On Fri, 2 Dec 2005, Pim Snel wrote:
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 01:07:28 +0100 From: Pim Snel <pim@...810...> To: inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [Inkscape-devel] Save and Open as .ZINK (was zip with images)
Hi,
I enhanced the first extension, which was able to save a zip archive with svg and images, with an extra extension which is able to read the archive instantly.
I changed the zip-extention to .zink which is of course a combination of Zip and Inkscape.
It is very catchy and memorable but using .Zip or .Jar would give a better chance of keeping things interoperable with existing tools.
The svg in the archive is named content.svg so its easy to open. Of course a file with metadata can be packed be also, but I wanted quick results and I don't really know what to store in such a manifest because everything is said in the svg.
If I remember correctly the manifest tends to be redundant but this is intentional for fast, easy, and predictable access to this valuable information.
The format of the manifest is deliberately kept simple so all kinds of parsers and scripts and other third part tools can get at it easily. A Zip file can contain many files with different compression values, the manifest could often be left uncompressed whereas other files would be heavily compressed. I've always been impressed by how well thought out Jar files were (at least the modern incarnation OpenDocument uses).
It works rather smooth. You won't notice that this is not the native file format. You can open a .zink make changes and click CTRL-S so it save the .zink-file again.
Please download and test it on different platforms. http://facility.lingewoud.nl/hacks/inkscape_save_and_open_as_zink/
You can also download the example .zink which you must be able to open after installing the extensions.
Sounds really great, I'm sure users will love this new feature. Thanks again.
Sincerely
Alan Horkan
Inkscape http://inkscape.org Abiword http://www.abisource.com Dia http://gnome.org/projects/dia/ Open Clip Art http://OpenClipArt.org
Alan's Diary http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/
P.S. Sorry I didn't know enough about inkjar files to suggest anything helpful, which is why I didn't respond to your previous mail.