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Constructing Types

For many apps, you can define a fixed schema when the application starts, and define it using GraphQL schema language. In some cases, it's useful to construct a schema programmatically. You can do this using the GraphQLSchema constructor.

When you are using the GraphQLSchema constructor to create a schema, instead of defining Query and Mutation types solely using schema language, you create them as separate object types.

For example, let's say we are building a simple API that lets you fetch user data for a few hardcoded users based on an id. Using buildSchema we could write a server with:

var express = require("express")
var { graphqlHTTP } = require("express-graphql")
var { buildSchema } = require("graphql")


var schema = buildSchema(`
  type User {
    id: String
    name: String
  }


  type Query {
    user(id: String): User
  }
`)


// Maps id to User object
var fakeDatabase = {
  a: {
    id: "a",
    name: "alice",
  },
  b: {
    id: "b",
    name: "bob",
  },
}


var root = {
  user: ({ id }) => {
    return fakeDatabase[id]
  },
}


var app = express()
app.use(
  "/graphql",
  graphqlHTTP({
    schema: schema,
    rootValue: root,
    graphiql: true,
  })
)
app.listen(4000)
console.log("Running a GraphQL API server at localhost:4000/graphql")

We can implement this same API without using GraphQL schema language:

var express = require("express")
var { graphqlHTTP } = require("express-graphql")
var graphql = require("graphql")


// Maps id to User object
var fakeDatabase = {
  a: {
    id: "a",
    name: "alice",
  },
  b: {
    id: "b",
    name: "bob",
  },
}


// Define the User type
var userType = new graphql.GraphQLObjectType({
  name: "User",
  fields: {
    id: { type: graphql.GraphQLString },
    name: { type: graphql.GraphQLString },
  },
})


// Define the Query type
var queryType = new graphql.GraphQLObjectType({
  name: "Query",
  fields: {
    user: {
      type: userType,
      // `args` describes the arguments that the `user` query accepts
      args: {
        id: { type: graphql.GraphQLString },
      },
      resolve: (_, { id }) => {
        return fakeDatabase[id]
      },
    },
  },
})


var schema = new graphql.GraphQLSchema({ query: queryType })


var app = express()
app.use(
  "/graphql",
  graphqlHTTP({
    schema: schema,
    graphiql: true,
  })
)
app.listen(4000)
console.log("Running a GraphQL API server at localhost:4000/graphql")

When we use this method of creating the API, the root level resolvers are implemented on the Query and Mutation types rather than on a root object.

This is particularly useful if you want to create a GraphQL schema automatically from something else, like a database schema. You might have a common format for something like creating and updating database records. This is also useful for implementing features like union types which don't map cleanly to ES6 classes and schema language.

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