README

Tools to help developers building new applications on SilverStripe’s GraphQL API

Installation

composer require --dev silverstripe/graphql-devtools

What it does

This module adds an implementation of graphiql, an in-browser IDE for GraphQL servers. It provides browseable documentation of your schema, as well as autocomplete and syntax-checking of your queries.

Accessing the IDE

It can be accessed at /dev/graphql/ide.

This is because GraphQL 4+ has its own DevelopmentAdmin controller.

The GraphQL v4 version of the module allows you to clear your schema by running sake graphql:clear.

Security

By default, the tool has the same restrictions as other development tools like /dev/build:

• In "dev" mode, it's available without authentication
• In "test" and "live" mode, it requires ADMIN permissions
• It's installed with composer require --dev by default. In most deployment contexts that'll mean it's not available on environments in "test" or "live" modes

Configuration

In most installations of SilverStripe, there are at least two GraphQL servers running - one for the admin (admin/graphql) and one for the user space (/graphql). By default, only the default schema will show, but this is configurable.

Showing multiple schemas

Important: Due to a limitation in the GraphQL Playground library, showing multiple schemas will disable the persistence of IDE state across page refreshes.

Also important: When changing the available schemas, be sure to clear the local storage in your browser, otherwise, you'll get inconsistent state.

You can configure the visible schemas in the controller.

Show a select list of schemas

SilverStripe\GraphQLDevTools\Controller:
 # show two schemas
 schemas:
   - default
   - admin
 # default schema that is selected
 default_schema: admin 

Show all schemas

SilverStripe\GraphQLDevTools\Controller:
 # show two schemas
 schemas: '*'
 default_schema: default 

Further, you can override the config in the request, by using ?schema=<schemaName>, e.g. http://example.com/dev/graphql/ide?schema=mySchema.

If you're using a custom controller for your GraphQL endpoint

The IDE finds schemas by checking Director for routes that map to a SilverStripe\GraphQL\Controller instance. If for some reason you're using a custom controller, you might get an error: "Could not find your default schema 'default'. You will need to add one to the SilverStripe\Control\Director.rules config setting."

To avoid this, you can explicitly map your graphql route to a schema in your Director config:

SilverStripe\Control\Director:
  rules:
    graphql:
      Controller: '%$MyCustomController'
      Schema: default

GraphQL schema initialise task

This module provides a GraphQLSchemaInitTask task to initialise a basic GraphQL schema to get you started. It will create configuration files for your schema and a basic resolver. Specifically it will create:

• app/_config/graphql.yml
• app/_graphql containing several yml files
• src/GraphQL/Resolvers.php

You must be in CLI mode to use this task

To view help for the task to see what options are available:

vendor/bin/sake tasks:GraphQLSchemaInitTask --help

To run the task with with minimal options:

vendor/bin/sake tasks:GraphQLSchemaInitTask --namespace=App

Upgrading and maintaining the IDE

The library running the IDE is GraphQL Playground. It is served from your local environment as an exposed resource. The setup is based on their "HTML Page" example seen here, which uses remote bundle files served from a CDN. This repository uses a manually created bundle file copied directly from the CDN. This may seem like a convoluted approach, but the main benefits are:

• It allows offline use
• It does not require setting up a build chain or installing NPM dependencies
• There is no need for SRI protection

To upgrade GraphQL Playground, refer to the example linked above and use their CDN to download the latest distribution and drop it into this repository. Be sure to update the comment at the top of the bundle.js file to track the URL it was downloaded from.