SVG Word Wrap - Show stopper?

Question

Hi,

For fun I am trying to see how far I can get at implementing an SVG browser client for a RIA I'm messing around with in my spare time.

But have hit what appears to be a HUGE stumbling block. There is no word wrap!!

Does anyone know of any work around (I'm thinking some kind of JavaScript or special tag I don't know)?

If not I'm either going to have to go the xhtml route and start sticking HTML elements in my SVG (ouch), or just come back again in ten years when SVG 1.2 is ready.

Cheers,

Chris

Answer 1

Per this document, it appears that tspan can give the illusion of word wrap:

The tspan tag is identical to the text tag but can be nested inside text tags and inside itself. Coupled with the 'dy' attribute this allows the illusion of word wrap in SVG 1.1. Note that 'dy' is relative to the last glyph (character) drawn.

Answer 2

An alternative method is to use Andreas Neuman's text box object.

Answer 3

SVGT 1.2 introduces the textArea element http://www.w3.org/TR/SVGTiny12/text.html#TextInAnArea , but it is only experimentally supported by Opera 10 at the moment. I don't know if other browsers will ever plan on implementing it, though I hope they will.