I think I have found such mechanism. It is called labeled_graph and is a part of BGL.
Instead of using adjacency_list, one can use a predefined wrapper labeled_graph:
typedef boost::labeled_graph<
boost::adjacency_list< boost::vecS, boost::vecS, boost::directedS, Data >,
std::string
> Graph;
After defining a graph like this, it is possible to access vertices in the following manner:
Graph g;
boost::add_vertex( "Alpha", g );
g["Alpha"].name = "Alpha";
g["Alpha"].value = 10;
boost::add_vertex( "Beta", g );
g["Beta"].name = "Beta";
g["Beta"].value = 20;
boost::add_edge_by_label( "Alpha", "Beta", g );
The side effect of this is that one need to use graph() member function to make some algorithms work:
std::vector< Graph::vertex_descriptor > container;
boost::topological_sort( g.graph(), std::back_inserter( container ) ) ;
For some reason, labeled_graph is not described in BGL documentation, but it appears in the example folder.
Thank you for reply,
Serge