This project supports multiple file formats for saving and loading graphs and paths.
Each format has its own advantages depending on the use case.
see Map Loading
.txt (Custom Plaintext Format)
Structure
- First line: total number of nodes (N).
- Next N lines: each node's ID and position
(x, y).
- Then: total number of links (M).
- Next M lines: each link's ID and references to its source and target node IDs.
Example
Total number of nodes: 161
1 -279 -318
2 87 48
3 234 -218
4 90 30
Total number of links: 2
162 0 1
163 1 2
.dot (Graphviz DOT)
The DOT format is widely supported by visualization tools such as Graphviz.
It allows advanced layout options, clusters, and styling.
Structure
digraph G { ... } defines a directed graph.node [shape=...] defines default node attributes.subgraph cluster_X { ... } allows grouping of nodes into clusters.- Edges are defined with
->.
Example
digraph G {
node [shape=rect];
subgraph cluster_0 {
style=filled;
color=lightgrey;
node [style=filled,color=white];
0 -> 1 -> 2 -> 3;
label = "Hello";
}
subgraph cluster_1 {
node [style=filled];
10 -> 11 -> 12 -> 13;
label = "World";
color=blue
}
100 -> 0;
100 -> 10;
1 -> 13;
12 -> 3;
3 -> 0;
3 -> 200;
13 -> 200;
100 [shape=Mdiamond];
200 [shape=Msquare];
}
.py (Python Dictionary Format)
The .py format represents the graph as a nested Python dictionary.
It contains metadata, nodes (with attributes), and edges (with attributes).
This makes it both human-readable and directly usable in Python workflows.
Structure
- Top-level key:
"graph".
directed: whether the graph is directed.metadata: arbitrary global metadata.nodes: dictionary of nodes keyed by ID, each with:
label: display label.metadata: dictionary of attributes (hover text, size, colors, etc.).x, y: position coordinates.
edges: list of edges, each with:
source, target: node IDs.label: edge label.metadata: dictionary of edge attributes (id, size, etc.).
Example
network = {
'graph': {
'directed': True,
'metadata': {},
'nodes': {
0: { 'label': "H0:0:0", 'metadata': { 'hover': "H0:0:0\\nTopological NID: 0", 'border_size': 3,
'label_color': "black", 'color': "black", 'y': -2180, 'x': 19739, 'border_color': "black"}},
1: { 'label': "H0:0:1", 'metadata': { 'hover': "H0:0:1\\nTopological NID: 1", 'border_size': 3,
'label_color': "black", 'color': "black", 'y': -2180.05, 'x': 19879, 'border_color': "black"}},
2: { 'label': "H0:0:2", 'metadata': { 'hover': "H0:0:2\\nTopological NID: 2", 'border_size': 3,
'label_color': "black", 'color': "black", 'y': -2180.14, 'x': 20019, 'border_color': "black"}},
},
'edges': [
{ 'source': 65536, 'target': 65568, 'label': "G0->1@0#0", 'metadata': { 'id': 0, 'size': 1}},
{ 'source': 65536, 'target': 65568, 'label': "G0->1@0#1", 'metadata': { 'id': 1, 'size': 1}},
{ 'source': 65536, 'target': 65600, 'label': "G0->2@0#0", 'metadata': { 'id': 2, 'size': 1}},
]
}
}
.graphml (GraphML XML Format)
GraphML is an XML-based format standardized for graph representation.
It is supported by many external tools (Gephi, yEd, NetworkX, etc.).
Node and edge attributes are defined using <key> and <data> elements.
Structure
- Root element
<graphml>.
<key> definitions specify attributes (e.g., x, y for node positions).<graph> contains <node> and <edge> elements.- Each
<node> has an id and <data> for attributes.
- Each
<edge> has an id, source, and target.
Example
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<graphml xmlns="http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns
http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns/1.0/graphml.xsd">
<key id="x" for="node" attr.name="x" attr.type="double"/>
<key id="y" for="node" attr.name="y" attr.type="double"/>
<graph id="G" edgedefault="undirected">
<node id="0">
<data key="x">10.0</data>
<data key="y">20.0</data>
</node>
<node id="1">
<data key="x">30.0</data>
<data key="y">40.0</data>
</node>
<node id="2">
<data key="x">50.0</data>
<data key="y">60.0</data>
</node>
<edge id="3" source="0" target="1"/>
<edge id="4" source="1" target="2"/>
</graph>
</graphml>
Path Files (.txt)
Path files describe sequences of connected node IDs.
Useful for seeing complete flow of data.
Structure Each line defines a separate path, written as a series of IDs separated by -.
Example
