Corel helps make SVG smarter

Sometime ago in my Gearhead column for Network World, I wrote about what was at the time a new standard for graphics called Scalable Vector Graphics, or SVG.

SVG is by far the most sophisticated approach to graphic rendition for the widest range of applications and the broadest possible audience. But we’ve discovered that there’s a downside to SVG: It is very complicated and the editors that were available really didn’t provide access to all of the features and facilities that SVG has to offer.

Well, that has changed. Corel (see links below) has just released Corel Smart Graphics Studio, a suite of tools that finally make really sophisticated SVG content development and deployment cost-effective.

The suite consists of four tools:

* Corel Developer SG an integrated development environment (IDE), which is used to design SVG-based client interfaces that include Template Builder, which creates SVG documents with dynamic objects for data mappings, and Data Mapper, which defines the connections between the inputs of an SVG template and an XML source. Templates allow you to visually connect to databases with ODBC Input, Query and Post modules; XML modules for binding and querying XML data; and Web Service Modules for access to live data.

* Corel Process Builder to build processes for binding data sources and generating graphics on the fly.

* Corel Server SG is a platform for management and transformation of application data and images and execution of processes created in the Process Builder. It is available in Developer and “regular” versions.

* Corel SVG Viewer is a Web browser plug-in for viewing SVG graphics as you develop your application interface. It includes an ActiveX control for application integration.

SVG content can be created with tools such as Corel’s own CorelDRAW and Corel DESIGNER, or any SVG-complaint third party tools.

Corel Developer SG runs under Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro or higher, while Corel Server SG (both regular and Developer editions) runs under Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro or Windows 2000 Server.

Pricing for Corel Smart Graphics Studio (which includes Corel Developer SG, Corel Process Builder, Corel Server SG Standard Edition and Corel SVG Viewer) is $1,199 for a box or $1,049 for download.

Corel Server SG (the regular edition) starts at $3,999 and modules to support Web services, imaging, and run-time conversion will be available for additional costs ranging from $999 to $5,999. Server pricing is per CPU.

This is a very impressive offering and I hope to be writing a longer review in Gearhead in the near future.