On Apr 3, 2008, at 8:35 AM, Kim Hovorka wrote:
This is my first attempt to submit a question via email. I have been using the new Inkscape with SVG that is created from a text file from a different application and the formatting is correct for the XML. The issue I would like addressed is that the parsing of the Text Tag blows up in Inkscape. There are valid visible/ printable characters used between the Tags such as & < or diacritical characters and these make the svg file refused by Inkscape. The file will import fine in to Scribus but I don't want to use that as there is another issue with Scribus. I think Inkscape looks much more promising and the only problem is the one mentioned here as far as using the files I need to open in Inkscape. I no it is probably not trivial but I do think that this is a parsing bug. I am attaching a stripped down version of the file I try to open so it can be reviewed and used for testing. I also figured maybe the issue would get looked at quicker this way?
I believe there was a bug filed on this, which was answered and closed as 'invalid'.
The short answer is that your assumptions are incorrect and this is invalid XML and thus invalid SVG. FireFox will even show that.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/206944
Copying my reply from that bug:
FireFox gives this info XML Parsing Error: not well-formed Location: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/12889715/C%3A%5CTemp% 5CD_Stephenson%5Ctest_char.svg Line Number 11, Column 148:
A hexdump shows 00000690 64 22 3e 52 65 6e e9 65 20 4d 61 78 69 6e 65 20 |d">Ren.e Maxine |
The byte $e9 is not part of a valid UTF-8 sequence there. It probably means the file is in CodePage-1252 even though you have the header listed as UTF-8. Thus it is an invalid XML file.
Additionally the characters '<', '>', and '&' are required to be escaped to be placed in XML text. If they are not, then it is not a valid XML file.
Using FireFox to view your .svg files would probably be a quick way to check the validity of their XML and contents. MSIE can also be used, but may require you to change the extension to ".xml"