PNG.

Brian Behlendorf, president of the ASF, said: "The Foundation promotes projects such as Batik to demonstrate the positive results of a collaborative development process, where individuals join forces across national and corporate boundaries to build upon each other's work and create a regularly improved product for the benefit of the global community."

Batik is the third Apache project to which Sun has donated code. The others are Jakarta, which is based on Java Server Pages technology and Java Servlets, and Xerces 2, an XML parser.

As with all Apache projects, Batik exists through volunteer contributions. Behlendorf said that Apache developers have been building software that promotes open standards and an open internet for more than five years.