doc/lemon_file_format.dox
author alpar
Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:36:21 +0000
changeset 2352 5e273e0bd5e2
child 2391 14a343be7a5a
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Doc improvements
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namespace lemon {
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/*!
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\page lemon_file_format LEMON Graph File Format
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The standard graph IO enables one to store graphs and additional maps
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(i.e. functions on the nodes or edges) in a flexible and efficient way. 
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Before you read this page you should be familiar with LEMON 
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\ref graphs "graphs" and \ref maps-page "maps".
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\section format The general file format
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The file contains sections in the following order:
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\li nodeset
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\li edgeset
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\li nodes
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\li edges
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\li attributes
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Some of these sections can be omitted, but you will basicly need the nodeset
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section (unless your graph has no nodes at all) and the edgeset section
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(unless your graph has no edges at all). 
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The nodeset section describes the nodes of your graph: it identifies the nodes
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and gives the maps defined on them, if any. It starts with the
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following line:
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<tt>\@nodeset</tt>
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The next line contains the names of the nodemaps, separated by whitespaces.  Each
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following line describes a node in the graph: it contains the values of the
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maps in the right order. The map named "label" should contain unique values
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because it is regarded as a label map. These labels need not be numbers but they
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must identify the nodes uniquely for later reference. For example:
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\code
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@nodeset
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label  x-coord  y-coord  color
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3   1.0      4.0      blue
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5   2.3      5.7      red
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12  7.8      2.3      green
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\endcode
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The edgeset section is very similar to the nodeset section, it has
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the same coloumn oriented structure. It starts with the line 
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<tt>\@edgeset</tt>
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The next line contains the whitespace separated list of names of the edge
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maps.  Each of the next lines describes one edge. The first two elements in
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the line are the labels of the source and target (or tail and head) nodes of the
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edge as they occur in the label node map of the nodeset section. You can also
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have an optional label map on the edges for later reference (which has to be
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unique in this case).
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\code
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@edgeset
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             label      weight   note
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3   5        a          4.3      a-edge
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5   12       c          2.6      c-edge
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3   12       g          3.4      g-edge
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\endcode
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The \e nodes section contains <em>labeled (distinguished) nodes</em> 
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(i.e. nodes having a special
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label on them). The section starts with
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<tt> \@nodes </tt>
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Each of the next lines contains a label for a node in the graph 
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and then the label as described in the \e nodeset section.
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\code
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@nodes 
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source 3
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target 12
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\endcode
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The last section describes the <em>labeled (distinguished) edges</em>
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(i.e. edges having a special label on them). It starts with \c \@edges
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and then each line contains the name of the edge and the label.
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\code
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@edges 
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observed c
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\endcode
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The file may contain empty lines and comment lines. The comment lines
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start with an \c # character.
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The attributes section can handle some information about the graph. It
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contains key-value pairs in each line (a key and the mapped value to key). The
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key should be a string without whitespaces, the value can be of various types.
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\code
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@attributes
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title "Four colored planar graph"
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author "Balazs DEZSO"
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copyright "Lemon Library"
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version 12
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\endcode
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Finally, the file should be closed with \c \@end line.
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\section use Using graph input-output
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The graph input and output is based on <em> reading and writing
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commands</em>. The user gives reading and writing commands to the reader or
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writer class, then he calls the \c run() method that executes all the given
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commands.
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\subsection write Writing a graph
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The \ref lemon::GraphWriter "GraphWriter" template class
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provides the graph output. To write a graph
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you should first give writing commands to the writer. You can declare
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writing command as \c NodeMap or \c EdgeMap writing and labeled Node and
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Edge writing.
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\code
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GraphWriter<ListGraph> writer(std::cout, graph);
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\endcode
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The \ref lemon::GraphWriter::writeNodeMap() "writeNodeMap()"
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function declares a \c NodeMap writing command in the
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\ref lemon::GraphWriter "GraphWriter".
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You should give a name to the map and the map
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object as parameters. The NodeMap writing command with name "label" should write a 
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unique map because it will be regarded as a label map.
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\see IdMap, DescriptorMap  
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\code
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IdMap<ListGraph, Node> nodeLabelMap;
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writer.writeNodeMap("label", nodeLabelMap);
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writer.writeNodeMap("x-coord", xCoordMap);
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writer.writeNodeMap("y-coord", yCoordMap);
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writer.writeNodeMap("color", colorMap);
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\endcode
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With the \ref lemon::GraphWriter::writeEdgeMap() "writeEdgeMap()"
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member function you can give an edge map
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writing command similar to the NodeMaps.
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\see IdMap, DescriptorMap  
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\code
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DescriptorMap<ListGraph, Edge, ListGraph::EdgeMap<int> > edgeDescMap(graph);
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writer.writeEdgeMap("descriptor", edgeDescMap);
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writer.writeEdgeMap("weight", weightMap);
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writer.writeEdgeMap("note", noteMap);
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\endcode
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With \ref lemon::GraphWriter::writeNode() "writeNode()"
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and \ref lemon::GraphWriter::writeEdge() "writeEdge()"
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functions you can designate Nodes and
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Edges in the graph. For example, you can write out the source and target node
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of a maximum flow instance.
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\code
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writer.writeNode("source", sourceNode);
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writer.writeNode("target", targetNode);
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writer.writeEdge("observed", edge);
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\endcode
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With \ref lemon::GraphWriter::writeAttribute() "writeAttribute()"
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function you can write an attribute to the file.
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\code
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writer.writeAttribute("author", "Balazs DEZSO");
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writer.writeAttribute("version", 12);
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\endcode
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After you give all write commands you must call the
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\ref lemon::GraphWriter::run() "run()" member
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function, which executes all the writing commands.
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\code
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writer.run();
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\endcode
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\subsection reading Reading a graph
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The file to be read may contain several maps and labeled nodes or edges.
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If you read a graph you need not read all the maps and items just those
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that you need. The interface of the \ref lemon::GraphReader "GraphReader"
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is very similar to
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the \ref lemon::GraphWriter "GraphWriter"
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but the reading method does not depend on the order of the
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given commands.
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The reader object assumes that each not read value does not contain 
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whitespaces, therefore it has some extra possibilities to control how
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it should skip the values when the string representation contains spaces.
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\code
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GraphReader<ListGraph> reader(std::cin, graph);
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\endcode
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The \ref lemon::GraphReader::readNodeMap() "readNodeMap()"
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function reads a map from the \c nodeset section.
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If there is a map that you do not want to read from the file and there are
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whitespaces in the string represenation of the values then you should
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call the \ref lemon::GraphReader::skipNodeMap() "skipNodeMap()"
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template member function with proper parameters.
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\see QuotedStringReader
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\code
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reader.readNodeMap("x-coord", xCoordMap);
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reader.readNodeMap("y-coord", yCoordMap);
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reader.readNodeMap<QuotedStringReader>("label", labelMap);
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reader.skipNodeMap<QuotedStringReader>("description");
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reader.readNodeMap("color", colorMap);
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\endcode
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With the \ref lemon::GraphReader::readEdgeMap() "readEdgeMap()"
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member function you can give an edge map
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reading command similar to the NodeMaps. 
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\code
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reader.readEdgeMap("weight", weightMap);
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reader.readEdgeMap("label", labelMap);
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\endcode
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With \ref lemon::GraphReader::readNode() "readNode()"
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and \ref lemon::GraphReader::readEdge() "readEdge()"
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functions you can read labeled Nodes and
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Edges.
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\code
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reader.readNode("source", sourceNode);
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reader.readNode("target", targetNode);
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reader.readEdge("observed", edge);
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\endcode
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With \ref lemon::GraphReader::readAttribute() "readAttribute()"
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function you can read an attribute from the file.
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\code
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std::string author;
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writer.readAttribute("author", author);
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int version;
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writer.writeAttribute("version", version);
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\endcode
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After you give all read commands you must call the
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\ref lemon::GraphReader::run() "run()" member
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function, which executes all the commands.
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\code
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reader.run();
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\endcode
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If you want to lear more, read the \ref read_write_bg "background technics".
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\author Balazs Dezso
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*/
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}