The GraphML File Format (original) (raw)

What is GraphML?

GraphML is a comprehensive and easy-to-use file format for graphs. It consists of a language core to describe the structural properties of a graph and a flexible extension mechanism to add application-specific data. Its main features include support of

• directed, undirected, and mixed graphs,
• hypergraphs,
• hierarchical graphs,
• graphical representations,
• references to external data,
• application-specific attribute data, and
• light-weight parsers.

Unlike many other file formats for graphs, GraphML does not use a custom syntax. Instead, it is based on XML and hence ideally suited as a common denominator for all kinds of services generating, archiving, or processing graphs.

Getting Started

An easy introduction to GraphML is the GraphML Primer.
GraphML Primer is a non-normative document intended to provide an easily readable description of the GraphML facilities, and is oriented towards quickly understanding how to create GraphML documents.
For normative references see the GraphML Specification.

Licensing

GraphML is intended to be a service to the community. It may be used free of charge in scientific and commercial software alike.

GraphML Working Group
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Background

Work on GraphML was initiated in a workshopduring the 2000 Graph Drawing Symposium in Williamsburg, and a proposal for the structural layer was presented at the 2001 Graph Drawing Symposiumin Vienna.

Since then, extensions have been provided that support basic attribute data types and the embedding of information for light-weight parsers. The next major steps will be extensions for abstract graph layout information and templates to transform such information into a variety of graphics formats.

Software to help add GraphML support to several popular tools and libraries is under development.