Just wondering if there is any decent way of converting a .xar file to a .svg inkscape file...
I noticed that inkscape does not support .xar....
is there a reliable way of doing this conversion and what if any are the pitfalls?

Xara LX contains some utility which is supposed to convert Xar to SVG - I remember I played with it.

We need some developer to take that utility, extract it from the rest of Xara LX code, and add to Inkscape (the license is GPL I think, so this is allowed), so that Inkscape can directly open xar files via this utility.

thanks for that info...
I actually tried from the xara end and you can export to inkscape's format but it flattens all the layers,
And also only exports visible ones so... i have been able to re-create the layer structure by exporting one layer at a time ETC...

I don't know how it would convert any "fancy stuff" (this was just a bare bones outlines render ETC...)
But as you say since some of this code has been released perhaps it can be adapted to service inkscape......

David Hewitt wrote:I actually tried from the xara end and you can export to inkscape's format but it flattens all the layers,

This is too be expected. SVG doesn't have layers. Inkscape allows layers through Inkscape-specific code. All other applications would need to be aware of how Inkscape manages layers to be able to maintain them when saving as SVG.

yeah that definitely does explain it..

So the SVG, is that like a standard file format that Inkscape has adopted as its own?
If so is it planned that this will be expanded to support layers on inkscape's account?

More info about SVG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics

Inkscape is just one of SVG editors, SVG standards dictate what direction Inkscape development will take, not the other way around, although I don't know what might influence SVG people when working on the specs. I'm not sure if I remember correctly but I think I read somewhere multipage support might enter SVG specs, or am I dreaming? Multipage support is similar to layers, maybe in the future...

prkos wrote:I think I read somewhere multipage support might enter SVG specs, or am I dreaming?

No, I read the same. I think I read it on the developers list. I think they agreed to not support it until the spec had been finalised.

I'm looking for a converter too. I thought I was in luck when I found an article from 2005 saying that Xara and Inkscape had agreed on creating one so that Xara could read Inkscape files and vice versa. I guess they changed their minds.

BTW. Inkscape's layers are just SVG groups, so in theory a converter should at least render a layer as a SVG group.

You could then easily convert this into an inkscape layer just by tweaking the XML - which is easy to do in Inkscape...
1. Select the group / layer
2. Press ctrl+shift+X to open XML editor
3. Type "inkscape:groupmode" in the Attribute name field (next to the [Set] button)
4. Type "layer" in the Attribute value field (below the [Set] button)
5. Click the [Set] button.
6. Type "inkscape:label" in the Attribute name field
7. Type a name (e.g. "Layer 1") in the Attribute value field
8. Click the [Set] button.

Voila you now have an Inkscape layer. (Steps 6-8 are optional, but looks a bit more standard that way)