Proper error handling when performing multiple mutations in graphql - error-handling

Given the following GraphQL mutations:
type Mutation {
updateUser(id: ID!, newEmail: String!): User
updatePost(id: ID!, newTitle: String!): Post
}
The Apollo docs state that it's totally possible to perform multiple mutations in one request, say
mutation($userId: ID!, $newEmail: String!, $postId: ID!, $newTitle: String!) {
updateUser(id: $userId, newEmail: $newEmail) {
id
email
}
updatePost(id: $postId, newTitle: $newTitle) {
id
title
}
}
1. Does anyone actually do this? And if you don't do this explicitly, will batching cause this kind of mutation merging?
2. If you perform run multiple things within on mutation, how would you handle errors properly?
I've seen a bunch of people recommending to throw errors on the server so that the server would respond with something that looks like this:
{
errors: [
{
statusCode: 422,
error: 'Unprocessable Entity'
path: [
'updateUser'
],
message: {
message: 'Validation failed',
fields: {
newEmail: 'The new email is not a valid email address.'
}
},
},
{
statusCode: 422,
error: 'Unprocessable Entity'
path: [
'updatePost'
],
message: {
message: 'Validation failed',
fields: {
newTitle: 'The given title is too short.'
}
},
}
],
data: {
updateUser: null,
updatePost: null,
}
}
But how do I know which error belongs to which mutation? We can't assume, that the first error in the errors array belongs to the first mutation, because if updateUser succeeds, the array would simple contain one entry. Would I then have to iterate over all errors and check if the path matches my mutation name? :D
Another approach is to include the error in a dedicated response type, say UpdateUserResponse and UpdatePostResponse. This approach enables me to correctly address errors.
type UpdateUserResponse {
error: Error
user: User
}
type UpdatePostResponse {
error: Error
post: Post
}
But I have a feeling that this will bloat my schema quite a lot.

In short, yes, if you include multiple top-level mutation fields, utilize the path property on the errors to determine which mutation failed. Just be aware that if an error occurs deeper in your graph (on some child field instead of the root-level field), the path will reflect that field. That is, an execution error that occurs while resolving the title field would result in a path of updatePost.title.
Returning errors as part of the data is an equally valid option. There's other benefits to this approach to:
Errors sent like this can include additional meta data (a "code" property, information about specific input fields that may have generated the error, etc.). While this same information can be sent through the errors array, making it part of your schema means that clients will be aware of the structure of these error objects. This is particularly important for clients written in typed languages where client code is often generated from the schema.
Returning client errors this way lets you draw a clear distinction between user errors that should be made visible to the user (wrong credentials, user already exists, etc.) and something actually going wrong with either the client or server code (in which case, at best, we show some generic messaging).
Creating a "payload" object like this lets you append additional fields in the future without breaking your schema.
A third alternative is to utilize unions in a similar fashion:
type Mutation {
updateUser(id: ID!, newEmail: String!): UpdateUserPayload!
}
union UpdateUserPayload = User | Error
This enables clients to use fragments and the __typename field to distinguish between successful and failed mutations:
mutation($userId: ID!, $newEmail: String!) {
updateUser(id: $userId, newEmail: $newEmail) {
__typename
... on User {
id
email
}
... on Error {
message
code
}
}
}
You can get even create specific types for each kind of error, allowing you to omit any sort of "code" field:
union UpdateUserPayload = User | EmailExistsError | EmailInvalidError
There's no right or wrong answer here. While there are advantages to each approach, which one you take comes ultimately comes down to preference.

Related

PRISMA: Getting type error on where clause in update method

Have a specific Prisma ORM library error that I need help with.
I have created a migration and pushed it to a postgres db.
I have generated the client model for Prisma and am able to findAll and insert data using the create method.
Where I am having trouble is the update method.
Here's my code
app.post("/articles/:title", async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
const article = await prisma.article.update({
where: { title: req.params.title },
data: { title: req.body.title, content: req.body.content },
})
res.send('The article was posted sucessfully.' + article)
})
I am getting the following error which makes me think that the client is not finding a type 'title' when using the where argument.
app.ts:65:14 - error TS2322: Type '{ title: string; }' is not assignable to type 'ArticleWhereUniqueInput'.
Object literal may only specify known properties, and 'title' does not exist in type 'ArticleWhereUniqueInput'.
65 where: { title: req.params.title },
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
node_modules/.prisma/client/index.d.ts:784:3
784 where: ArticleWhereUniqueInput
~~~~~
The expected type comes from property 'where' which is declared here on type 'Subset<ArticleUpdateArgs, ArticleUpdateArgs>'
Has anyone else had this issue?
I tried to introspect the database just to make sure the database was captured exactly as is, with title and content fields and then generated the client again.
Many thanks
James
Found the answer: Post answer was a response from Antonie
The fields in
where
needs to be unique.
If you can make some field, let's say date #unique (date: DateTime! #unique), and use that for your where in the upsert, I think it would work (tested on my local).
Use .(find/update/delete)Many() if you are trying to query with multi values.

Graphql mutation succeeds but displays return fields as null [duplicate]

I have an graphql/apollo-server/graphql-yoga endpoint. This endpoint exposes data returned from a database (or a REST endpoint or some other service).
I know my data source is returning the correct data -- if I log the result of the call to the data source inside my resolver, I can see the data being returned. However, my GraphQL field(s) always resolve to null.
If I make the field non-null, I see the following error inside the errors array in the response:
Cannot return null for non-nullable field
Why is GraphQL not returning the data?
There's two common reasons your field or fields are resolving to null: 1) returning data in the wrong shape inside your resolver; and 2) not using Promises correctly.
Note: if you're seeing the following error:
Cannot return null for non-nullable field
the underlying issue is that your field is returning null. You can still follow the steps outlined below to try to resolve this error.
The following examples will refer to this simple schema:
type Query {
post(id: ID): Post
posts: [Post]
}
type Post {
id: ID
title: String
body: String
}
Returning data in the wrong shape
Our schema, along with the requested query, defines the "shape" of the data object in the response returned by our endpoint. By shape, we mean what properties objects have, and whether those properties' values' are scalar values, other objects, or arrays of objects or scalars.
In the same way a schema defines the shape of the total response, the type of an individual field defines the shape of that field's value. The shape of the data we return in our resolver must likewise match this expected shape. When it doesn't, we frequently end up with unexpected nulls in our response.
Before we dive into specific examples, though, it's important to grasp how GraphQL resolves fields.
Understanding default resolver behavior
While you certainly can write a resolver for every field in your schema, it's often not necessary because GraphQL.js uses a default resolver when you don't provide one.
At a high level, what the default resolver does is simple: it looks at the value the parent field resolved to and if that value is a JavaScript object, it looks for a property on that Object with the same name as the field being resolved. If it finds that property, it resolves to the value of that property. Otherwise, it resolves to null.
Let's say in our resolver for the post field, we return the value { title: 'My First Post', bod: 'Hello World!' }. If we don't write resolvers for any of the fields on the Post type, we can still request the post:
query {
post {
id
title
body
}
}
and our response will be
{
"data": {
"post" {
"id": null,
"title": "My First Post",
"body": null,
}
}
}
The title field was resolved even though we didn't provide a resolver for it because the default resolver did the heavy lifting -- it saw there was a property named title on the Object the parent field (in this case post) resolved to and so it just resolved to that property's value. The id field resolved to null because the object we returned in our post resolver did not have an id property. The body field also resolved to null because of a typo -- we have a property called bod instead of body!
Pro tip: If bod is not a typo but what an API or database actually returns, we can always write a resolver for the body field to match our schema. For example: (parent) => parent.bod
One important thing to keep in mind is that in JavaScript, almost everything is an Object. So if the post field resolves to a String or a Number, the default resolver for each of the fields on the Post type will still try to find an appropriately named property on the parent object, inevitably fail and return null. If a field has an object type but you return something other than object in its resolver (like a String or an Array), you will not see any error about the type mismatch but the child fields for that field will inevitably resolve to null.
Common Scenario #1: Wrapped Responses
If we're writing the resolver for the post query, we might fetch our code from some other endpoint, like this:
function post (root, args) {
// axios
return axios.get(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.data);
// fetch
return fetch(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.json());
// request-promise-native
return request({
uri: `http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`,
json: true
});
}
The post field has the type Post, so our resolver should return an object with properties like id, title and body. If this is what our API returns, we're all set. However, it's common for the response to actually be an object which contains additional metadata. So the object we actually get back from the endpoint might look something like this:
{
"status": 200,
"result": {
"id": 1,
"title": "My First Post",
"body": "Hello world!"
},
}
In this case, we can't just return the response as-is and expect the default resolver to work correctly, since the object we're returning doesn't have the id , title and body properties we need. Our resolver isn't needs to do something like:
function post (root, args) {
// axios
return axios.get(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.data.result);
// fetch
return fetch(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.json())
.then(data => data.result);
// request-promise-native
return request({
uri: `http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`,
json: true
})
.then(res => res.result);
}
Note: The above example fetches data from another endpoint; however, this sort of wrapped response is also very common when using a database driver directly (as opposed to using an ORM)! For example, if you're using node-postgres, you'll get a Result object that includes properties like rows, fields, rowCount and command. You'll need to extract the appropriate data from this response before returning it inside your resolver.
Common Scenario #2: Array Instead of Object
What if we fetch a post from the database, our resolver might look something like this:
function post(root, args, context) {
return context.Post.find({ where: { id: args.id } })
}
where Post is some model we're injecting through the context. If we're using sequelize, we might call findAll. mongoose and typeorm have find. What these methods have in common is that while they allow us to specify a WHERE condition, the Promises they return still resolve to an array instead of a single object. While there's probably only one post in your database with a particular ID, it's still wrapped in an array when you call one of these methods. Because an Array is still an Object, GraphQL will not resolve the post field as null. But it will resolve all of the child fields as null because it won't be able to find the appropriately named properties on the array.
You can easily fix this scenario by just grabbing the first item in the array and returning that in your resolver:
function post(root, args, context) {
return context.Post.find({ where: { id: args.id } })
.then(posts => posts[0])
}
If you're fetching data from another API, this is frequently the only option. On the other hand, if you're using an ORM, there's often a different method that you can use (like findOne) that will explicitly return only a single row from the DB (or null if it doesn't exist).
function post(root, args, context) {
return context.Post.findOne({ where: { id: args.id } })
}
A special note on INSERT and UPDATE calls: We often expect methods that insert or update a row or model instance to return the inserted or updated row. Often they do, but some methods don't. For example, sequelize's upsert method resolves to a boolean, or tuple of the the upserted record and a boolean (if the returning option is set to true). mongoose's findOneAndUpdate resolves to an object with a value property that contains the modified row. Consult your ORM's documentation and parse the result appropriately before returning it inside your resolver.
Common Scenario #3: Object Instead of Array
In our schema, the posts field's type is a List of Posts, which means its resolver needs to return an Array of objects (or a Promise that resolves to one). We might fetch the posts like this:
function posts (root, args) {
return fetch('http://SOME_URL/posts')
.then(res => res.json())
}
However, the actual response from our API might be an object that wraps the the array of posts:
{
"count": 10,
"next": "http://SOME_URL/posts/?page=2",
"previous": null,
"results": [
{
"id": 1,
"title": "My First Post",
"body" "Hello World!"
},
...
]
}
We can't return this object in our resolver because GraphQL is expecting an Array. If we do, the field will resolve to null and we'll see an error included in our response like:
Expected Iterable, but did not find one for field Query.posts.
Unlike the two scenarios above, in this case GraphQL is able to explicitly check the type of the value we return in our resolver and will throw if it's not an Iterable like an Array.
Like we discussed in the first scenario, in order to fix this error, we have to transform the response into the appropriate shape, for example:
function posts (root, args) {
return fetch('http://SOME_URL/posts')
.then(res => res.json())
.then(data => data.results)
}
Not Using Promises Correctly
GraphQL.js makes use of the Promise API under the hood. As such, a resolver can return some value (like { id: 1, title: 'Hello!' }) or it can return a Promise that will resolve to that value. For fields that have a List type, you may also return an array of Promises. If a Promise rejects, that field will return null and the appropriate error will be added to the errors array in the response. If a field has an Object type, the value the Promise resolves to is what will be passed down as the parent value to the resolvers of any child fields.
A Promise is an "object represents the eventual completion (or failure) of an asynchronous operation, and its resulting value." The next few scenarios outline some common pitfalls encountered when dealing with Promises inside resolvers. However, if you're not familiar with Promises and the newer async/await syntax, it's highly recommended you spend some time reading up on the fundamentals.
Note: the next few examples refer to a getPost function. The implementation details of this function are not important -- it's just a function that returns a Promise, which will resolve to a post object.
Common Scenario #4: Not Returning a Value
A working resolver for the post field might looks like this:
function post(root, args) {
return getPost(args.id)
}
getPosts returns a Promise and we're returning that Promise. Whatever that Promise resolves to will become the value our field resolves to. Looking good!
But what happens if we do this:
function post(root, args) {
getPost(args.id)
}
We're still creating a Promise that will resolve to a post. However, we're not returning the Promise, so GraphQL is not aware of it and it will not wait for it to resolve. In JavaScript functions without an explicit return statement implicitly return undefined. So our function creates a Promise and then immediately returns undefined, causing GraphQL to return null for the field.
If the Promise returned by getPost rejects, we won't see any error listed in our response either -- because we didn't return the Promise, the underlying code doesn't care about whether it resolves or rejects. In fact, if the Promise rejects, you'll see an
UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning in your server console.
Fixing this issue is simple -- just add the return.
Common Scenario #5: Not chaining Promises correctly
You decide to log the result of your call to getPost, so you change your resolver to look something like this:
function post(root, args) {
return getPost(args.id)
.then(post => {
console.log(post)
})
}
When you run your query, you see the result logged in your console, but GraphQL resolves the field to null. Why?
When we call then on a Promise, we're effectively taking the value the Promise resolved to and returning a new Promise. You can think of it kind of like Array.map except for Promises. then can return a value, or another Promise. In either case, what's returned inside of then is "chained" onto the original Promise. Multiple Promises can be chained together like this by using multiple thens. Each Promise in the chain is resolved in sequence, and the final value is what's effectively resolved as the value of the original Promise.
In our example above, we returned nothing inside of the then, so the Promise resolved to undefined, which GraphQL converted to a null. To fix this, we have to return the posts:
function post(root, args) {
return getPost(args.id)
.then(post => {
console.log(post)
return post // <----
})
}
If you have multiple Promises you need to resolve inside your resolver, you have to chain them correctly by using then and returning the correct value. For example, if we need to call two other asynchronous functions (getFoo and getBar) before we can call getPost, we can do:
function post(root, args) {
return getFoo()
.then(foo => {
// Do something with foo
return getBar() // return next Promise in the chain
})
.then(bar => {
// Do something with bar
return getPost(args.id) // return next Promise in the chain
})
Pro tip: If you're struggling with correctly chaining Promises, you may find async/await syntax to be cleaner and easier to work with.
Common Scenario #6
Before Promises, the standard way to handle asynchronous code was to use callbacks, or functions that would be called once the asynchronous work was completed. We might, for example, call mongoose's findOne method like this:
function post(root, args) {
return Post.findOne({ where: { id: args.id } }, function (err, post) {
return post
})
The problem here is two-fold. One, a value that's returned inside a callback isn't used for anything (i.e. it's not passed to the underlying code in any way). Two, when we use a callback, Post.findOne doesn't return a Promise; it just returns undefined. In this example, our callback will be called, and if we log the value of post we'll see whatever was returned from the database. However, because we didn't use a Promise, GraphQL doesn't wait for this callback to complete -- it takes the return value (undefined) and uses that.
Most more popular libraries, including mongoose support Promises out of the box. Those that don't frequently have complimentary "wrapper" libraries that add this functionality. When working with GraphQL resolvers, you should avoid using methods that utilize a callback, and instead use ones that return Promises.
Pro tip: Libraries that support both callbacks and Promises frequently overload their functions in such a way that if a callback is not provided, the function will return a Promise. Check the library's documentation for details.
If you absolutely have to use a callback, you can also wrap the callback in a Promise:
function post(root, args) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
Post.findOne({ where: { id: args.id } }, function (err, post) {
if (err) {
reject(err)
} else {
resolve(post)
}
})
})
I had the same issue on Nest.js.
If you like to solve the issue. You can add {nullable: true} option to your #Query decorator.
Here's an example.
#Resolver(of => Team)
export class TeamResolver {
constructor(
private readonly teamService: TeamService,
private readonly memberService: MemberService,
) {}
#Query(returns => Team, { name: 'team', nullable: true })
#UseGuards(GqlAuthGuard)
async get(#Args('id') id: string) {
return this.teamService.findOne(id);
}
}
Then, you can return null object for query.
Coming from Flutter here.
I couldn't find any flutter related solution to this so since my search always brought me here, lemme just add it here.
The exact error was:
Failure performing sync query to AppSync:
[GraphQLResponse.Error{message='Cannot return null for non-nullable
type: 'AWSTimestamp' within parent
So, in my schema (on the AppSync console) I had this:
type TypeName {
id: ID!
...
_version: Int!
_deleted: Boolean
_lastChangedAt: AWSTimestamp!
createdAt: AWSDateTime!
updatedAt: AWSDateTime!
}
I got the error from the field _lastChangedAt as AWSTimestamp couldn't be null.
All I had to do was remove the null-check (!) from the field and it was resolved.
Now, I don't know the implications of this in the long run but I'll update this answer if necessary.
EDIT: The implication of this as I have found out is anything I do, amplify.push that change is reversed. Just go back to your appsync console and change it again while you test. So this isn't a sustainable solution but chatter I've picked up online suggests improvements are coming to amplify flutter very soon.
#Thomas Hennes got it spot on for me
The title field was resolved even though we didn't provide a resolver for it because the default resolver did the heavy lifting -- it saw there was a property named title on the Object the parent field (in this case post) resolved to and so it just resolved to that property's value. The id field resolved to null because the object we returned in our post resolver did not have an id property. The body field also resolved to null because of a typo -- we have a property called bod instead of body!
Pro tip: If bod is not a typo but what an API or database actually returns, we can always write a resolver for the body field to match our schema. For example: (parent) => parent.bod
One important thing to keep in mind is that in JavaScript, almost everything is an Object. So if the post field resolves to a String or a Number, the default resolver for each of the fields on the Post type will still try to find an appropriately named property on the parent object, inevitably fail and return null. If a field has an object type but you return something other than object in its resolver (like a String or an Array), you will not see any error about the type mismatch but the child fields for that field will inevitably resolve to null.
In case anyone has used apollo-server-express and getting null value.
// This will return values, as you expect.
const typeDefs = require('./schema');
const resolvers = require('./resolver');
const server = new ApolloServer({typeDefs,resolvers});
// This will return null, since ApolloServer constructor is not using correct properties.
const withDifferentVarNameSchema = require('./schema');
const withDifferentVarNameResolver= require('./resolver');
const server = new ApolloServer({withDifferentVarNameSchema,withDifferentVarNameResolver});
Note: While creating an instance of Apolloserver pass the typeDefs and resolvers var name only.
If none of the above helped, and you have a global interceptor that envelopes all the responses for example inside a "data" field, you must disable this for graphql other wise graphql resolvers convert to null.
This is what I did to the interceptor on my case:
intercept(
context: ExecutionContext,
next: CallHandler,
): Observable<Response<T>> {
if (context['contextType'] === 'graphql') return next.handle();
return next
.handle()
.pipe(map(data => {
return {
data: isObject(data) ? this.transformResponse(data) : data
};
}));
}

return status code from graphql yoga

From graphql yoga, inside of my resolvers I check before resolver call, if this resolver is protected or not.
If resolver is protected, and user is not signed in I can throw an error like this:
return new Error('Token is missing');
This stops execution of the request and returns correct shape of message, with an error field.
{
"data": null,
"errors": [
{
"message": "Token is missing",
"locations": [
{
"line": 3,
"column": 3
}
],
"path": [
"users"
]
}
]
}
The response has status 200 though, which is not correct. I'd like to be able to choose my own status, like 403 for example.
Here is my current implementation of resolvers:
const withAuth = authed => (_, args, context, ...rest) => {
if (!context.token) {
return new Error('Token is missing');
}
let result = null;
try {
result = jwt.verify(context.token, process.env.HASH);
} catch (__) {
return new Error('Incorrect token');
}
const { username, email } = result;
if (!username || !email) {
return new Error('Incorrect token');
}
return authed(_, args, { ...context, user: { username, email } }, ...rest);
};
const resolvers = {
Query: {
users: withAuth(resolver(User)), //get users from db
}
I would add a before request middleware in express, but there is no way of telling, which query is being called, as all calls are done to the same endpoint.
Any input will be appreciated!
As per graphql specification, endpoint should always return status 200:
http://facebook.github.io/graphql/October2016/#sec-Errors
The errors entry in the response is a non‐empty list of errors, where
each error is a map.
If no errors were encountered during the requested operation, the
errors entry should not be present in the result.
Every error must contain an entry with the key message with a string
description of the error intended for the developer as a guide to
understand and correct the error.
If an error can be associated to a particular point in the requested
GraphQL document, it should contain an entry with the key locations
with a list of locations, where each location is a map with the keys
line and column, both positive numbers starting from 1 which describe
the beginning of an associated syntax element.
GraphQL servers may provide additional entries to error as they choose
to produce more helpful or machine‐readable errors, however future
versions of the spec may describe additional entries to errors.
If the data entry in the response is null or not present, the errors
entry in the response must not be empty. It must contain at least one
error. The errors it contains should indicate why no data was able to
be returned.
If the data entry in the response is not null, the errors entry in the
response may contain any errors that occurred during execution. If
errors occurred during execution, it should contain those errors.

grapqhql does not return null on null object [duplicate]

I have an graphql/apollo-server/graphql-yoga endpoint. This endpoint exposes data returned from a database (or a REST endpoint or some other service).
I know my data source is returning the correct data -- if I log the result of the call to the data source inside my resolver, I can see the data being returned. However, my GraphQL field(s) always resolve to null.
If I make the field non-null, I see the following error inside the errors array in the response:
Cannot return null for non-nullable field
Why is GraphQL not returning the data?
There's two common reasons your field or fields are resolving to null: 1) returning data in the wrong shape inside your resolver; and 2) not using Promises correctly.
Note: if you're seeing the following error:
Cannot return null for non-nullable field
the underlying issue is that your field is returning null. You can still follow the steps outlined below to try to resolve this error.
The following examples will refer to this simple schema:
type Query {
post(id: ID): Post
posts: [Post]
}
type Post {
id: ID
title: String
body: String
}
Returning data in the wrong shape
Our schema, along with the requested query, defines the "shape" of the data object in the response returned by our endpoint. By shape, we mean what properties objects have, and whether those properties' values' are scalar values, other objects, or arrays of objects or scalars.
In the same way a schema defines the shape of the total response, the type of an individual field defines the shape of that field's value. The shape of the data we return in our resolver must likewise match this expected shape. When it doesn't, we frequently end up with unexpected nulls in our response.
Before we dive into specific examples, though, it's important to grasp how GraphQL resolves fields.
Understanding default resolver behavior
While you certainly can write a resolver for every field in your schema, it's often not necessary because GraphQL.js uses a default resolver when you don't provide one.
At a high level, what the default resolver does is simple: it looks at the value the parent field resolved to and if that value is a JavaScript object, it looks for a property on that Object with the same name as the field being resolved. If it finds that property, it resolves to the value of that property. Otherwise, it resolves to null.
Let's say in our resolver for the post field, we return the value { title: 'My First Post', bod: 'Hello World!' }. If we don't write resolvers for any of the fields on the Post type, we can still request the post:
query {
post {
id
title
body
}
}
and our response will be
{
"data": {
"post" {
"id": null,
"title": "My First Post",
"body": null,
}
}
}
The title field was resolved even though we didn't provide a resolver for it because the default resolver did the heavy lifting -- it saw there was a property named title on the Object the parent field (in this case post) resolved to and so it just resolved to that property's value. The id field resolved to null because the object we returned in our post resolver did not have an id property. The body field also resolved to null because of a typo -- we have a property called bod instead of body!
Pro tip: If bod is not a typo but what an API or database actually returns, we can always write a resolver for the body field to match our schema. For example: (parent) => parent.bod
One important thing to keep in mind is that in JavaScript, almost everything is an Object. So if the post field resolves to a String or a Number, the default resolver for each of the fields on the Post type will still try to find an appropriately named property on the parent object, inevitably fail and return null. If a field has an object type but you return something other than object in its resolver (like a String or an Array), you will not see any error about the type mismatch but the child fields for that field will inevitably resolve to null.
Common Scenario #1: Wrapped Responses
If we're writing the resolver for the post query, we might fetch our code from some other endpoint, like this:
function post (root, args) {
// axios
return axios.get(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.data);
// fetch
return fetch(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.json());
// request-promise-native
return request({
uri: `http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`,
json: true
});
}
The post field has the type Post, so our resolver should return an object with properties like id, title and body. If this is what our API returns, we're all set. However, it's common for the response to actually be an object which contains additional metadata. So the object we actually get back from the endpoint might look something like this:
{
"status": 200,
"result": {
"id": 1,
"title": "My First Post",
"body": "Hello world!"
},
}
In this case, we can't just return the response as-is and expect the default resolver to work correctly, since the object we're returning doesn't have the id , title and body properties we need. Our resolver isn't needs to do something like:
function post (root, args) {
// axios
return axios.get(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.data.result);
// fetch
return fetch(`http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`)
.then(res => res.json())
.then(data => data.result);
// request-promise-native
return request({
uri: `http://SOME_URL/posts/${args.id}`,
json: true
})
.then(res => res.result);
}
Note: The above example fetches data from another endpoint; however, this sort of wrapped response is also very common when using a database driver directly (as opposed to using an ORM)! For example, if you're using node-postgres, you'll get a Result object that includes properties like rows, fields, rowCount and command. You'll need to extract the appropriate data from this response before returning it inside your resolver.
Common Scenario #2: Array Instead of Object
What if we fetch a post from the database, our resolver might look something like this:
function post(root, args, context) {
return context.Post.find({ where: { id: args.id } })
}
where Post is some model we're injecting through the context. If we're using sequelize, we might call findAll. mongoose and typeorm have find. What these methods have in common is that while they allow us to specify a WHERE condition, the Promises they return still resolve to an array instead of a single object. While there's probably only one post in your database with a particular ID, it's still wrapped in an array when you call one of these methods. Because an Array is still an Object, GraphQL will not resolve the post field as null. But it will resolve all of the child fields as null because it won't be able to find the appropriately named properties on the array.
You can easily fix this scenario by just grabbing the first item in the array and returning that in your resolver:
function post(root, args, context) {
return context.Post.find({ where: { id: args.id } })
.then(posts => posts[0])
}
If you're fetching data from another API, this is frequently the only option. On the other hand, if you're using an ORM, there's often a different method that you can use (like findOne) that will explicitly return only a single row from the DB (or null if it doesn't exist).
function post(root, args, context) {
return context.Post.findOne({ where: { id: args.id } })
}
A special note on INSERT and UPDATE calls: We often expect methods that insert or update a row or model instance to return the inserted or updated row. Often they do, but some methods don't. For example, sequelize's upsert method resolves to a boolean, or tuple of the the upserted record and a boolean (if the returning option is set to true). mongoose's findOneAndUpdate resolves to an object with a value property that contains the modified row. Consult your ORM's documentation and parse the result appropriately before returning it inside your resolver.
Common Scenario #3: Object Instead of Array
In our schema, the posts field's type is a List of Posts, which means its resolver needs to return an Array of objects (or a Promise that resolves to one). We might fetch the posts like this:
function posts (root, args) {
return fetch('http://SOME_URL/posts')
.then(res => res.json())
}
However, the actual response from our API might be an object that wraps the the array of posts:
{
"count": 10,
"next": "http://SOME_URL/posts/?page=2",
"previous": null,
"results": [
{
"id": 1,
"title": "My First Post",
"body" "Hello World!"
},
...
]
}
We can't return this object in our resolver because GraphQL is expecting an Array. If we do, the field will resolve to null and we'll see an error included in our response like:
Expected Iterable, but did not find one for field Query.posts.
Unlike the two scenarios above, in this case GraphQL is able to explicitly check the type of the value we return in our resolver and will throw if it's not an Iterable like an Array.
Like we discussed in the first scenario, in order to fix this error, we have to transform the response into the appropriate shape, for example:
function posts (root, args) {
return fetch('http://SOME_URL/posts')
.then(res => res.json())
.then(data => data.results)
}
Not Using Promises Correctly
GraphQL.js makes use of the Promise API under the hood. As such, a resolver can return some value (like { id: 1, title: 'Hello!' }) or it can return a Promise that will resolve to that value. For fields that have a List type, you may also return an array of Promises. If a Promise rejects, that field will return null and the appropriate error will be added to the errors array in the response. If a field has an Object type, the value the Promise resolves to is what will be passed down as the parent value to the resolvers of any child fields.
A Promise is an "object represents the eventual completion (or failure) of an asynchronous operation, and its resulting value." The next few scenarios outline some common pitfalls encountered when dealing with Promises inside resolvers. However, if you're not familiar with Promises and the newer async/await syntax, it's highly recommended you spend some time reading up on the fundamentals.
Note: the next few examples refer to a getPost function. The implementation details of this function are not important -- it's just a function that returns a Promise, which will resolve to a post object.
Common Scenario #4: Not Returning a Value
A working resolver for the post field might looks like this:
function post(root, args) {
return getPost(args.id)
}
getPosts returns a Promise and we're returning that Promise. Whatever that Promise resolves to will become the value our field resolves to. Looking good!
But what happens if we do this:
function post(root, args) {
getPost(args.id)
}
We're still creating a Promise that will resolve to a post. However, we're not returning the Promise, so GraphQL is not aware of it and it will not wait for it to resolve. In JavaScript functions without an explicit return statement implicitly return undefined. So our function creates a Promise and then immediately returns undefined, causing GraphQL to return null for the field.
If the Promise returned by getPost rejects, we won't see any error listed in our response either -- because we didn't return the Promise, the underlying code doesn't care about whether it resolves or rejects. In fact, if the Promise rejects, you'll see an
UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning in your server console.
Fixing this issue is simple -- just add the return.
Common Scenario #5: Not chaining Promises correctly
You decide to log the result of your call to getPost, so you change your resolver to look something like this:
function post(root, args) {
return getPost(args.id)
.then(post => {
console.log(post)
})
}
When you run your query, you see the result logged in your console, but GraphQL resolves the field to null. Why?
When we call then on a Promise, we're effectively taking the value the Promise resolved to and returning a new Promise. You can think of it kind of like Array.map except for Promises. then can return a value, or another Promise. In either case, what's returned inside of then is "chained" onto the original Promise. Multiple Promises can be chained together like this by using multiple thens. Each Promise in the chain is resolved in sequence, and the final value is what's effectively resolved as the value of the original Promise.
In our example above, we returned nothing inside of the then, so the Promise resolved to undefined, which GraphQL converted to a null. To fix this, we have to return the posts:
function post(root, args) {
return getPost(args.id)
.then(post => {
console.log(post)
return post // <----
})
}
If you have multiple Promises you need to resolve inside your resolver, you have to chain them correctly by using then and returning the correct value. For example, if we need to call two other asynchronous functions (getFoo and getBar) before we can call getPost, we can do:
function post(root, args) {
return getFoo()
.then(foo => {
// Do something with foo
return getBar() // return next Promise in the chain
})
.then(bar => {
// Do something with bar
return getPost(args.id) // return next Promise in the chain
})
Pro tip: If you're struggling with correctly chaining Promises, you may find async/await syntax to be cleaner and easier to work with.
Common Scenario #6
Before Promises, the standard way to handle asynchronous code was to use callbacks, or functions that would be called once the asynchronous work was completed. We might, for example, call mongoose's findOne method like this:
function post(root, args) {
return Post.findOne({ where: { id: args.id } }, function (err, post) {
return post
})
The problem here is two-fold. One, a value that's returned inside a callback isn't used for anything (i.e. it's not passed to the underlying code in any way). Two, when we use a callback, Post.findOne doesn't return a Promise; it just returns undefined. In this example, our callback will be called, and if we log the value of post we'll see whatever was returned from the database. However, because we didn't use a Promise, GraphQL doesn't wait for this callback to complete -- it takes the return value (undefined) and uses that.
Most more popular libraries, including mongoose support Promises out of the box. Those that don't frequently have complimentary "wrapper" libraries that add this functionality. When working with GraphQL resolvers, you should avoid using methods that utilize a callback, and instead use ones that return Promises.
Pro tip: Libraries that support both callbacks and Promises frequently overload their functions in such a way that if a callback is not provided, the function will return a Promise. Check the library's documentation for details.
If you absolutely have to use a callback, you can also wrap the callback in a Promise:
function post(root, args) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
Post.findOne({ where: { id: args.id } }, function (err, post) {
if (err) {
reject(err)
} else {
resolve(post)
}
})
})
I had the same issue on Nest.js.
If you like to solve the issue. You can add {nullable: true} option to your #Query decorator.
Here's an example.
#Resolver(of => Team)
export class TeamResolver {
constructor(
private readonly teamService: TeamService,
private readonly memberService: MemberService,
) {}
#Query(returns => Team, { name: 'team', nullable: true })
#UseGuards(GqlAuthGuard)
async get(#Args('id') id: string) {
return this.teamService.findOne(id);
}
}
Then, you can return null object for query.
Coming from Flutter here.
I couldn't find any flutter related solution to this so since my search always brought me here, lemme just add it here.
The exact error was:
Failure performing sync query to AppSync:
[GraphQLResponse.Error{message='Cannot return null for non-nullable
type: 'AWSTimestamp' within parent
So, in my schema (on the AppSync console) I had this:
type TypeName {
id: ID!
...
_version: Int!
_deleted: Boolean
_lastChangedAt: AWSTimestamp!
createdAt: AWSDateTime!
updatedAt: AWSDateTime!
}
I got the error from the field _lastChangedAt as AWSTimestamp couldn't be null.
All I had to do was remove the null-check (!) from the field and it was resolved.
Now, I don't know the implications of this in the long run but I'll update this answer if necessary.
EDIT: The implication of this as I have found out is anything I do, amplify.push that change is reversed. Just go back to your appsync console and change it again while you test. So this isn't a sustainable solution but chatter I've picked up online suggests improvements are coming to amplify flutter very soon.
#Thomas Hennes got it spot on for me
The title field was resolved even though we didn't provide a resolver for it because the default resolver did the heavy lifting -- it saw there was a property named title on the Object the parent field (in this case post) resolved to and so it just resolved to that property's value. The id field resolved to null because the object we returned in our post resolver did not have an id property. The body field also resolved to null because of a typo -- we have a property called bod instead of body!
Pro tip: If bod is not a typo but what an API or database actually returns, we can always write a resolver for the body field to match our schema. For example: (parent) => parent.bod
One important thing to keep in mind is that in JavaScript, almost everything is an Object. So if the post field resolves to a String or a Number, the default resolver for each of the fields on the Post type will still try to find an appropriately named property on the parent object, inevitably fail and return null. If a field has an object type but you return something other than object in its resolver (like a String or an Array), you will not see any error about the type mismatch but the child fields for that field will inevitably resolve to null.
In case anyone has used apollo-server-express and getting null value.
// This will return values, as you expect.
const typeDefs = require('./schema');
const resolvers = require('./resolver');
const server = new ApolloServer({typeDefs,resolvers});
// This will return null, since ApolloServer constructor is not using correct properties.
const withDifferentVarNameSchema = require('./schema');
const withDifferentVarNameResolver= require('./resolver');
const server = new ApolloServer({withDifferentVarNameSchema,withDifferentVarNameResolver});
Note: While creating an instance of Apolloserver pass the typeDefs and resolvers var name only.
If none of the above helped, and you have a global interceptor that envelopes all the responses for example inside a "data" field, you must disable this for graphql other wise graphql resolvers convert to null.
This is what I did to the interceptor on my case:
intercept(
context: ExecutionContext,
next: CallHandler,
): Observable<Response<T>> {
if (context['contextType'] === 'graphql') return next.handle();
return next
.handle()
.pipe(map(data => {
return {
data: isObject(data) ? this.transformResponse(data) : data
};
}));
}

Where does the response get stored after a Dojo JSONP request?

JavaScript
For example, I have the following JavaScript code (Dojo 1.6 is already loaded):
dojo.require("dojo.io.script")
// PART I
var jsonpArgs = {
url: "http://myapp.appspot.com/query",
content: {
id: "1234",
name: "Juan",
start_date: "2000-01-01",
callback: "recover"
}
};
// PART II
dojo.io.script.get(jsonpArgs).then(function(data) {
console.log(data);
});
// PART III
function recover(data) {
console.log(data);
}
Direct query from browser
I understand that my server will receive the query as though I typed the following into the address bar:
http://myapp.appspot.com/query?id=1234&name=Juan&start_date=2000-01-01&callback=recover
Expected response
If I directly queried my server using the browser address bar, I'll receive, in MIME type application/json and plaintext rendered in browser, something like this:
recover(
{
id: 1234,
name: Juan,
data: [
["2000-01-01", 1234],
["2000-01-02", 5678]
]
}
);
Problem
Now, looking back at Part II of the JavaScript, I'd execute the JSONP request with dojo.io.script.get(jsonpArgs). This returns a Deferred object, which I can take advantage of by chaining .then after it. Note that I defined the handler for the .then event to output that captured data to the console.
However, all I get in the console is an Event. I tried to search its data tree, but I could not find the data I expected.
Question
Where is the response for a JSONP request stored? How do I find it?
My server (which I control) only outputs a plaintext rendering of the data requested, wrapped in the callback function (here specified as recover), and specifies a application/json MIME type. Is there anything else I need to set up on my server, so that the response data is captured by the Deferred object?
Attempted solution
I can actually recover the response by defining the callback function (in this case recover in Part III of the JavaScript). However, in the Dojo tutorials, they just recovered the data using the Deferred (and .then) framework. How do I do it using Dojo Deferreds?
Update (using the Twitter example from Dojo tutorial)
Take for example this script from the Dojo tutorial, Getting Jiggy With JSONP. I edited it to log data to the console.
dojo.require("dojo.io.script");
dojo.io.script.get({
url: "http://search.twitter.com/search.json",
callbackParamName: "callback",
content: {q: "#dojo"}
}).then(function(data){
//we're only interested in data.results, so strip it off and return it
console.log(data); // I get an Object, not an Event, but no Twitter data when browsing the results property
console.log(data.results) // I get an array of Objects
return data.results;
});
For console.log(data), I get an Object, not an Event as illustrated by my case. Since the example implies that the data resides in data.results, I also try to browse this tree, but I don't see my expected data from Twitter. I'm at a loss.
For console.log(data.results), I get an array of Objects. If I query Twitter directly, this is what I'd get in plaintext. Each Object contains the usual tweet meta-data like username, time, user portrait, and the tweet itself. Easy enough.
This one hits me right on the head. The handler for the .then chain, an anonymous function, receives only one argument data. But why is it that the results property in console.log(data) and the returned object I get from console.log(data.results) are different?
I got it.
Manual callback implementation
function recover(data) {
console.log(data);
}
var jsonpArgs = {
url: "http://myapp.appspot.com/query",
content: {
id: "1234",
name: "Juan",
start_date: "2000-01-01",
callback: "recover"
};
dojo.io.script.get(jsonpArgs);
This is the request that my server will receive:
http://myapp.appspot.com/query?id=1234&name=Juan&start_date=2000-01-01&callback=recover
In this case, I'll expect the following output from my server:
recover({
id: 1234,
name: Juan,
data: [
["2000-01-01", 1234],
["2000-01-02", 5678]
]
});
Three things to note:
Server will expect callback in the query URL string. callback is implemented as a property of jsonpArgs.
Because I specified callback=recover, my server will attach recover( + the_data_I_need + ), returns the whole string to the browser, and browser will execute recover(the_data_I_need). This means...
That I'll have to define, for example, function recover(one_argument_only) {doAnythingYouWantWith(one_argument_only)}
The problem with this approach is that I cannot take advantage of Deferred chaining using .then. For example:
dojo.io.script.get(jsonpArgs).then(function(response_from_server) {
console.log(response_from_server);
})
This will give me an Event, with no trace of the expected response at all.
Taking advantage of Dojo's implementation of JSONP requests
var jsonpArgs = {
url: "http://myapp.appspot.com/query",
callbackParamName: "callback",
content: {
id: "1234",
name: "Juan",
start_date: "2000-01-01"
};
dojo.io.script.get(jsonpArgs);
This is the request that my server will receive:
http://myapp.appspot.com/query?id=1234&name=Juan&start_date=2000-01-01&callback=some_function_name_generated_by_dojo
In this case, I'll expect the following output from my server:
some_function_name_generated_by_dojo({
id: 1234,
name: Juan,
data: [
["2000-01-01", 1234],
["2000-01-02", 5678]
]
});
Things to note:
Note the property of jsonpArgs, callbackParamName. The value of this property must be the name of the variable (in the query URL string) expected by the server. If my server expects callbackfoo, then callbackParamName: "callbackfoo". In my case, my server expects the name callback, therefore callbackParamName: "callback".
In the previous example, I specified in the query URL callback=recover and proceeded to implement function recover(...) {...}. This time, I do not need to worry about it. Dojo will insert its own preferred function callback=some_function_name_generated_by_dojo.
I imagine some_function_name_generated_by_dojo to be defined as:
Definition:
function some_function_name_generated_by_dojo(response_from_server) {
return response_from_server;
}
Of course the definition is not that simple, but the advantage of this approach is that I can take advantage of Dojo's Deferred framework. See the code below, which is identical to the previous example:
dojo.io.script.get(jsonpArgs).then(function(response_from_server) {
console.log(response_from_server);
})
This will give me the exact data I need:
{
id: 1234,
name: Juan,
data: [
["2000-01-01", 1234],
["2000-01-02", 5678]
]
}