Batch export should be more explicit about where it exports stuff

[jimmac]

I haven't been able to figure out when this happens, so attaching an SVG where it does. But I think it relates to both exporting a to a specific path and setting object ids.

Open up the attached SVG. Select both the moonshine icon (id=logo) and the button below (id=button). In export dialog, select "batch export the 2 selected objects". You should end up with 2 pngs names logo.png and button.png where the SVG is. Instead you are only given the last object selected rendered.

Both trunk and 0.46 suffer from this.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

After I removed the 'inkscape:export-filename' attribute of both the icon and the button (using Inkscapes internal XML editor) - batch export bitmaps created 'button.png' and 'moonshine.png' in the same folder as the SVG file.

Do both paths that are currently (i.e. in your original drawing) stored in the attribute exist on your system? Could you check if the images were exported to different folders?

[su_v (suv-lp)]

forgot to mention: tested with Inkscape 0.46+devel r22028 on OS X 10.5.8

[su_v (suv-lp)]

related bugs:
Bug #168958 in Inkscape: “Privacy concern with export-filename and sodipodi:absref”
Bug #215856 in Inkscape: “error filename for export” (duplicate of #168958)
Bug #170966 in Inkscape: “move export hints from SVG files to prefs”

related recent discussion on inkscape-devel:
<http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.graphics.inkscape.devel/30951>

[su_v (suv-lp)]

another thing I noticed: Inkscape did not add the 'inkscape:export-filename' attribute back when batch exporting, but only when exporting one selected object/group.

Confirming that Inkscape uses the stored path in the 'inkscape:export-filename' attribute when batch exporting which may happen unnoticed by the user or result in an error if the path is not valid.

[jimmac (jimmac)]

Aha, the path in inkscape:export-filename does indeed exist. So in theory the 'Page' export path defines where the individual 'batch' pngs go? Why does it export one of the objects to the current path of the source SVG though?

[su_v (suv-lp)]

> in theory the 'Page' export path defines where the individual 'batch' pngs go
Looks like that, yes. But I think if this stays this way it would be nice to have a separate ui element, because the user has no way to see or control the individual export paths. OTOH it is called 'batch' export, it just repeats what has been done before in the background - think of exporting icons to directories according to size, once each individually, later after having made some changes, all selected in batch mode.

> Why does it export one of the objects to the current path of the source SVG though?
Doesn't for me, unless both paths are the same or there is no 'inkscape:export-filename' attribute for the object.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

maybe related (but might have been fixed by recent changes?)
Bug #168504 in Inkscape: “export-filename must store relative path with / slashes”
Bug #297407 in Inkscape: “relative pathname with subdirectories broken [export dialog]”

[bbyak (buliabyak)]

It should warn you in batch export if the target path does not exist. But otherwise this is the expected behavior. I want to be able to mass-export from one master SVG to many PNGs in different dirs, and I want it to remember those dirs per object.

I propose to rename this to "Batch export should be more explicit about where it exports stuff".

[su_v (suv-lp)]

It does warn with an error message if the target path doesn't exist. This is the case if you open the file on a different computer (as it happened when I opened the attached file from jimmac). An option or command to reset all export paths would be useful. Saving as 'Plain SVG' or 'scoured SVG' can be a workaround but it might purge more information than wanted.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

new duplicate: bug #680102

[Drew Craven (kandrewcraven)]

Wow, I just spent over two hours trying to figure out why I could not batch export a group of 35 items. I finally figured out that they were all being written over the top of one another, leaving me with just the final object. This 'feature' is very frustrating! There should definitely be a way to override the export paths for all selected objects without having to save a copy of your project as plain SVG, opening that up, un-grouping all the objects, and batch exporting from there. Not everyone needs to define separate export paths for each and every object in a file, nor do most people have the necessary knowledge of how to edit an xml file. I'm very surprised that I'm only the 4th person to report that this is an isue for me, but then again, it did take me 2 hours to figure out what was going on and find this thread.

[Hachmann (marenhachmann)]

Just encountered the same issue, one batch exported file overwriting the others.
Could it perhaps, at a minimum, check if *in the same export action* it's using identical names (and append the object id, maybe, if it is)?