16.42. Graph API

ModeShape's Graph API was designed as a lightweight public API for working with graph information. The Graph class is the primary class in API , and each instance represents a single, independent view of a single graph. Graph instances don't maintain state, so every request (or batch of requests) operates against the underlying graph and then returns immutable snapshots of the requested state at the time the request was made.

The Graph class represents an internal domain specific language (DSL), designed to be easy to use in an application. The Graph API makes extensive use of interfaces and method chaining, so that methods return a simplified interface with relevant methods only. This is made simpler if your IDE has code completion. Under the hood, a Graph is just building Request objects, submitting them to the connector, and then exposing the results.