Spring boot REST API best way to choose in client side which field to load - spring-boot

Question

Hi I have implemented a mock solution to my problem and I'm pretty sure something better already exist.
Here's that I want to achieve :
I have created a point to load categories with or without subCategories
/api/categories/1?fields=subCategories
returns
{
"id":"1",
"name":"test",
"subCategories":[{
"id":"1",
"name":"test123"
}]
}
/api/categories/1
returns
{
"id":"1",
"name":"test"
}
My entities
#Entity
class Category{
#Id
private String id;
private String name;
private Set<SubCategory> subCategories;
}
#Entity
class SubCategory{
#Id
private String id;
private String name;
}
I have removed services since this is not the point.
I've created CategoryDTO and SubCategoryDTO classes with the same fields as Category and SubCategory
The converter
class CategoryDTOConverter{
CategoryDTO convert(Category category,String fields){
CategoryDTO dto=new CategoryDTO();
dto.setName(category.getName());
if(StringUtils.isNotBlank(fields) && fields.contains("subCategories"){
category.getSubCategories().forEach(s->{
dto.getSubcategories().add(SubCategoryDTOConverter.convert(s));
}
}
}
}
I used com.cosium.spring.data.jpa.entity.graph.repository to create an EntityGraph from a list of attribute path
#Repository
interface CategoryRepository extends EntityGraphJpaRepository<Category, String>{
Optional<T> findById(String id,EntityGraph entityGraph);
}
Controller
#RestController
#CrossOrigin
#RequestMapping("/categories")
public class CategoryController {
#GetMapping(value = "/{id}")
public ResponseEntity<CategoryDTO> get(#PathVariable("id") String id, #RequestParam(value="fields",required=false) String fields ) throws Exception {
Optional<Category> categOpt=repository.findById(id,fields!=null?EntityGraphUtils.fromAttributePaths(fields):null);
if(categOpt.isEmpty())
throws new NotFoundException();
return ResponseEntity.ok(categoryDTOConverter.convert(categOpt.get(),fields);
}
}
This is a simple example to illustrate what I need to do
I don't want to load fields that clients doesn't want to use
How could I do this in a better way ?

Answer 1

Take a look at GraphQL since it is a perfect match for your use case. With GraphQL it is the client that decides which attributes it wants to receive by providing in the POST request body exactly which attributes are needed to be included in the response. This is way more manageable than trying to handle all this on your own.
Spring Boot recently added its own Spring GraphQL library, so it is quite simple to integrate it in your Spring Boot app.