How to put svg+xml into css style document with out encoding it into base64?

Question

currently I have something like:

background:url(data:image/svg+xml;
    base64,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);

Which decoded would look like:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 0 1 1" preserveAspectRatio="none">
  <linearGradient id="grad-ucgg-generated" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x1="0%" y1="0%" x2="0%" y2="100%">
    <stop offset="0%" stop-color="#6356ff" stop-opacity="1"/>
    <stop offset="100%" stop-color="#75b6ff" stop-opacity="1"/>
  </linearGradient>
  <rect x="0" y="0" width="1" height="1" fill="url(#grad-ucgg-generated)" />
</svg>

I wonder if it is somehow possiple to have it in form of xml inside css document (not creating seprate file)?

Answer 1

You can supply your data in url-safe ASCII, encoded with %xx hex values, if you skip ;base64

Try this...

background:url(data:image/svg+xml;charset=US-ASCII,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%22100%25%22%20height%3D%22100%25%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201%201%22%20preserveAspectRatio%3D%22none%22%3E%0A%20%20%3ClinearGradient%20id%3D%22grad-ucgg-generated%22%20gradientUnits%3D%22userSpaceOnUse%22%20x1%3D%220%25%22%20y1%3D%220%25%22%20x2%3D%220%25%22%20y2%3D%22100%25%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cstop%20offset%3D%220%25%22%20stop-color%3D%22%236356ff%22%20stop-opacity%3D%221%22%2F%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cstop%20offset%3D%22100%25%22%20stop-color%3D%22%2375b6ff%22%20stop-opacity%3D%221%22%2F%3E%0A%20%20%3C%2FlinearGradient%3E%0A%20%20%3Crect%20x%3D%220%22%20y%3D%220%22%20width%3D%221%22%20height%3D%221%22%20fill%3D%22url(%23grad-ucgg-generated)%22%20%2F%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E);

Answer 2

I think the only way you will get something like this is if you preprocess your CSS. Here's a simple way to do it with PHP. First, you need to rename your CSS file so that PHP will process it. Append .php to the filename, so that it's named something like style.css.php. Then you can use this code in that file:

<?php 
$str = <<<EOS
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 0 1 1" preserveAspectRatio="none">
  <linearGradient id="grad-ucgg-generated" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x1="0%" y1="0%" x2="0%" y2="100%">
    <stop offset="0%" stop-color="#6356ff" stop-opacity="1"/>
    <stop offset="100%" stop-color="#75b6ff" stop-opacity="1"/>
  </linearGradient>
  <rect x="0" y="0" width="1" height="1" fill="url(#grad-ucgg-generated)" />
</svg>
EOS;
$b64 = base64_encode($str);
?>

.element {
  background:url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,<?php echo $b64 ?>);
}

Then, update your HTML to point to the new filename. Once you do that, it should just work. You'll be incurring some additional processing overhead, because PHP will have to execute this code every time your CSS file is loaded.