Ancyra Online VML Editor Bayersoft

Vector Markup Language

VML is used by most Microsoft Office applications, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Visio, etc., to create online files, while using the Save As HTML option (plain HTML or MHT, Microsoft HyperText Single File Format). Such files retain complete vector information, and can be reopened for editing Ancyra Online VML Editor using the Microsoft Applications, such as Microsoft Powerpoint. VML is natively supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer within inline HTML, compared to SVG that is natively supported by Firefox inline only in XHTML mode.

Several online utilities also use VML as the primary language of choice for storing vector information in HTML.

The Vector Markup Language (VML) supports the markup of vector graphic information in the same way that HTML supports the markup of textual information. Within VML the content is composed of paths described using connected lines and curves. The markup gives semantic and presentation information for the paths.

VML is written using the syntax of XML just as HTML is written using the syntax of SGML (the Standard Generalized Markup Language, [ISO 8879]) - XML is a restricted form of SGML. VML uses Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2 in the same way as HTML to determine the layout of the vector graphics which it contains. The workflow involved in rendering VML can be compared to that involved in rendering HTML as show in the following figure.

The drawing above, drawn using an online vector drawing package, keeps the detail irrespective of the resolution used in the webpage. Such vector graphics are retained in HTML web format, and manipulated using text, as opposed to binary data like in JPEG, PNG, or GIF.

The primary difference between the HTML workflow and the VML workflow is in the last but one step - character layout versus path transformations.

In the HTML case, the workflow generates locations and other information for sequences of characters which are then rendered using native operating system functionality. In the VML, case the workflow generates locations and related information for vector paths and related objects (such as bitmaps) which are then rendered using native operating system functionality.

The common workflow is an essential part of VML - two design requirements were to integrate VML with existing HTML and to avoid requiring a user agent to reinvent the wheel by using different representations or implementations of existing HTML or CSS functionality.

Like HTML, VML describes objects which will often be further edited. In the case of HTML, these objects are paragraphs, forms or tables. In the case of VML, the objects are shapes or collections of shapes known as groups. VML does not require a particular approach to editing - it accommodates a wide variety of editors. The enormous range of graphical data requires that VML pays careful attention to how an editor records the semantic information related to the VML description. VML ensures that different editors can recognize and correctly handle each other's data (even though they will not normally understand it).

 <v:shapetype id="downArrow" coordsize="21600, 21600"
   adj="16200, 5400"
   path="m0@0l@1@0@1,0@2,0@2@0,21600@0,10800,21600xe">
  <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/>
  <v:formulas>
   <v:f eqn="sum #0 0 0"/>
   <v:f eqn="sum #1 0 0"/>
   <v:f eqn="sum height 0 #1"/>
   <v:f eqn="sum 10800 0 #1"/>
   <v:f eqn="sum width 0 #0"/>
   <v:f eqn="prod @4 @3 10800"/>
   <v:f eqn="sum width 0 @5"/>
  </v:formulas>
  <v:path textboxrect="@1, 0, @2, @6"/>
  <v:handles>
   <v:h position="#1, #0" xrange="0, 10800" yrange="0, 21600"/>
  </v:handles>
 </v:shapetype>