Remove SVGElementInstance (correspondingElement / correspondingUseElement)

https://w3c.github.io/svgwg/svg2-draft/single-page.html#struct-InterfaceSVGElementInstance

Is this implemented in browsers?
https://wpt.fyi/results/svg/idlharness.window.html

on WebKit
https://searchfox.org/wubkat/search?q=correspondingElement&path=&case=false&regexp=false

Or maybe there are missing tests in WPT to test them?

How should this be used?
to note that the spec mentions:

When the referenced element is in an external file, the presence of this pointer implies that the entire DOM of the external file must be maintained in memory. However, as currently specified, the external DOM is read-only. It therefore offers limited functionality and a potentially large performance impact. Pending feedback from implementers, authors should consider the use of correspondingElement with external file references to be at-risk.

Using this testcase
correspondingElement-test.html

Green "does NOT exist" = browser doesn't implement it (safe to remove)
Red "EXISTS" = browser still exposes it

None of the browsers exposes it. This is safe to remove.

This basically would mean to remove SVGElementInstance altogether. I should probably rephrase the title of this issue.

  interface mixin SVGElementInstance {                                                                                                                                                   
    [SameObject] readonly attribute SVGElement? correspondingElement;                                                                                                                    
    [SameObject] readonly attribute SVGUseElement? correspondingUseElement;                                                                                                              
  };

Which is already not supported by all browsers.

SVGElementInstance-exposure-test.html

Third test to make it extra-sure.
correspondingElement-interface-test.html

on WebKit

https://searchfox.org/wubkat/rev/0dbabc018f3f222e0b93def93bccb3342f707ff6/Source/WebCore/svg/SVGElement.cpp#326-334

SVGUseElement* SVGElement::correspondingUseElement() const
{
    SUPPRESS_UNCOUNTED_LOCAL auto* root = containingShadowRoot();
    if (!root)
        return nullptr;
    if (root->mode() != ShadowRootMode::UserAgent)
        return nullptr;
    return dynamicDowncast<SVGUseElement>(root->host());
}

on Gecko, not implemented.
https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/search?q=correspondingUseElement&path=svg&case=false&regexp=false

On Chromium, not implemented
https://source.chromium.org/search?q=correspondingUseElement&ss=chromium

Remove SVGElementInstance mixin interface - Fix w3c#1070

I prepared the PR for it
#1076
Let's merge or close depending on what we want to do with it.

I'll take care of WPT too.

https://www.w3.org/2026/03/19-svg-minutes.html#8e49
RESOLUTION: Remove SVGElementInstance from SVG2
ACTION: karlcow to update WPT

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Remove SVGElementInstance (correspondingElement / correspondingUseElement) #1070

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Remove SVGElementInstance (correspondingElement / correspondingUseElement) #1070

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karlcow commented on Mar 4, 2026

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