In GraphQL, how to control DB query by client query? - graphql

Question

I learn to use GraphQL these days. In my opinion, To build a query, I need to build three parts:
Schema
type User{
id String
name String
cars [Car!]!
}
type Car{
id String
}
type Query{
user(id: String): User
}
DB Query function
{
user: async function ({id}) {
const user = await DB.user.findOne({id});
const userCars = await DB.car.find({userId: id});
user.cars = userCars;
return cars;
}
}
Client query
{
user (id: "1") {
name
cars {
id
}
}
}
That query returns a user's name and his cars. The DB query function always query for cars.
But sometimes I just need user's info:
{
user (id: "1") {
name
}
}
I don't want to query for cars, so I hope to make my DB query function can auto choose to query for cars or not.
How can I do this?

Answer 1

GraphQL.js will support either object properties or methods for resolver functions; this is discussed in its page on Object Types.
One way to deal with this is just to insert an anonymous function directly into the returned object:
{
user: async function ({id}) {
const user = await DB.user.findOne({id});
user.cars = () => DB.car.find({userId: id});
return cars;
}
}
Another is to create a wrapper object with a class that provides the id property and (asynchronous, lazy) cars method; some examples of this are in the GraphQL.js documentation. This approach tends to work in most GraphQL implementations in most languages.

Answer 2

I think you looking into auto-creating/mapping from GraphQL query into db query.
Every queries are db/project specific, so you should create this mapping. You can easily do that with graphql-fields package.
There is copy pasted WHY section from the package:
An underlying REST api may only return fields based on query params.
{
user {
profile {
firstName
},
id
}
}
should request /api/user?fields=profile,id
while
{
user {
email
}
}
should request /api/user?fields=email
Implement your resolve method like so:
resolve(root, args, context, info) {
const topLevelFields = Object.keys(graphqlFields(info));
return fetch(`/api/user?fields=${topLevelFields.join(',')}`);
}

Answer 3

It's best to avoid squeezing it all into one resolver function. Instead, create a separate ObjectType for Cars which has its own fields and its own resolver function. This way, the car query is only called if that field is requested.
In case you are using a RDS, join monster and data louder can help optimize performance of your queries.
Join Monster which relies on generating one big join query and also solve the problem of only requesting exactly the fields you need from the DB
Cached and Batched SQL Data Source which uses facebook's dataloader under the hood - it wont solve the problem of which fields to query (although the example uses knex, which will make that a lot easier), but instead it can cache and batch your queries