drminnaar / graphql-dotnet-series

A collection of examples demonstrating how to build a GraphQL API using .NET

 

Graphql For .NET

 

A collection of examples demonstrating how to build a GraphQL API using .NET

 

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Key Takeaways

 

• Project Overview
• Learn how to build a .NET 6 GraphQL API from scratch
• Learn how to define GraphQL queries, and mutations
• Learn how to provide validation and error handling
• Add EntityFramework support both in-memory and SQLite database
• Add support for query projection, filtering, sorting, and paging
• Provision Azure App Service using Azure CLI, Azure, Powershell, and Azure Bicep

 

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Project Overview

 

• This project explores how to build and deploy a GraphQL API in a number of easy to follow examples.
• Each example introduces a new concept that is clear, small, and easy to understand
• All examples are built using .NET 6 (LTS) and ChilliCream Hot Chocolate (Open-Source GraphQL Server for Microsoft .NET platform)
• The GraphQL API is deployed to Azure App Service
• The project demonstrates how to provision an Azure App Service using Azure CLI, Azure Powershell, and Azure Bicep

 

All examples are based on a fictitious company called MyView, that provides a service to view games and game ratings. It also allows reviewers to post and delete game reviews. Therefore, in the examples that follow, I demonstrate how to build a GraphQL API that provides the following capabilities:

 

• List games
• List games with associated reviews
• Find a game by id
• Post a game review
• Delete a game review

 

The details of the provided examples are as follows:

 

• 📘 Example 1  
  • Create empty API project
  • Add GraphQL Server support through the use of the ChilliCream Hot Chocolate nuget package
  • Create a games query
  • Create a games mutation
  • Add metadata to support schema documentation

 

• 📘 Example 2  
  • Add global error handling
  • Add input validation

 

• 📘 Example 3  
  • Add EntityFramework support with an in-memory database
  • Add support for query filtering, sorting, and paging
  • Add projection support
  • Add query type extensions to allow splitting queries into multiple classes

 

• 📘 Example 4  
  • Change project to use SQlite instead of an in-memory database

 

Lastly, I provide the instructions on how to provision an Azure App Service and deploy the GraphQL API to it. The details are as follows:

 

• Provision Azure App Service using Azure CLI
• Provision Azure App Service using Azure Powershell
• Provision Azure App Service using Azure Bicep
• Deploy GraphQL API

 

📘 Find all the infrastructure as code here

 

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Required Setup and Tools

 

It is recommended that the following tools and frameworks are installed before trying to run the examples:

 

• .NET 6 SDK

  All code in this example is developed with C# 10 using the latest cross-platform .NET 6 framework.

  See the .NET 6 SDK official website for details on how to download and setup for your development environment.  

• Visual Studio Code

  Find more information on Visual Studio Code with relevant C# and .NET extensions.  

• Bicep Installation and Docs

  Everything you need to install and configure your windows, linux, and macos environment  

• Official Bicep Visual Studio Extension

  Provides Bicep language support  

• JQ

  jq is a lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor  

• Azure Tools

  A package of all the Visual Studio Code extensions that you will need to work with Azure  

• Azure CLI Tools

  Tools for developing and running commands of the Azure CLI

 

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Additional Learning Resources

 

I have provided a number of examples that show how to build a GraphQL Server using ChilliCream Hot Chocolate GraphQL Server. If you would like to learn more, please view the following learning resources:

 

• Official Getting Started Documentation
• Official ChilliCream Hot Chocolate Examples
• On.NET Show - Getting Started with HotChocolate
• Modern data APIs with EF Core and GraphQL
• Entity Framework Community Standup - Hot Chocolate 12 and GraphQL 2021
• GraphQL API with .NET 5 and Hot Chocolate (Still applicable to .NET 6)
• GraphQL in .NET with HotChocolate (Playlist)
• Azure Tips & Tricks - How to use GraphQL on Azure
• Hot Chocolate: GraphQL Schema Stitching with ASP.Net Core - Michael Staib - NDC London 2021

 

HotChocolate Templates

 

There are also a number of Hot Chocolate templates that can be installed using the dotnet CLI tool.

 

• Install HotChocolate Templates:  

  # install Hot Chocolate GraphQL server templates (includes Azure function template)
  dotnet new -i HotChocolate.Templates
  
  # install template that allows you to create a GraphQL Star Wars Demo
  dotnet new -i HotChocolate.Templates.StarWars
  

 

• List HotChocolate Templates  

  # list HotChocolate templates
  dotnet new --list HotChocolate
  

  
  Template Name                        Short Name   Language  Tags
  -----------------------------------  -----------  --------  ------------------------------
  HotChocolate GraphQL Function        graphql-azf  [C#]      Web/GraphQL/Azure
  HotChocolate GraphQL Server          graphql      [C#]      Web/GraphQL
  HotChocolate GraphQL Star Wars Demo  starwars     [C#]      ChilliCream/HotChocolate/Demos
  
  

 

• Create HotChocolate project using templates  

  # create ASP.NET GraphQL Server
  dotnet new graphql --name MyGraphQLDemo
  
  # create graphql server using Azure Function
  dotnet new graphql-azf --name MyGraphQLAzfDemo
  
  # create starwars GraphQL demo
  mkdir StarWars
  cd StarWars
  dotnet new starwars
  

 

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Versioning

 

I use SemVer for versioning. For the versions available, see the tags on this repository.

 

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Authors

 

• Douglas Minnaar - Initial work - drminnaar

 

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