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GraphForge v0.6.0

Query, analyze, and save a graph

Advanced · Assumes basic Python, database, and terminal skills. Start with the Advanced introduction for GraphForge terminology, or Basic for a guided first graph.

After the basic graph quickstart, use this optional journey to keep a graph between sessions. It uses the same synthetic citation network. Research Branches and Versions are not needed for ordinary persistence.

Create a durable project

Section titled “Create a durable project”

Read the durable-storage requirements first. The directory must be on an admitted local filesystem and must already exist. Use a new empty directory for this example. Before v1.0.0 there is no promise that a project from an earlier GraphForge version can be opened or migrated.

from pathlib import Path
from graphforge import GraphForge


Path("citation-project").mkdir()
forge = GraphForge("citation-project")
survey = forge.add_node("Paper", title="Survey")
methods = forge.add_node("Paper", title="Methods")
replication = forge.add_node("Paper", title="Replication")
forge.add_edge(survey, "CITES", methods)
forge.add_edge(survey, "CITES", replication)
forge.add_edge(replication, "CITES", methods)

Opening a path creates project files inside it. If citation-project already exists, open the existing project to continue, or choose another empty directory to repeat the example. Do not delete an existing project just to follow a guide.

Ask a different question

Section titled “Ask a different question”

Which papers does Survey cite?

query = """
    MATCH (source:Paper {title: $title})-[:CITES]->(paper:Paper)
    RETURN paper.title AS title
    ORDER BY title
"""
print(forge.execute(query, {"title": "Survey"}).to_pylist())

Expected output:

[{'title': 'Methods'}, {'title': 'Replication'}]

Pass inputs as parameters rather than assembling query strings. Use ORDER BY when the order of the result matters.

Close and reopen

Section titled “Close and reopen”
forge.close()

Then reopen the project:

forge = GraphForge("citation-project")
print(forge.execute(query, {"title": "Survey"}).to_pylist())

The result is the same two titles. In a new process or notebook kernel, import GraphForge and define query again before running this section. The project retains graph data; it does not retain Python variables.

Add an analysis

Section titled “Add an analysis”

Analyst verbs let you ask for an algorithm directly. For example, rank the papers by PageRank over their citation relationships:

ranking = forge.rank("Paper", by="pagerank", via="CITES", directed=True)
print(ranking.column_names)

The result includes a score column. PageRank describes this graph’s structure; it is not a measure of evidence quality. This call reads the graph. Writing a score into properties is an explicit option covered in analytics integration.

forge.close()

Choose a next task

Section titled “Choose a next task”