graphql-activerecord

GraphQL::Models

WARNING!

This gem was designed as a helper for building GraphQL schema's based on the graphql gem. Primarily, it was meant to reduce redundancy when your object types were virtually identical to the attributes on your models in a few ways:

1. It uses some clever tricks to automatically infer field types based on the data types of your database columns
2. It automatically camelizes your attributes names
3. It has some helpers to optimize association loading

But in the time since I originally wrote this gem, a lot has transpired in the GraphQL world:

• For #2: The 1.8 release of the graphql gem solves field camelization
• For #3: Better solutions for association loading, that aren't quite as heavy as this library, have surfaced. One example is outlined in a gist that I wrote on Association Loading. That gist has proven to be more popular than this library 😁

I don't know if there's a good solution out there for #1, but it was probably the least important problem to solve.

We use GraphQL extensively at GoCo. Our schema has thousands of types. We'll be rethinking our implementation soon, and taking a closer look at the patterns that we use to DRY up our schema definition, to see if there are better patterns in the 1.8+ world.

This gem may evolve into something better, or we may eventually deprecate it. But as of right now, I can't recommend that you build any major projects on top of it, since its future is a bit uncertain. I apologize if that makes more work for you :( but I want to be honest about the state of the project.

Overview

This gem is designed to help you map Active Record models to GraphQL types, both for queries and mutations, using the graphql gem. It assumes that you're using Rails and have graphql-batch set up.

It extends the define methods for GraphQL object types to provide a simple syntax for adding fields that access attributes on your model. It also makes it easy to "flatten" models together across associations, or to create fields that just access the association as a separate object type.

In the process, this gem also converts snake_case attribute names into camelCase field names. When you go to build a mutation using this gem, it knows how to revert that process, even in cases where the conversion isn't symmetric.

Here's an example:

EmployeeType = GraphQL::ObjectType.define do
  name "Employee"

  # Looks for an Active Record model called "Employee"
  backed_by_model :employee do

    # The gem will look at the data type for the attributes, and map them to GraphQL types
    attr :title
    attr :salary

    # You can flatten fields across associations to simplify the schema. In this example, an
    # Employee belongs to a Person.
    proxy_to :person do
      # These fields get converted to camel case (ie, firstName, lastName) on the schema
      attr :first_name
      attr :last_name
      attr :email

      # You can also provide the association itself as an object field. In this example, a
      # Person has one Address. The gem assumes that the corresponding GraphQL object type
      # is called "AddressType" (but you can override, see installation section below).
      has_one :address
    end
  end
end

Then in your query file:

QueryType = GraphQL::ObjectType.define do
  name "Query"

  field :employees, types[EmployeeType] do
    resolve -> (_obj, _args, _ctx) { Employee.all }
  end

  field :employee, EmployeeType do
    argument :id, !types.ID
    resolve -> (obj, args, ctx) { Employee.find(args[:id])}
  end
end

You can also build a corresponding mutation, using a very similar syntax. Mutations are more complicated, since they involve not just changing the data, but also validating it. Here's an example:

UpdateEmployeeMutation = GraphQL::Relay::Mutation.define do
  name "UpdateEmployee"

  input_field :id, !types.ID

  # For mutations, you create a mutator definition. This will add the input fields to your
  # mutation, and also return an object that you'll use in the resolver to perform the mutation.
  # The parameters you pass are explained below.
  mutator_definition = GraphQL::Models.define_mutator(self, Employee) do
    attr :title
    attr :salary

    proxy_to :person do
      attr :first_name
      attr :last_name
      attr :email

      # You can use nested input object types to allow making changes across associations with a single mutation.
      # Unlike querying, you need to be explicit about what fields on associated objects can be changed.
      nested :address do
        attr :line_1
        attr :line_2
        attr :city
        attr :state
        attr :postal_code  
      end
    end
  end

  return_field :employee, EmployeeType

  resolve -> (inputs, context) {
    # Fetch (or create) the model that the mutation should change
    model = Employee.find(inputs[:id])

    # Get the mutator
    mutator = mutator_definition.mutator(model, inputs, context)

    # Call `apply_changes` to update the models. This does not save the changes to the database yet:
    mutator.apply_changes

    # Let's validate the changes. This will raise an exception that can be caught in middleware:
    mutator.validate!

    # Verify that the user is allowed to make the changes. Explained below:
    mutator.authorize!

    # If that passes, let's save the changes and return the result
    mutator.save!

    { employee: model }
  }
end

In your mutation file:

MutationType = GraphQL::ObjectType.define do
  name "Mutation"
  
  field :updateEmployee, UpdateEmployeeMutation.field
end

Installation

To get started, you should add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'graphql-activerecord'

And then execute:

$ bundle install

Next, you need to supply a few callbacks. I put these inside of config/initializers in my Rails app:

# This proc takes a Relay global ID, and returns the Active Record model. It can be the same as
# the `object_to_id` proc that you use for global node identification:
GraphQL::Models.model_from_id = -> (id, context) {
  model_type, model_id = NodeHelpers.decode_id(id)
  model_type.find(model_id)
}

# This proc essentially reverses that process:
GraphQL::Models.id_for_model = -> (model_type_name, model_id) {
  NodeHelpers.encode_id(model_type_name, model_id)
}

# This proc is used when you're authorizing changes to a model inside of a mutator:
GraphQL::Models.authorize = -> (context, action, model) {
  # Action will be either :create, :update, or :destroy
  # Raise an exception if the action should not proceed
  user = context['user']
  model.authorize_changes!(action, user)
}

# The gem assumes that if your model is called `MyModel`, the corresponding type is `MyModelType`.
# You can override that convention. Return `nil` if the model doesn't have a GraphQL type:
GraphQL::Models.model_to_graphql_type = -> (model_class) { "#{model_class.name}Type".safe_constantize }

Finally, you need to set a few options on your schema:

GraphQL::Schema.define do
  # Set up the graphql-batch gem
  use GraphQL::Batch

  # Set up the graphql-activerecord gem
  instrument(:field, GraphQL::Models::Instrumentation.new)
end

Database compatibility

This gem uses graphql-batch to optimize loading associated models in your graph, so that you don't end up with lots of N+1 queries. It tries to do that in a way that preserves things like scopes that change the order or filter the rows retrieved.

Unfortunately, that means that it needs to build some custom SQL expressions, and they might not be compatible with every database engine. They should work correctly on PostgreSQL. For other databases, your mileage may vary.

Global ID's

When you use the has_one or has_many_array helpers to output associations, the gem will also include a field that only returns the global ID's of the models. To do that, it calls a method named gid on the model. You'll need to provide that method for those fields to work. We do that by adding it to our ApplicationRecord base class:

class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
  def gid
    # add code to return a global object ID here
  end
end

Usage

Inside of your GraphQL object types, you use backed_by_model to create fields that are tied to your models (see example above). Inside of those blocks, you have some helper methods.

Attribute helpers

You use the attr method to add an ordinary attribute from your model to your schema:

backed_by_model :employee do
  attr :first_name
  attr :last_name
end

The gem knows how to handle basic attribute types: boolean, int, float, and string. For other types, you need to tell it what GraphQL type to use:

# config/initializers/graphql_activerecord.rb
GraphQL::Models::DatabaseTypes.register(:decimal, DecimalType)

# You can wrap the type in a proc, or use a string, so that you don't break code reloading:
GraphQL::Models::DatabaseTypes.register(:decimal, -> { DecimalType })
GraphQL::Models::DatabaseTypes.register(:decimal, "DecimalType")

# If you're not using a scalar, you need to give it separate input/output types:
GraphQL::Models::DatabaseTypes.register(:date, DateType, DateInputType)

You can also provide a proc, if you want a catch-all, or if it's different for different models:

GraphQL::Models.unknown_scalar = -> (type, klass, attribute) do
  case type
  when :uuid
    UuidType
  when :daterange
    # If you need separate input/output types, use this syntax:
    GraphQL::Models::DatabaseTypes::TypeStruct.new(DateRangeInputType, DateRangeOutputType)
  else
    GraphQL::STRING_TYPE
  end
end

Nullability of attributes

The gem will mark a field as non-nullable if:

• the database column is non-null
• the attribute has an unconditional presence validator on it

There are two ways you can override this behavior:

• You can pass either nullable: true or nullable: false to the helper, and no automatic detection happens
• You can disable null detection for the entire backed_by_model block

Example:

backed_by_model :employee do
  # All fields created by the gem will be nullable
  detect_nulls false

  # Override it on a per-field basis
  attr :first_name, nullable: false
end

If you use a proxy_to block, the gem will automatically detect whether the associated model has a presence validator on it. If it doesn’t, all fields inside of the block are nullable:

backed_by_model :employee do

  # If you have `validates :person, presence: true` in your model, then nullability
  # on these fields is preserved. Otherwise, they will all be nullable.
  proxy_to :person do
    attr :birthday
  end
end

Association helpers

There are three helpers that you can use to build fields for associated models:

• has_one can be used for either belongs_to or has_one associations
• has_many_array will return all of the associated models as a GraphQL list
• has_many_connection will return a paged connection of the associated models

Nullability of associations

When you use the has_one helper, the gem follows the same rules for nullability as it does for attributes. Thus, it’ll check for a presence validator on the association itself:

class MyModel < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :some_other_model
  validates :some_other_model, presence: true
end

In addition, for belongs_to models, it’ll check the nullability of the foreign key:

class MyModel < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :some_other_model
  validates :some_other_model_id, presence: true
end

For has_many associations, it does not check for presence validators; rather, it assumes that an empty array will be returned if there are no associated models, so the field is always marked non-null (but subject to the same rules as attributes regarding proxy blocks).

Fields inside of proxy_to blocks

You can also define ordinary fields inside of proxy_to blocks. When you do that, your field will receive the associated model as the object, instead of the original model. This is meant to allow you to take advantage of the optimized association loading that the gem provides:

backed_by_model :employee do
  proxy_to :person do
    field :someCustomField, types.Int do
      resolve -> (model, args, context) {
        # model is an instance of Person, not Employee
      }
    end
  end
end

GraphQL Enum's

Active Record allows you to define enum fields on your models. They're stored as integers, but treated as strings in your app. You can use a helper to automatically build GraphQL enum types for them:

class MyModel < ApplicationRecord
  enum status: [:active, :inactive]
  graphql_enum :status
end

# You can access the auto-built type if you need to:
MyModel.graphql_enum_types[:status]

# When you use it inside of your GraphQL schema, it'll know to use the GraphQL enum type:
MyModelType = GraphQL::ObjectType.define do
  backed_by_model :my_model do
    attr :status
  end
end

You can also manually specify the type to use, if you just want the type mapping behavior:

  graphql_enum :status, type: StatusEnum

Defining Mutations

When you define a mutation, there are a few parameters that you need to pass. Here's an example:

mutator_definition = GraphQL::Models.define_mutator(self, Employee)

The parameters are:

• The definer object: it needs this so that it can create the input fields. You should always pass self for this parameter.
• The model class that the mutator is changing: it needs this so that it can map attributes to the correct input types.

Virtual Attributes

In your mutator, you can specify virtual attributes on your model, you just need to provide the type:

attr :some_fake_attribute, type: types.String

Implicit Null Values

By default, input fields that are not supplied to a mutation (ie, they are left blank when the mutation is executed) will be ignored. You must explicitly provide a value (including null) for the attribute to be updated.

You can override this behavior by using the null_behavior: :set_null option. This will cause two side-effects:

• The input fields on your mutation will be marked non-null if they are required in your model
• If any input field is not supplied, it will be treated as if the value null was actually supplied.

Example:

nested :emergency_contacts, null_behavior: :set_null do
  attr :first_name
  attr :last_name
  attr :phone
end

Mutations and has_many associations

You can create mutations that update models across a has_many association, by using a nested block just like you would for has_one or belongs_to associations:

nested :emergency_contacts do
  attr :first_name
  attr :last_name
  attr :phone
end

By default, inputs are matched to associated models by position (ie, the first input to the first model, etc). However, if you have an attribute that should instead be used to match them, you can specify it:

nested :emergency_contacts, find_by: :priority do
  attr :first_name
  attr :last_name
  attr :phone
end

This causes the gem to automatically include priority as an input field. You could also manually specify the priority field if you wanted to override its name or type.

Also, an important note is that the gem assumes that your input is providing values for all of the associated models, and not just some of them. It will destroy extra models, or create missing models.

Other things that need to be documented

• Custom scalar types
• object_to_model
• Retrieving field metadata (for building an authorization middleware)
• Validation error exceptions

Getting Help

The best way to get ahold of me (@theorygeek) is in the #ruby channel on the GraphQL Slack. Or feel free to open a GitHub issue (or PR), although to my shame, I'm not very good at responding to those (sorry, I'm trying to get better 😞).

Development

TODO: Write development instructions here 😬

Current goals:

• RSpec tests. Requires getting a dummy schema in place.
• Clean up awkward integration points (ie, global node identification)
• Deprecate and remove relation loader code
• Compatibility with latest version of graphql gem

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/[USERNAME]/graphql-activerecord. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.