Dotnet core GraphQL with postgres

Lets create a GraphQL application in dotnet core 3.1 using HotChoclate.

Creating a new web api project

dotnet new web -n GraphApi

This package mostly handles all the aspects of Graphql. Also important factor for choosing this library is it passes all the kitchen sink test, more details here

dotnet add package HotChocolate.AspNetCore --version 10.5.3

Adding GraphQL playground IDE for easing our development.

dotnet add package HotChocolate.AspNetCore.Playground --version 10.5.3

One last dependency is the the postgres efcore

dotnet add package Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL --version 3.1.4

The Pi version 😄.

Lets set thing in Startup.cs now where all the middleware is registered.

services.AddScoped<DummyService>();

services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
	options.UseNpgsql("User Id=username; Password=password; Server=dbname.host.com; Port=7530 ; Database=dbname; Ssl Mode=Require; Server Compatibility Mode=Redshift",
	builder => builder.ProvideClientCertificatesCallback(cert =>
	{
		cert.Add(
			new System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate("./Cert/cert.pem")
			);
	}
)));

The first class registered is something that we will create later.

Add the above in ConfigureServices method. Ignore the Ssl Mode=Require; Server Compatibility Mode=Redshift part in the connection string and the builder action, if you are not using SSL connection.

If using SSL connection note the Server Compatibility Mode=Redshift this is something you might get stuck with no much details on the error message. You will some error message like this one Unsupported startup parameter: extra_float_digits. More details on this official documentation.

services.AddGraphQL(s => SchemaBuilder.New()
                                    .AddServices(s)
                                    .AddType<DummyType>()
                                    .AddQueryType<Query>()
                                    .Create());

This is mostly all the HotChocolate registration where you are giving HotChocolate the details required to create schema, types and queries.

Now inside Configure method we will use the registered,

if (env.IsDevelopment())
{
	app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
	app.UsePlayground();
}

app.UseGraphQL("");

You business model will have a partnering model which is used to expose only the fields you want to the graphql queries as follows,

public class Dummy
{
	public long Id { get; set; }
	public string DummyProperty { get; set; }
}

public class DummyType : ObjectType<Quote>
{
	protected override void Configure(IObjectTypeDescriptor<Quote> descriptor)
	{
		descriptor.Field(x => x.DummyProperty).Type<StringType>();
	}

}

We have exposed only one property for pur business model Dummy. This represets the Type part of the Graphql. For the query node we will create a new class Query

public class Query
{
	private readonly DummyService _dummyService;

	public Query(DummyService dummyService)
	{
		_dummyService = dummyService;
	}

	public IQueryable<Dummy> DummyList => _dummyService.GetSomeData();

}

DummyService is just an abstraction for the efcore repository layer you can also inject DbContext directly if required.

The Efcore is something which is explained in here before so just paste code and skip to running the app part.

public class RepositoryContext : DbContext
{
	public DbSet<Dummy> DummyDbSet { get; set; }

	public ApplicationDbContext(DbContextOptions<RepositoryContext> options)
			: base(options)
	{
	}

	protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
	{
		modelBuilder.Entity<Dummy>(entity =>
		{
			entity.ToTable("tablename");

			entity.Property(x => x.Id).HasColumnName("Id");
			entity.Property(x => x.QuoteNumber).HasColumnName("Column1");

			entity.HasKey(x=>x.Id);
		});
	}
}

public class DummyService
{
	private readonly RepositoryContext _dbContext;

	public IQueryable<Dummy> GetSomeData() =>
			_dbContext.DummyDbSet;

	public DummyService(RepositoryContext dbContext)
	{
		_dbContext = dbContext;
	}
}

We are all set once we run this application we go to http:\\localhost:5000\playground, which opens up the GraphQL IDE.

run this query and it will list all the data.

dummyList{
	id
}

Enabling paging is as easy as adding this attribute in Query.

[UsePaging(SchemaType = typeof(QuoteType))]
public IQueryable<Dummy> DummyList => _dummyService.GetSomeData();

Explore away!

Photo by Praewthida K