SVG Export Helper

GitHub Link to Code.

SVG export helper for editable text and large-plot export stability.

Provides utilities that keep SVG text editable and apply save-time rendering heuristics for very large artists to reduce vector export cost.

class mdxplain.plots.helper.svg_export_helper.SvgExportHelper

Helper for plot export configuration and optimizations.

Centralizes save-time behavior for plot outputs:

keep SVG text editable (svg.fonttype=’none’)
selectively rasterize very heavy artists in vector outputs
temporarily tune path rcParams for very large polylines

Examples

>>> SvgExportHelper.apply_svg_config_if_needed("svg")
>>> fig.savefig("plot.svg", format="svg")
>>> SvgExportHelper.save_figure_with_export_optimizations(
...     fig=fig, filepath="plot.svg", file_format="svg", dpi=300
... )

static configure_svg_text_editability() → None

Configure matplotlib for editable SVG text export.

Sets matplotlib rcParams to prevent text-to-path conversion in SVG exports. After calling this method, all text elements in exported SVG files will be selectable and editable in SVG editors.

Parameters

None

Returns

None: Modifies global matplotlib rcParams

Notes

Sets ‘svg.fonttype’ to ‘none’ to preserve text as <text> elements
This is a global setting that affects all subsequent SVG exports
To restore default behavior, call restore_default_svg_settings()

Examples

>>> # Configure once at beginning
>>> SvgExportHelper.configure_svg_text_editability()
>>> fig.savefig("plot1.svg", format="svg")
>>> fig2.savefig("plot2.svg", format="svg")

static restore_default_svg_settings() → None

Restore default matplotlib SVG export settings.

Resets SVG font configuration to matplotlib defaults, which converts text to paths for better portability but reduced editability.

Parameters

None

Returns

None: Modifies global matplotlib rcParams

Examples

>>> # Temporarily use editable text
>>> SvgExportHelper.configure_svg_text_editability()
>>> fig.savefig("editable.svg", format="svg")
>>>
>>> # Restore defaults for other exports
>>> SvgExportHelper.restore_default_svg_settings()
>>> fig.savefig("paths.svg", format="svg")

static get_current_svg_settings() → Dict[str, str]

Get current SVG export settings.

Returns a dictionary of current SVG-related rcParams settings.

Parameters

None

Returns

Dict[str, str]: Dictionary with current SVG settings

Examples

>>> settings = SvgExportHelper.get_current_svg_settings()
>>> print(settings['svg.fonttype'])
'none'

static apply_svg_config_if_needed(file_format: str) → None

Apply SVG configuration if format is SVG.

Convenience method that checks the file format and applies editable text configuration only if the format is ‘svg’.

Parameters

file_formatstr: The export file format (e.g., ‘svg’, ‘png’, ‘pdf’)

Returns

None: Conditionally modifies matplotlib rcParams

Examples

>>> # Automatically configure based on format
>>> SvgExportHelper.apply_svg_config_if_needed("svg")  # Applies config
>>> SvgExportHelper.apply_svg_config_if_needed("png")  # Does nothing

static save_figure_with_export_optimizations(fig: Figure, filepath: str | Path, file_format: str, dpi: int, bbox_inches: str = 'tight') → None

Save figure with export-time performance optimizations.

Applies optional, human-equivalent optimizations for large plots:

editable text config for SVG output
selective rasterization of very heavy artists on vector backends
temporary path rcParam tuning for very large polylines

Parameters

figmatplotlib.figure.Figure: Figure to save.
filepathstr or Path: Output file path.
file_formatstr: Export format.
dpiint: Output resolution in dots per inch.
bbox_inchesstr, default=”tight”: Bounding box mode forwarded to Figure.savefig.

Returns

None: Figure is written to disk.

Notes

Temporary artist and rcParam changes are restored in finally.