Intro

For a while now I've wanted to jump into the deep end of GraphQL and see what all the fuzz is about.

And oh my I wish I did it sooner.

So, what is it?

GraphQL is A query language for your API, this gives you the ability to ask for exactly what you need from the API and nothing more.

Why should I use it?

This is something that works amazing for big API's like the Halo 5 Game API that I used in my example.

A normal player has about 20 000 lines of data but for most of the calls I make I only use a fraction of that (24 to be exact). Reducing my calls to only get what I need gives me a big performance bonus and I'm able to use less data on the client side.

Returning a smaller JSON object makes coding on the front end a lot easier than previously.

// Sample of Possible Queries
let queryObjectSample = {
    Gamertag: String,
    Xp: Number,
    SpartanRank: Number,
    HighestCsrAttained: {
      Tier: Number,
      DesignationId: Number,
      Csr: Number,
      PercentToNextTier: Number,
      Rank: Number
    },
    Stats: {
      TotalKills: Number,
      TotalHeadshots: Number,
      TotalMeleeKills: Number,
      TotalAssassinations: Number,
      TotalGroundPoundKills: Number,
      TotalShoulderBashKills: Number,
      TotalPowerWeaponKills: Number,
      TotalDeaths: Number,
      TotalAssists: Number,
      TotalGamesCompleted: Number,
      TotalGamesWon: Number,
      TotalGamesLost: Number,
      TotalGamesTied: Number,
      TotalGrenadeKills: Number,
      TotalSpartanKills: Number,
    },
    TotalTimePlayed: String
}

Here is a sample of what I return opposed to the 20 000 fields:

{
    "data": {
        "Gamertag": "NicmeisteR",
        "HighestCsrAttained": {
            "Csr": 1872,
            "Rank": 78
        },
        "Stats": {
            "TotalKills": 34834,
            "TotalDeaths": 31017
        }
    }
}

To get the above data all I have to do is make an API call to my Express NodeJS server and with the below query to retrieve what I need.

var dataString = {
    "query": 
        `{ 
            Gamertag, 
            HighestCsrAttained {Csr, Rank},
            Stats { TotalKills, TotalDeaths} 
        } 
`};

How to get started

Go over to GraphQL and select your language of choice and follow through with the tutorial.

GraphQL is super scalable and flexible.

Alternatively you can also check out my Github Repository GraphQL-NodeJS to get straight into the action and see how it all comes together.

Conclusion

GraphQL is something I would high recommend checking out, although it's still relatively new a lot of employers are on the lookout for people with knowledge around it.

Check out the repository for the project here: https://github.com/NicmeisteR/GraphQL-NodeJS