Creating a Simple Graph

Creating a simple graph from an edge list in NodeXL is a two-step process:

  1. Enter the edge list in the Edges worksheet.
  2. Show the graph.
To enter an edge list in the Edges worksheet:
  1. Select the Edges worksheet.
  2. Add a row to the Edges worksheet for each edge in the graph. The only columns you need to fill in are Vertex 1 and Vertex 2, which are the names of the edge's vertices. Note that vertex names are case sensitive. NodeXL considers "John Smith" and "john smith" to be different vertices.
To show the graph, do one of the following:

After you show the graph, the Show Graph button text changes to "Refresh Graph." If you add more edges to the Edges worksheet, you have to refresh the graph to get the new edges to appear in the Graph Pane; the Graph Pane does not refresh automatically. (In some cases, the Graph Pane does refresh automatically; see Setting Visual Properties for Individual Edges, Vertices or Groups for details.)

You can, of course, do much more in NodeXL than create a simple graph. See the following sections for more information about some of NodeXL's features.


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