Data Management

SocNetV v3.5 introduces a complete data management layer: attach arbitrary key/value attributes to nodes and edges, inspect and edit them in a live table dock, export to CSV or JSON, and re-import from any spreadsheet tool — all without leaving SocNetV.

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Node and Edge Custom Attributes

Beyond the built-in properties (label, size, color, shape for nodes; weight, label, color for edges), you can attach arbitrary custom key/value pairs to any node or edge. Custom attributes travel with the graph and are preserved when saving to GraphML format.

Node Custom Attributes

Open the Node Properties dialog (double-click a node, or right-click → Edit Node) to:

• View existing custom attributes in the attributes table.
• Add a new key/value pair.
• Edit or delete existing pairs.

Keys must be unique per node. Values are always stored as strings; numeric comparisons in the filter dialog convert them on the fly.

Edge Properties Dialog and Edge Custom Attributes

Right-click any edge on the canvas, or select an edge and click the Edge Properties toolbar button, to open the Edge Properties dialog. From there you can:

• Edit the edge label, weight, and color.
• Add, edit, or remove custom key/value attribute pairs for that edge.

Note

GraphML only. Custom attributes (node and edge) are saved and restored fully in GraphML format via unique d2000+ key definitions. When saving to other formats (Pajek, GML, UCINET, etc.), custom attributes are not exported.

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Data Table Dock

The Data Table dock is a dockable panel that shows all nodes and edges of the current graph in a tabular view with inline editing, live search, and structured export/import.

Toggle: press Ctrl+T, or use Edit → Show Data Table / Options → Show Data Table.

The panel docks at the bottom of the main window and auto-refreshes whenever a file is loaded or the graph is reset (while the panel is open).

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Nodes Tab

Column	Editable	Notes
#	No (shaded)	Node number
Label	Yes	Double-click to edit inline
Visible	No (shaded)	Reflects current filter state
Shape	No (shaded)
Size	Yes
Color	Yes	Hex color string, e.g. #ff0000
custom attribute keys	Yes	One dynamic column per key present in the graph

All edits write back to the graph immediately.

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Edges Tab

Column	Editable	Notes
Source	No (shaded)	Source node number
Target	No (shaded)	Target node number
Relation	No (shaded)	Active relation name
Weight	Yes
Label	Yes
Color	Yes	Hex color string
custom attribute keys	Yes	One dynamic column per key present in the graph

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Search, Sort, and Refresh

• Live search bar: type to filter all columns simultaneously (case-insensitive). Non-matching rows are hidden instantly; the graph itself is not affected.
• Column headers: click to sort ascending or descending.
• Refresh button: reload all data from the current graph state (useful after external changes).

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Exporting Node/Edge Data as CSV or JSON

From the Data Table dock

Each tab has Export CSV and Export JSON buttons. They export the currently visible rows — rows hidden by the search filter are excluded. What you see is what you get.

From the Network menu

Network → Export to other… provides four actions that always export all rows, ignoring any active search filter:

• Nodes as CSV / Edges as CSV
• Nodes as JSON / Edges as JSON

The status bar shows the export file path on success.

File formats

CSV — RFC 4180 with a header row. Example:

#,Label,Size,Color,type,department
1,Alice,8,#ff0000,investor,finance
2,Bob,5,#0000ff,manager,operations

JSON — an array of objects, one object per node/edge:

[
  { "#": 1, "Label": "Alice", "Size": 8, "Color": "#ff0000", "type": "investor" },
  { "#": 2, "Label": "Bob",   "Size": 5, "Color": "#0000ff", "type": "manager"  }
]

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Importing Attributes from CSV or JSON

Each tab in the Data Table dock has Import CSV and Import JSON buttons.

Step-by-step

1. Click Import CSV (or Import JSON) in the Nodes or Edges tab.
2. Browse to your file. A preview of the first 8 rows appears so you can verify the content.
3. Map columns:
   • Nodes scope: choose the ID column (the column holding node numbers or labels) and set Match by to Node number or Node label.
   • Edges scope: choose the Source and Target columns. Common names (source, src, target, tgt, dest) are auto-detected and pre-selected.
4. Click Import.

The table auto-refreshes and the status bar reports how many rows were matched.

Column routing rules

Column name	Effect on import
Label (nodes)	Updates node label
Size (nodes)	Updates node size
Color (nodes or edges)	Updates color
Weight (edges)	Updates edge weight
Label (edges)	Updates edge label
Visible, Shape (nodes)	Read-only — silently skipped
Relation (edges)	Read-only — silently skipped
Any other column	Added or updated as a custom attribute

Columns absent from the import file leave existing values unchanged — the import is purely additive/overwriting for the columns it touches.

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Spreadsheet-based Bulk Attribute Editing

Combining export and import enables a powerful external bulk-editing workflow using any spreadsheet application (Excel, LibreOffice Calc, Google Sheets, etc.).

Workflow

1.  Open the Data Table dock  (Ctrl+T)
2.  Switch to the Nodes or Edges tab
3.  Click  Export CSV  (or Export JSON)
4.  Open the file in your spreadsheet editor
5.  Edit values freely — each row can have different values
6.  Save the file (keep the same format)
7.  Click  Import CSV  (or Import JSON)  in the same tab
8.  The table refreshes; the status bar reports matched rows
9.  Save the graph as GraphML  (Ctrl+S)  to persist the changes

What can be edited

Nodes

Column	Effect
Label	Updates node label
Size	Updates node size
Color	Updates color (hex)
Visible, Shape	Skipped silently
Any other column	Added/updated as a custom attribute

Edges

Column	Effect
Weight	Updates edge weight
Label	Updates edge label
Color	Updates color (hex)
Relation	Skipped silently
Any other column	Added/updated as a custom attribute

Key properties

• Heterogeneous: each node/edge can have a different value — unlike in-app operations that assign one value to many targets at once.
• Non-destructive by default: only columns present in the file are touched; omitted columns are left unchanged.
• Full lossless roundtrip: exporting then re-importing without edits is a no-op — no duplicate columns, no data loss.
• External-tool-friendly: any tool that reads/writes CSV or JSON works; no plugin required.

Example: annotating nodes from an external analysis tool

You have a Python script that computes a custom community label for each node and writes the results to communities.csv:

#,community
1,A
2,A
3,B
4,C

Import this file in the Nodes tab (ID column = #, match by node number). The community column becomes a custom attribute on each node. You can then use Filter by Attribute (community = A) to isolate that community in the visualization.

Tip

Save as GraphML after importing to persist your custom attributes. They will be available on the next file load and will appear as column headers in the Data Table dock.

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Combining Data Management with Filtering

Custom attributes unlock attribute-based filtering. The typical workflow:

1. Import or manually enter attributes (e.g. type, country, score).
2. Use Edit → Filter → By Attribute (Ctrl+X, Ctrl+A) to show only nodes/edges matching a condition (e.g. type = investor, score > 0.8).
3. Export the visible rows from the Data Table dock to extract the filtered subset.
4. Or apply the Ego Network filter on a selected node, then export its neighborhood’s data.

See Filtering and Graph Exploration for the full filter reference.