best practice using web api with graphql

Question

a little bit naive question but right now I want to create a web api to be more flexible I just read about gqphql , is it a good practice to accept a query string and return a string containing the result

any example using web api and graphql , I know I can secure queries with something like jws but am speaking about the idea and best practice

Answer 1

I am a contributor of Hot Chocolate.

In order to get GraphQL running side by side with Web API just add the following package to your project:

HotChocolate.AspNetCore

Then in the ConfigureService method of your startup add the following:

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.AddGraphQL(Schema.Create(c =>
    {
        c.RegisterQueryType<Query>();
    }));
}

In the configure section just add UseGraphQL

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
{
    if (env.IsDevelopment())
    {
        app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
    }

    app.UseGraphQL();
}

GraphQL is then just another middleware that is side by side to your web api middleware.

If you are using .Net Framework instead of .Net Core then you have to use

HotChocolate.AspNetClassic

We have a StarWars example for .Net Core and .Net Framework here: https://github.com/ChilliCream/hotchocolate/tree/master/examples

And you can find the documentation here: https://hotchocolate.io

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I have not tried this myself but from what I have read a lot of users have used graphql-dotnet. It also has a good getting started guide.

http://graphql-dotnet.github.io/graphql-dotnet/getting-started

https://github.com/graphql-dotnet/graphql-dotnet

It is based on Facebooks graphql

https://github.com/facebook/graphql

To learn more about graphql and what it is:

http://graphql.org/learn/