SVG Tiny 1.2 - 20060810 ā€“ 20080912

14 Linking

Contents

14.1 References

14.1.1 Overview

On the Internet, resources are identified using IRI s (Internationalized Resource Identifiers). For example, an SVG file called someDrawing.svg located at http://example.com might have the following IRI :

http://example.com/someDrawing.svg

An IRI can also address a particular element within an XML document by including an IRI fragment identifier as part of the IRI . An IRI which includes a an IRI fragment identifier consists of an optional base IRI , followed by a "#" character, followed by the IRI fragment identifier. For example, the following IRI can be used to specify the element whose ID is "Lamppost" within file someDrawing.svg:

http://example.com/someDrawing.svg#Lamppost

Altering the xlink:href attribute

If the xlink:href 'xlink:href' attribute of an element in the tree is altered by any means (e.g. script, declarative animation) such that a new resource is referenced, the new resource must replace the existing resource, and must be rendered as appropriate. For specific effects on the scripting context when a script 'script' element's xlink:href 'xlink:href' attribute is altered, see Script processing .

14.1.2 IRIs and URIs

Internationalized Resource Identifiers ( IRI s) are a more generalized complement to Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). An IRI is a sequence of characters from the Universal Character Set [Unicode40]. A URI is constructed from a much more restricted set of characters. All URIs are already conformant IRI s. A mapping from IRI s to URIs is defined by the IRI specification, which means that IRIs can be used instead of URIs in XML documents, to identify resources. IRI s can be converted to URIs for resolution on a network, if the protocol does not support IRI s directly.

Previous versions of SVG, following XLink, defined a [IRI Reference] type as a URI or as a sequence of characters which must result in a URI reference after a particular escaping procedure was applied . The escaping procedure was repeated in the XLink 1.0 specification [ XLink XLink10 ], and in the W3C XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes specification [ Schema2 ]. This copying introduced the possibility of error and divergence, but was done because the IRI specification was not yet standardized.

In this specification, the correct term IRI is used for this URI 'URI or sequence of characters plus an algorithm' and the escaping method method, which turns IRIs into URIs, is defined by reference to the IRI specification , which has since become an IETF Proposed Standard. Other W3C specifications are expected to be revised over time to remove these duplicate descriptions of the escaping procedure and to refer to IRI directly.

14.1.3 Syntactic forms: XMLRI IRI and funcXMLRI FuncIRI

An XML resource identifier is a character string meant to be used as an IRI reference or URI reference. An XML resource identifier (XMLRI) may contain characters that, according to [ RFC 3987 ] and [ RFC 3986 ], must be escaped before the string can be used to retrieve the referenced resource. For details, see [ XLink version 1.1 ]. XMLRI IRIs are used in the xlink:href 'xlink:href' attribute. Some attributes allow both IRIs and text strings as content. To disambiguate a text string from a relative IRI, the functional notation FuncXMLRI FuncIRI is used. This is simply an XMLRI IRI delimited with a functional notation. Note: For historical reasons, the delimiters are "url(" and ")". ")", for compatibility with the CSS specifications. The FuncXMLRI FuncIRI form is used in presentation attributes and navigation attributes .

SVG makes extensive use of IRI references, both absolute and relative, to other objects. For example, to fill a rectangle with a linear gradient, you first define a 'linearGradient' element and give it an ID, as in:

Example: 05_07.xml <linearGradient xml:id="MyGradient">...</linearGradient>
Example: 05_07.xml
<linearGradient xml:id="MyGradient">...</linearGradient>

You then reference the linear gradient as the value of the 'fill' property for the rectangle, as in the following example:

Example: 05_08.xml <rect fill="url(#MyGradient)"/>
Example: 05_08.xml
<rect fill="url(#MyGradient)"/>

14.1.4 Reference Restrictions restrictions

Some of the elements using IRI references have restrictions on them. Which parts kinds of IRI references that are allowed on each element is listed in the table below. The following possibilities exist in SVG. A referencing element supports In SVG, IRI references can be categorized as being one or more (or more) of these possibilities. The referencing attribute can: the following five types:

For each of the above five IRI types, A ā€“ E, there is a column in the reference restriction table below indicating whether the given attribute is allowed to have a reference of the given form. An IRI reference that does not complying comply to the restrictions in the table below is an invalid invalid IRI reference reference. .

'set' xlink:href Yes, see Identifying the target element for an animation for reference rules. No No No xlink:href Yes, linking to animation elements . Yes, referencing any element or a view on an SVG document (i.e. #svgView()). observer target Any Any Any
Elements Element Referencing attribute A B C D E
No An 'animate' animation element xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes, see Identifying the target element for an animation for reference rules. No No No No
'animateColor' 'discard' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes, see Identifying the target element for an animation for reference rules. No No No No
'animateMotion' 'a' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes, see Identifying the target element for an animation for reference rules. No No No Linking into SVG content . No 'animateTransform' xlink:href Yes, see Identifying the target element for an animation for reference rules. No Links out of SVG content . No Yes No Yes No 'discard' xlink:href Yes, see Identifying the target element for an animation for reference rules. No No No No Yes
'use' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes, but a 'use' element must not reference an 'svg' element. Yes, but the referenced fragment must not contain scripting, hyperlinking to animations or any externally referenced 'use' or 'animation' elements. No No No
'image' xlink:href 'xlink:href' No No No Yes , but the 'image' element must reference content that is a raster image format. Yes, but the content within the 'data:' data: IRI reference must be a raster image.
'animation' xlink:href 'xlink:href' No No Yes No Yes
'prefetch' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes Yes Yes Yes No
'audio' xlink:href 'xlink:href' No No No Yes, depending on supported audio formats, indicated by the type 'type' attribute. Yes
'video' xlink:href 'xlink:href' No No No Yes, depending on supported video formats, indicated by the type 'type' attribute. Yes
'foreignObject' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
'script' xlink:href 'xlink:href' No No No Yes , but it must reference an external resource that provides the script content. Yes
'handler' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes Yes No Yes , but it must reference an external resource that provides the script content. Yes
'listener' handler 'handler'
Yes No No No No
An element using the 'fill' property on which paint may be specified 'fill' Yes, only referencing a paint server, see Specifying paint . No No No No
An element using the 'stroke' property on which paint may be specified 'stroke' Yes, only referencing a paint server, see Specifying paint . No No No No
An element using the focus attributes 'nav-next' 'nav-prev' 'nav-up' 'nav-up-right' 'nav-up-left' 'nav-left' 'nav-right' on which 'nav-down' navigation attributes may be specified A 'nav-down-right' navigation attribute 'nav-down-left' Yes, see Specifying Navigation navigation . No No No No
'font-face-uri' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes, the reference must be to an SVG 'font' element. Yes, the reference must be to an SVG 'font' element. No No Yes
'mpath' xlink:href 'xlink:href' Yes, only referencing a 'path' element. No No No No

Additionally, any IRI reference which cannot be resolved is an invalid IRI reference .Examples of reasons for an IRI reference to be unable to be resolved include:

Any required processing for an attribute with an invalid IRI reference is described in the attribute definition. Note that when the externalResourcesRequired 'externalResourcesRequired' attribute has been set to true 'true' on the referencing element or one of its ancestors, then an unresolved external IRI reference will result in special handling (see External resources ).

A circular IRI reference (i.e., a resource that cannot be located) shall represent is an error (see Error processing . Because SVG user agents may vary on when they first detect and abort a circular reference, conforming SVG document fragments must not rely upon circular references. Examples of circular references include:

It is recommended that, wherever possible, referenced elements be defined inside of a 'defs' element. Among the elements that are always referenced are 'linearGradient' and 'radialGradient' . Defining these elements inside of a 'defs' element promotes understandability of the SVG content and thus promotes accessibility.

14.1.5 IRI reference attributes

IRI references are normally specified with an href 'href' attribute in the XLink [ XLINK XLink ] namespace. For example, if the prefix of 'xlink' is used for attributes in the XLink namespace, then the attribute is be specified as xlink:href 'xlink:href' . The value of this attribute forms a reference for the desired resource (or secondary resource, if there is a fragment identifier).

The value of the href 'href' attribute must be an XML Resource Identifier .

If the protocol, such as HTTP, does not support IRI s directly, the IRI is converted to a URI by the SVG implementation, as described in section 3.1 of the IRI specification .

Because it is impractical for any application to check that a value is an IRI reference, this specification follows the lead of the IRI Specification in this matter and imposes no such conformance testing requirement on SVG applications.

If the IRI reference is relative, its absolute version must be computed by the method of [ XML-Base ] before use.

Additional XLink attributes can be specified that provide supplemental information regarding the referenced resource.

Schema: xlinkattr <define name='svg.XLinkBase.attr' combine='interleave'>
Schema: xlinkattr
    <define name='svg.XLinkBase.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:type' svg:animatable='true' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <value>simple</value>
        </attribute>
      </optional>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:role' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <ref name='XMLRI.datatype'/>

          <ref name='IRI.datatype'/>

        </attribute>
      </optional>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:arcrole' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <ref name='XMLRI.datatype'/>

          <ref name='IRI.datatype'/>

        </attribute>
      </optional>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:title' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'><text/></attribute>
      </optional>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLinkHrefRequired.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:href' svg:animatable='true' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <ref name='XMLRI.datatype'/>

          <ref name='IRI.datatype'/>

        </attribute>
      </optional>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLinkBaseRequired.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkBase.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkHrefRequired.attr'/>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLinkActuateOnLoad.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:actuate' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <value>onLoad</value>
        </attribute>
      </optional>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLinkShowOther.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:show' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <value>other</value>
        </attribute>
      </optional>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLinkEmbed.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:show' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <value>embed</value>
        </attribute>
      </optional>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkActuateOnLoad.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkBaseRequired.attr'/>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLinkRequired.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkShowOther.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkActuateOnLoad.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkBaseRequired.attr'/>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLinkReplace.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:show' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <choice>
            <value>new</value>
            <value>replace</value>
          </choice>
        </attribute>
      </optional>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='xlink:actuate' svg:animatable='false' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <value>onRequest</value>
        </attribute>
      </optional>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkBaseRequired.attr'/>
    </define>
    <define name='svg.XLink.attr' combine='interleave'>
      <optional>
        <ref name='svg.XLinkHrefRequired.attr'/>
      </optional>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkShowOther.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkActuateOnLoad.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkBase.attr'/>
    </define>
xlink:type = ' simple '
Identifies the type of XLink being used. In SVG Tiny 1.2, only simple links are available. All In line with the changes proposed in XLiunk 1.1 [ XLink11 ], this attribute may be omitted on simple links. links are simple links by default, so the attribute xlink:type xlink:type="simple" ="simple" is optional and need not be explicitly stated. Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.
xlink:role = ' <iri> '
An optional IRI reference that identifies some resource that describes the intended property. The value must be an IRI reference as defined in [ RFC3987 ], except that if the IRI scheme used is allowed to have absolute and relative forms, the IRI portion must be absolute. When no value is supplied, no particular role value shall be inferred. Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.
xlink:arcrole = ' <iri> '
An optional IRI reference that identifies some resource that describes the intended property. The value must be an IRI reference as defined in [ RFC3987 ], except that if the IRI scheme used is allowed to have absolute and relative forms, the IRI portion must be absolute. When no value is supplied, no particular role value shall be inferred. The arcrole attribute corresponds to the [ RDF ] notion of a property, where the role can be interpreted as stating that "starting-resource HAS arc-role ending-resource." This contextual role can differ from the meaning of an ending resource when taken outside the context of this particular arc. For example, a resource might generically represent a "person," but in the context of a particular arc it might have the role of "mother" and in the context of a different arc it might have the role of "daughter." Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.
xlink:title = ' <string> '
The title attribute shall be used to describe the meaning of a link or resource in a human-readable fashion, along the same lines as the role or arcrole attribute. A value is optional; if a value is supplied, it shall contain a string that describes the resource. In general it is preferable to use a 'title' child element rather than a 'title' attribute. The use of this information is highly dependent on the type of processing being done. It may be used, for example, to make titles available to applications used by visually impaired users, or to create a table of links, or to present help text that appears when a user lets a mouse pointer hover over a starting resource. Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.
xlink:show = ' new ' | ' replace ' | ' embed ' | ' other ' | ' none '
This attribute is provided for backwards compatibility with SVG 1.1. It provides documentation to XLink-aware processors. In case of a conflict, the target attribute has priority, since it can express a wider range of values. Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.
xlink:actuate = ' onLoad '
This attribute is provided for backwards compatibility with SVG 1.1. It provides documentation to XLink-aware processors. Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.

In all cases, for compliance with either the "Namespaces in XML 1.0" or the "Namespaces in XML 1.1" Recommendation [ XML-NS10 ][ XML-NS ], an explicit XLink namespace declaration must be provided whenever one of the above XLink attributes is used within SVG content. One simple way to provide such an XLink namespace declaration is to include an xmlns 'xmlns' attribute for the XLink namespace on the 'svg' element for content that uses XLink attributes.

Example: XLink namespace declaration

Example: 05_09.svg <?xml version="1.0"?>
Example: 05_09.svg
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<svg xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny">
  <desc>Declaring the XLink namespace, as well as the SVG one</desc>
  <image xlink:href="foo.png"/>
</svg>

Example: use and animation

The two files below are the referenced files in the use 'use' and animation examples further down.

Example: referencedRect.svg <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Example: referencedRect.svg
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
     version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny" 
     xml:id="animationRef" width="150" height="50" viewBox="0 0 150 50" fill="inherit">  
    <rect xml:id="aMovingRect" width="50" height="50" rx="5" ry="5" fill="inherit" stroke-width="3" stroke="black">
         <animateTransform attributeName="transform" type="translate" values="0,0;0,100" begin="0" dur="2" fill="freeze"/>
    </rect>
</svg>
Example: referencedRect2.svg <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Example: referencedRect2.svg
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
     version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny" 
     xml:id="animationRef" width="150" height="50" viewBox="0 0 150 50" fill="inherit">  
    <rect xml:id="aMovingRect" width="50" height="50" rx="5" ry="5" fill="rgb(255,28,141)" stroke-width="3" stroke="black">
         <animateTransform attributeName="transform" type="translate" values="0,0;0,100" begin="0" dur="2" fill="freeze"/>
    </rect>
</svg>

The following example illustrates how to reference SVG content from the animation 'animation' element. Different 'fill' values are used to show the way properties are inherited on content referenced from the animation 'animation' element.

Example: animation.svg <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Example: animation.svg
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
     version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny" width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 0 580 400">  
    <g fill="rgb(157,0,79)">
        <animation x="20" xlink:href="referencedRect.svg"/>
        <animation x="100"  xlink:href="referencedRect2.svg"/>
        <animation begin="1" x="180" viewport-fill="rgb(255,28,141)" xlink:href="referencedRect.svg"/>
    </g>
    
</svg>

The image below shows the correct rendering of the animation example above. The arrows indicates the animation. The grayed rectangles shows the initial state (i.e. time=0), the colored rectangles shows the final state (animations are completed). image showing usage of the animation element

The following example illustrates the different ways SVG content can be referenced from a use 'use' element. Different 'fill' values are used to show the way properties are inherited on content referenced from the use 'use' element.

Example: use.svg <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Example: use.svg
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
     version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny" width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 0 580 400">  
    <defs>
        <g fill="green">
            <rect xml:id="aMovingRect" width="50" height="50" rx="5" ry="5" fill="inherit" stroke-width="3" stroke="black">
                <animateTransform attributeName="transform" type="translate" values="0,0;0,100" begin="0" dur="2" fill="freeze"/>
            </rect>
        </g>
    </defs>
    
    <g fill="rgb(157,0,79)">
        <use x="20" xlink:href="#aMovingRect"/>
            
        <use x="100" fill="rgb(255,28,141)" xlink:href="#aMovingRect"/>
    
        <use x="180" xlink:href="referencedRect.svg#aMovingRect"/>
        <use x="260" fill="rgb(255,28,141)" xlink:href="referencedRect.svg#aMovingRect"/>
    </g>
</svg>

The image below shows the correct rendering of the use example above. The arrows indicates the animation. The grayed rectangles shows the initial state (i.e. time=0), the colored rectangles shows the final state (animations are completed). image showing usage of the use element

14.1.6 Externally referenced documents

In this section, the term "primary document" refers to a rootmost SVG document or SVG document fragment. If an SVG document is loaded directly by a web browser (e.g., the browser views file foo.svg), then it is the primary document. If an SVG document as a whole is referenced for inclusion by a parent document, such as using the HTML object 'object' or SVG animation 'animation' elements, then that document itself shall also be a primary document. If an SVG document fragment is embedded inline within a non-SVG document, then the svg 'svg' element shall define the root element for a subtree which acts as a primary document. In other words, it is the rootmost svg 'svg' element for an SVG document fragment .

Implementations are free to optimize for the case of large resource library loaded into multiple primary documents, but logically each primary document shall represent its own separate, self-contained document instance. In particular, the conceptual processing model is that events (e.g., the document load event) are fired; scripts are executed in normal fashion and resource documents are modifiable by scripts; coordinate systems transformations are applied; timelines are initiated and animations begin; etc. For example, if document A.svg includes an animation 'animation' element which refers to B.svg, then both are primary documents, and both shall represent separate, self-contained documents with their own scripting contexts and animation timelines.

The term "resource document" refers to a complete, self-contained SVG document which has at least one of its elements referenced as a resource by a primary document. For example, suppose document A.svg is loaded into a browser for viewing, and this document refers to a path element within B.svg via an IRI reference on a use element. In this case, A.svg is a primary document and B.svg is a resource document.

Each primary document must have an associated dictionary that maps all IRI s for resource documents it references; initially it is populated only with the primary document itself. Each resource or subresource loaded directly or indirectly must be resolved through that dictionary with resource documents downloaded as needed.

The conceptual model is that each resource document is loaded only once; if the same resource document is referenced multiple times directly or indirectly by the same primary document, that resource document is only retrieved and processed one time.

The conceptual processing model for resource documents is that the document is processed as a complete and separate SVG document instance. The only difference between a resource document and a primary document is that the primary document is rendered directly to the canvas, whereas all resource documents are conceptually rendered to an invisible (offscreen) canvas. In particular, the conceptual processing model is that events (e.g., the document load event) are fired; scripts are executed in normal fashion and resource documents are modifiable by scripts; coordinate systems transformations are applied; stylesheets are applied and the CSS cascade is run; timelines are initiated and animations begin; sXBL transformations are applied (not relevant to SVGT1.2); etc.

Because of HTTP redirects, the same source document might be retrieved from multiple different source The IRI s. The rule for SVG is that used as the key in the dictionary of resource documents are considered to must be unique based on string comparisons of the full absolute IRI after resolving relative IRIs into absolute it against any applicable base IRI s , and after taking into account HTTP redirects (i.e., use the post-redirect IRI instead comparisons of the original source IRI dictionary keys must be performed using a Simple String Comparison, as defined in section 5.3.1 of Internationalized Resource Identifiers [ RFC3987 ). ].

14.2 Links out of SVG content: the 'a' element

SVG provides an 'a' element, analogous to HTML's 'a' element, to indicate links (also known as hyperlinks or Web links ). SVG uses XLink ([ XLink ]) for all link definitions.

SVG Tiny 1.2 only requires that user agents support XLink's notion of simple links . Each simple link associates exactly two resources, one local and one remote, with an arc going from the former to the latter.

A simple link is defined for each separate rendered element contained within the 'a' element; thus, if the 'a' element contains three 'circle' elements, a link is created for each circle. For each rendered element within an 'a' element, the given rendered element is the local resource (the source anchor for the link).

The remote resource (the destination for the link) is defined by an IRI specified by the XLink href 'href' attribute on the 'a' element. The remote resource may be any Web resource (e.g., an image, a video clip, a sound bite, a program, another SVG document, an HTML document, etc.). By activating these links (by clicking with the mouse, through keyboard input, voice commands, etc.), users may traverse hyperlinks to these resources.

If the IRI identifies an animation element within the current SVG document fragment ,then activating the 'a' element will hyperlink to the animation ,as defined in SMIL 2.1 ([ SMIL21 ], section 10.4.3).

Example link01 assigns a link to an ellipse.

Example: 17_01.svg <?xml version="1.0"?>
Example: 17_01.svg
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<svg width="5cm" height="3cm" viewBox="0 0 5 3" version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny"
     xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <desc>Example link01 - a link on an ellipse
  </desc>
  <rect x=".01" y=".01" width="4.98" height="2.98" 
        fill="none" stroke="blue"  stroke-width=".03"/>
  <a xlink:href="http://www.w3.org">
    <ellipse cx="2.5" cy="1.5" rx="2" ry="1"
             fill="red" />
  </a>
</svg>
Rendering of 17_01.svg

If the above SVG file is viewed by a user agent that supports both SVG and HTML, then clicking on the ellipse will cause the current window or frame to be replaced by the W3C home page.

The element definition schema and content model for 'a' are not defined here. It is defined in all the places it can occur.

Schema: a.at <define name='a.AT' combine='interleave'>
Schema: a.at
    <define name='a.AT' combine='interleave'>
      <ref name='svg.Core.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.Conditional.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.Properties.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.FocusHighlight.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.External.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.Focus.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.Transform.attr'/>
      <ref name='svg.XLinkReplace.attr'/>
      <optional>
        <attribute name='target' svg:animatable='true' svg:inheritable='false'>
          <choice>
            <value>_replace</value>
            <value>_self</value>
            <value>_parent</value>
            <value>_top</value>
            <value>_blank</value>
            <ref name='XML-Name.datatype'/>
          </choice>
        </attribute>
      </optional>
    </define>

Attribute definitions:

xlink:type = 'simple'
See generic description of xlink:type 'xlink:type' attribute.
xlink:role = ' <iri> '
See generic description of xlink:role 'xlink:role' attribute.
xlink:arcrole = ' <iri> '
See generic description of xlink:arcrole 'xlink:arcrole' attribute.
xlink:title = ' <string> '
See generic description of xlink:title 'xlink:title' attribute.
xlink:show = ' new ' | ' replace '
This attribute is provided for backwards compatibility with SVG 1.1. It provides documentation to XLink-aware processors. If target="_blank" then use xlink:show="new" else use "replace". In case of a conflict, the target attribute has priority, since it can express a wider range of values. Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.
xlink:actuate = 'onRequest'
This attribute is provided for backwards compatibility with SVG 1.1. It provides documentation to XLink-aware processors that an application should traverse from the starting resource to the ending resource only on a post-loading event triggered for the purpose of traversal. Refer to the "XML Linking Language (XLink)" [ XLink ].
Animatable : no.
xlink:href = " <XMLRI> <IRI> "
The location of the referenced object, expressed as an IRI reference. It is expressed as an XML Resource Identifier as defined in the "XML Linking Language (XLink) 1.1" [ XLink ]. An empty attribute value (xlink:href="") means that no link traversal occurs upon activation of the 'a' element. If the attribute is not specified, the effect is as if an empty value ("") was specified.
Animatable : yes.
target = ' _replace ' | ' _self ' | ' _parent ' | ' _top ' | ' _blank ' | "<frame-target>"

This attribute should be used when there are multiple possible targets for the ending resource, such as when the parent document is a multi-frame HTML or XHTML document. This attribute specifies the name or portion of the target window, frame, pane, tab, or other relevant presentation context (e.g., an HTML or XHTML frame, iframe, or object element) into which a document is to be opened when the link is activated. The values and semantics of this attribute are the same as the WebCGM Picture Behavior values [ WebCGM WEBCGM ]:

_replace
The current SVG image is replaced by the linked content in the same rectangular area in the same frame as the current SVG image.
_self
The current SVG image is replaced by the linked content in the same frame as the current SVG image. This is the default lacuna value , if the target attribute is not specified.
_parent
The immediate frameset parent of the SVG image is replaced by the linked content.
_top
The content of the full window or tab, including any frames, is replaced by the linked content
_blank
A new un-named window or tab is requested for the display of the linked content. If this fails, the result is the same as _top
"<frame-target>"
Specifies the name of the frame, pane, or other relevant presentation context for display of the linked content. If this already exists, it is re-used, replacing the existing content. if it does not exist, it is created (the same as _blank, except that it now has a name). Note that frame-target must be an XML Name [XML11].

Note: The value _new is not a legal value for target (use _blank).

Animatable : yes.
focusable = "true" | "false" | "auto"
See attribute definition for description.
Animatable : Yes
Navigation Attributes
See definition .

Typically, HTML user agents ,by convention, style the content of anchor elements to indicate that they are links, for example by underlining and changing the color of text and creating a colored border around images and other replacement content. Because SVG is a visual language with irregular shapes and complex link structure (e.g. allowing links within other links), and is intended to allow more precise control over the appearance of the content, SVG user agents should not provide default styling to child content of an 'a' element, instead allowing authors to control the linking conventions.

However, in order to ensure that links are obvious to users and to provide detailed information about each link, SVG user agents should provide a clear indicator when a link is in scope. A link shall be considered to be in scope if one of the child elements of that 'a' element has a pointer device cursor hovered over it or when that element is the currently focused element. The user agent should change the scope indicator to signal that a link is in scope (e.g. the cursor may be changed to a pointing hand, or the focus highlight may be color-coded to indicate the status of the link), should indicate the URI of the link (by displaying it in a status bar, or reading it aloud, for example), and should display any author-supplied information about the link (as with a tooltip). Authors should use the 'xlink:title' attribute appropriately on links, in order to provide information about the link to users.

14.3 Linking into SVG content: IRI fragments and SVG views

14.3.1 Introduction: IRI fragments and SVG views

Because SVG content often represents a picture or drawing of something, a common need is to link into a particular view of the document, where a view indicates the initial transformations so as to present a closeup of a particular section of the document.

14.3.2 SVG fragment identifiers

To link into a particular view of an SVG document, the IRI fragment identifier must be a correctly formed SVG fragment identifier. An SVG fragment identifier defines the meaning of the "selector" or "fragment identifier" portion of IRI s that locate resources of MIME media type "image/svg+xml".

An SVG fragment identifier can come in two forms:

  1. Shorthand bare name form of addressing (e.g., someDrawing.svg#someView ). This form of addressing, which allows addressing an SVG element by its ID, is compatible with the fragment addressing mechanism for older versions of HTML and the shorthand bare name formulation in "XPointer Framework" [ XPTRFW ].
  2. SVG view specification (e.g., someDrawing.svg#svgView(transform(scale(2)) ). This form of addressing specifies the desired view of the document (e.g., the region of the document to view, the initial zoom level) completely within the SVG fragment specification. The contents of the SVG view specification is transform(...) whose parameters have the same meaning as the corresponding attribute has on a 'g' element).

An SVG fragment identifier is defined as follows:

SVGFragmentIdentifier ::= BareName |
                          SVGViewSpec
BareName ::= NCName
SVGViewSpec ::= 'svgView(' SVGViewAttributes ')'
SVGViewAttributes ::= SVGViewAttribute |
                      SVGViewAttribute ';' SVGViewAttributes
SVGViewAttribute ::= transformSpec
transformSpec ::= 'transform(' TransformList ')'

where:

An SVG fragment identifier must match the specified grammar. Spaces shall not be allowed in fragment specifications and commas must be used to separate To ensure robust content it is recommended that spaces between numeric values within an SVG view specification. be omitted or replace with percent encoded strings or commas as appropriate.

Note: since fragment identifiers are stripped from IRIs before resolution, there is no need to escape any characters in fragments that are outside the repertoire of US-ASCII.

When a source document performs user agent traverses a link into to an SVG document (for example, via fragment, whether from within the same document or from an external source document, then the SVG fragment identifier shall specify the initial view into the SVG document. This applies whether the link is from an SVG 'a' element, an HTML anchor element [ HTML4 ] anchor element (i.e., an <a href=...> element in HTML) HTML), or an XLink any specification using XLink [ XLINK XLink ]. The user agent ]), then the SVG fragment identifier shall specify take the initial view into following steps in determining the SVG document, as follows: effect of the link traversal: