function scaleObject(evt,factor) {
        //reference to the currently selected object
        var element = evt.currentTarget;

        //query old transform value (we need the translation value)
        var curTransform = element.getAttributeNS(null,"transform");
        //no fear from Regular expressions ... just copy it, I copied it either ...
        var translateRegExp=/translate\(([-+]?[\d.]+)(\s*[\s,]\s*)([-+]?[\d.]+)\)\s*/;

        //This part extracts the translation-value from the whole transform-string
        if (curTransform.length != 0)
        {
          var result = curTransform.match(translateRegExp);
          if (result == null || result.index == -1)
          {
             oldTranslateX = 0;
             oldTranslateY = 0;
          }
          else
          {
             oldTranslateX = result[1];
             oldTranslateY = result[3];
          }
          //concatenate the string again, add scale-factor
          var newtransform = "translate(" + oldTranslateX + " " + oldTranslateY + ") " + "scale(" + factor + ")";
        }
        //set transform-factor
        element.setAttributeNS(null,'transform', newtransform);
}