[Boost-users] Re: Vertex descriptor invalidation (again)

From: Jeffrey Holle (jeff.holle_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-10-18 12:05:30

I too got surprised in understanding the nature of vertex/edge 
descriptors when getting familiar to boost.graph.

The vertex descriptors are simply indexes for vecS.
This means that they will change as vertices are deleted.
They can't be used as a unique key of a specific vertex.

The edge descriptors are by necessity, more complex.
They are simple objects that contain attributes for their target/source 
vertices, plus a pointer to a property object.  This object does not 
have an operator< method.

This has lead me to using internal properties when using mutable graphs 
and only using descriptors external to a graph in a temporary way so I 
don't have to deal the graph changing.

Greg Emerson wrote:
> Sorry, I forgot to mention that I have set VertexList=vecS (and wish to keep it that way).
> 
> Thanks again,
> Greg Emerson