ŚŚĄŚŽŚ
Today I published version 0.0.1 of apollo-elements
, a collection of packages that make it easy to create web components connected to Apollo GraphQL1.
apollo-elements / apollo-elements
đđ Use the Launch Platform đ©âđđšâđ
đ Apollo Elements đ©âđ
Apollo Elements offers packages based on a variety of underlying web component authoring libraries. You can pick the one that suits your project in order to keep your app sizes small.
npm init @apollo-elements
đ€ Demos
-
#leeway
is an example chat PWA that useslit-apollo
to make it easier for you to avoid doing actual work. Source Repository -
LaunchCTL
is a simple PWA that displays info about SpaceX launches. It uses the unofficial spacex.land GraphQL API. Source Repository
đș Guides and Docs
If you just want to see the API Docs, check them out for all our packages at apolloelements.dev
đ„ Core𧱠Componentsđž Mixinsđ„ Litđ FASTđ» Hauntedâïž AtomicođŠ HybridsđŹ Gluon𧏠Polymer
Use in any
âŠApollo Elements handles the plumbing between web components libraries like lit-element
or hybrids
and Apollo Client, so you can concentrate on building your app.
If you're new to web components, take a đ at my "Let's Build Web Components" series to get up to speed:
Lets Build Web Components! Part 1: The Standards
Benny Powers đźđ±đšđŠ ă» Sep 18 '18 ă» 10 min read
Connected Components
In a component-based app, each component can derive its state from some separate state storage. For example, you can create components which connect to a Redux or MobX store and subscribe to changes to their piece of the state puzzle.
GraphQL's flexible and extensible syntax is a natural fit for component based design, and Apollo's powerful implementation lets us easily make the connection between GraphQL data and our components. Using apollo-link-state
, you can even get rid of client-side state containers like redux altogether and query your entire component state from the apollo cache.
query UserProfilePage($userId: ID) {
session @client {
token
expiresAt
id
}
user(id: $id) {
name
avatar
friends {
name
id
}
}
}
Show Me The Code
Now, with Apollo Elements, it's easy to get up and running building connected components. You provide a GraphQL document and a custom element class2 that handles templating, and you're good to go.
import { ApolloQuery, html } from '@apollo-elements/lit-apollo';
// A component that uses ApolloSubscription to update
// when users go on or offline.
import './user-online-status.js';
import './loading-spinner.js';
/**
* `<user-profile-page>` Shows a user's profile, as well as a list
* of their friends which display's each one's online status via a
* GraphQL subscription.
* @extends ApolloQuery
*/
class UserProfilePage extends ApolloQuery {
render() {
const { loading, data } = this;
return (
(loading || !data) ? html`<loading-spinner></loading-spinner>`
!data.user ? : html`<login-form></login-form>`
: html`
<h1>Hello, ${data.user.name}</h1>
<profile-image src="${data.user.avatar}"></profile-image>
<h2>Who's Online?</h2>
<dl>${data.user.friends.map(({id, name}) => html`
<dt>${name}</dt>
<dd><user-online-status id="${id}"></user-online-status></dd>
`)}</dl>
`
);
}
updated() {
// get the currently logged-in user's id from the `@client` query.
const { id } = this.id;
// setting variables updates the query.
if (id) this.variables = { id };
}
}
customElements.define('user-profile-page', UserProfilePage);
Once you've added your elements to the page, just set their query
property to a GraphQL document and you're set.
Inline GraphQL Scripts
You can even do neat little optional tricks like defining your queries declaratively in HTML with inline GraphQL:
<user-profile-page>
<script type="application/graphql">
query UserProfilePage($userId: ID) {
session @client {
token
expiresAt
id
}
user(id: $id) {
name
avatar
friends {
name
id
}
}
}
</script>
</user-profile-page>
Cute, right?
Support for Multiple Web Component Libraries
Apollo Elements grew out of lit-apollo
, but I wasn't content with supporting a single component class. Version 0 shipped, renamed and rebranded, with support for lit-element
, GluonElement
, and hybrids
. It also's got some Polymer-style two-way binding elements so you can expose the apollo state in your templates with {{data}}
syntax.
But the goal here was to give you, the developer, more options. If none of the above are what you're looking for, Apollo Elements also provides class mixins that let you get up and running with any vanilla-like component class, or even good-old-fashioned HTMLElement
, if you really wanted.
import { ApolloMutationMixin } from '@apollo-elements/mixins';
import gql from 'graphql-tag';
const mutation = gql`
mutation SendMessage($message: String!) {
sendMessage(message: $message) {
message
date
}
}
`;
const template = document.createElement('template');
template.innerHTML = `
<style>
:host([error]) #input {
border: 1px solid red;
}
details {
display: none;
}
:host([error]) details {
display: block;
}
</style>
<label>Message<input id="input"/></label>
<details>
<summary>Error!</summary>
<span id="error"></span>
</details>
`;
class ChatInput extends ApolloMutationMixin(HTMLElement) {
get input() {
return this.shadowRoot && this.shadowRoot.getElementById('input');
}
constructor() {
super();
this.mutation = mutation;
this.onKeyup = this.onKeyup.bind(this);
this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' })
this.shadowRoot.appendChild(template.content.cloneNode(true))
this.input.addEventListener('keyup', this.onKeyup)
}
onKeyup({ key, target: { value: message } }) {
if (key !== 'Enter') return;
this.variables = { message };
this.mutate();
}
// Override implementation of `onCompleted` if desired.
// Alternatively, use a setter.
onCompleted({ message, date }) {
this.input.value = '';
}
// Override implementation of `onError` if desired.
// Alternatively, use a setter.
onError(error) {
this.setAttribute('error', error);
this.shadowRoot.getElementById('error').textContent =
`Error when sending message: ${ error }`;
}
}
Plans are in the works to support even more web component libraries and frameworks in the future, so watch the repo for releases.
So go ahead - install the package which fits your project best:
-
@apollo-elements/mixins
for class mixins -
@apollo-elements/lit-apollo
for lit-element -
@apollo-elements/hybrids
for Hybrids -
@apollo-elements/gluon
for Gluon -
@apollo-elements/polymer
for Polymer-style notifying elements
Demo
Want to see it in action? I built a simple chat app demo that uses GraphQL subscriptions and renders it's components using lit-element.
#leeway
is a progressive web app that uses lit-apollo
to make it easier for you to avoid doing actual work. Check out the source repo for an example of how to build apps with Apollo Elements. The demo includes:
- SSR
- Code Splitting
- Aggressive minification, including
lit-html
template literals - CSS-in-CSS ( e.g.
import shared from '../shared-styles.css';
) - GQL-in-GQL ( e.g.
import query from './my-component-query.graphql';
) - GraphQL Subscriptions over websocket
So try out apollo-elements
today!
Top comments (3)
Very cool, Benny. I really want to learn more about GraphQL and Apollo looks like a nice way into that.
Check out the demo app for example usage
Good Job Benny.
ŚŚŚŚȘŚ ŚŚȘ ŚŚŚĄ"Ś :)