The GraphML File Format

yFiles for HTML uses an extension of the GraphML format to serialize the contents of a GraphComponent. The format is XML-based and describes the graph using XML elements, such as <graph>, <node>, and <edge>. Properties of these elements are described in <data> elements that use a specific key value to associate them with a property.

While using the yFiles for HTML serialization mechanism offers many advantages and functionality out-of-the-box, using the GraphML file format for serialization is not required.