book

GraphQL in Action

by Samer Buna

March 2021

Intermediate to advanced

384 pages

8h 51m

English

Manning Publications

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prefaceacknowledgmentsabout this bookWho should read this bookHow this book is organized: a roadmapAbout the codeOther online resourcesabout the authorabout the cover illustration
1.1 What is GraphQL?1.1.1 The big picture1.1.2 GraphQL is a specification1.1.3 GraphQL is a language1.1.4 GraphQL is a service1.2 Why GraphQL?1.2.1 What about REST APIs?1.2.2 The GraphQL way1.2.3 REST APIs and GraphQL APIs in action1.3 GraphQL problems1.3.1 Security1.3.2 Caching and optimizing1.3.3 Learning curveSummary
2.1 The GraphiQL editor2.2 The basics of the GraphQL language2.2.1 Requests2.2.2 Fields2.3 Examples from the GitHub API2.3.1 Reading data from GitHub2.3.2 Updating data at GitHub2.3.3 Introspective queriesSummary

3.1 Customizing fields with arguments3.1.1 Identifying a single record to return3.1.2 Limiting the number of records returned by a list field3.1.3 Ordering records returned by a list field3.1.4 Paginating through a list of records3.1.5 Searching and filtering3.1.6 Providing input for mutations3.2 Renaming fields with aliases3.3 Customizing responses with directives3.3.1 Variables and input values3.3.2 The @include directive3.3.3 The @skip directive3.3.4 The @deprecated directive3.4 GraphQL fragments3.4.1 Why fragments?3.4.2 Defining and using fragments3.4.3 Fragments and DRY3.4.4 Fragments and UI components3.4.5 Inline fragments for interfaces and unionsSummary
4.1 Why AZdev?4.2 The API requirements for AZdev4.2.1 The core types4.3 Queries4.3.1 Listing the latest Task records4.3.2 Search and the union/interface types4.3.3 Using an interface type4.3.4 The page for one Task record4.3.5 Entity relationships4.3.6 The ENUM type4.3.7 List of scalar values4.3.8 The page for a user’s Task records4.3.9 Authentication and authorization4.4 Mutations4.4.1 Mutation input4.4.2 Deleting a user record4.4.3 Creating a Task object4.4.4 Creating and voting on Approach entries4.5 Subscriptions4.6 Full schema text4.7 Designing database models4.7.1 The User model4.7.2 The Task/Approach models4.7.3 The Approach Details modelSummary
5.1 Running the development environment5.1.1 Node.js packages5.1.2 Environment variables5.2 Setting up the GraphQL runtime5.2.1 Creating the schema object5.2.2 Creating resolver functions5.2.3 Executing requests5.3 Communicating over HTTP5.4 Building a schema using constructor objects5.4.1 The Query type5.4.2 Field arguments5.4.3 Custom object types5.4.4 Custom errors5.5 Generating SDL text from object-based schemas5.5.1 The schema language versus the object-based method5.6 Working with asynchronous functionsSummary
6.1 Running and connecting to databases6.2 The taskMainList query6.2.1 Defining object types6.2.2 The context object6.2.3 Transforming field names6.2.4 Transforming field values6.2.5 Separating interactions with PostgreSQL6.3 Error reporting6.4 Resolving relations6.4.1 Resolving a one-to-one relation6.4.2 Resolving a one-to-many relationSummary
7.1 Caching and batching7.1.1 The batch-loading function7.1.2 Defining and using a DataLoader instance7.1.3 The loader for the approachList field7.2 Single resource fields7.3 Circular dependencies in GraphQL types7.3.1 Deeply nested field attacks7.4 Using DataLoader with custom IDs for caching7.4.1 The taskMainList field7.4.2 The search field7.5 Using DataLoader with MongoDBSummary
8.1 The mutators context object8.2 The Mutation type8.3 User mutations8.3.1 The userCreate mutation8.3.2 The userLogin mutation8.4 Authenticating API consumers8.4.1 The me root query field8.5 Mutations for the Task model8.6 Mutations for the Approach model8.6.1 The approachCreate mutation8.6.2 The approachVote mutation8.7 The userDelete mutationSummary
9.1 Using a web UI library9.2 Running the web server9.3 Making Ajax requests9.4 Performing GraphQL query requests9.4.1 Using GraphQL fragments in UI components9.4.2 Including variables in requests9.5 Performing GraphQL mutation requests9.5.1 The login/signup forms9.5.2 Handling generic server errors9.5.3 Authenticating GraphQL requests9.5.4 The Create Task form9.5.5 The Create Approach form9.5.6 Voting on an Approach9.6 Performing query requests scoped for a userThe Search form9.7 Next upSummary
10.1 Using Apollo Client with JavaScript10.1.1 Making a query request10.1.2 Making a mutation request10.2 Using Apollo Client with React10.2.1 Using the query and mutate methods directly10.2.2 Including authentication headers10.2.3 Using Apollo hook functions10.2.4 Using the automatic cache10.2.5 Manually updating the cache10.2.6 Performing operations conditionally10.3 Managing local app state10.4 Implementing and using GraphQL subscriptions10.4.1 Polling and refetching10.4.2 Implementing subscriptions10.4.3 Apollo Server10.4.4 Using subscriptions in UIsSummaryWrapping up

Overview

Reduce bandwidth demands on your APIs by getting only the results you need—all in a single request! The GraphQL query language simplifies interactions with web servers, enabling smarter API queries that can hugely improve the efficiency of data requests. In GraphQL in Action, you'll learn how to bring those benefits to your own APIs, giving your clients the power to ask for exactly what they need from your server, no more, no less. Practical and example-driven, this book teaches everything you need to get started with GraphQL—from design principles and syntax right through to performance optimization.

About the Technology
GraphQL APIs are fast, efficient, and easy to maintain. They reduce app latency and server cost while boosting developer productivity. This powerful query layer offers precise control over API requests and returns, making apps faster and less prone to error.

About the Book
GraphQL in Action gives you the tools to get comfortable with the GraphQL language, build and optimize a data API service, and use it in a front-end client application. By working through set up, security, and error handling you'll learn to create a complete GraphQL server. You'll also unlock easy ways to incorporate GraphQL into your existing codebase so you can build simple, scalable data APIs.

What's Inside

Define a GraphQL schema for relational and document databases
Implement GraphQL types using both the schema language and object constructor methods
Optimize GraphQL resolvers with data caching and batching
Design GraphQL fragments that match UI components' data requirements
Consume GraphQL API queries, mutations, and subscriptions with and without a GraphQL client library

About the Reader
For web developers familiar with client-server applications.

About the Author
Samer Buna has over 20 years of experience in software development including front-ends, back-ends, API design, and scalability.

Quotes
With thorough explorations of GraphQL concepts and numerous practical examples, this excellent book will quickly take you from novice to expert.
- Dary Merckens, Gunner Technology

A great introduction to GraphQL. This was the first book where I finally ‘got it’.
- Jeremy Lange, G2

Learn the new API paradigm with this excellent practical guide.
- Isaac Wong, Privé Technologies

If you want to develop an API with best practices, GraphQL is for you, and this book can help you get started quickly.
- Ethien Daniel Salinas Domínguez, Intelligential.tech