Graphql is an awesome new technology which is making it easier for clientside developers to iterate quickly and batch together network requests. I really like the promise provided by GraphQl however it is not as easyas rest to get up and running on immediately. This blog post takes a lookat how to build a working GraphQL backend in just a few steps using rails. I am using my own project as a framework for building out the GraphQL backend. graphql-api We will look at building a basic blogging application. A blog will havean author and some tags. First create the rails backend. rails new blog-api --api Add the necessary libraries to the Gemfile gem 'graphql'gem 'graphql-api' Create our models rails g model Author name:stringrails g model Blog title:string content:text author:referencesrails db:migrate Add our has many relations to author class class Authorhas_many :blogsend Great! Now we have a basic setup for our blogging backend. Let's add somecontrollers to serve basic Graphql queries. Add the following file to . app/controllers/graphql_controller.rb class GraphqlController < ApplicationControllerSCHEMA = GraphQL::Api::Schema.new.schema def createrender json: SCHEMA.execute(params[:query],variables: params[:variables] || {},)end end Add the following route to config/routes.rb resources :graphql, only: :create Now let's test out the new api with curl. Start up the server and run thefollowing command to see if we have any blog posts curl -XPOST -d 'query=query { blogs { id } }' \localhost:3000/graphql {"data":{"blogs":[]}} Let's create an author curl -XPOST \-d 'query=mutation {createAuthor(input: {name: "foobar"}) {author { id }}}' localhost:3000/graphql {"data":{"createAuthor":{"author":{"id":1}}}} Now let's create a blog with that author's id curl -XPOST \-d 'query=mutation {createBlog(input: {title: "foobar", author_id: 1}) {blog { id }}}' localhost:3000/graphql {"data":{"createBlog":{"blog":{"id":1}}}} Let’s try that first query again, but this time let’s try and return the blog authors as well as the blog name. curl -XPOST -d 'query=query {blogs {idtitlecontentauthor {name}}}' localhost:3000/graphql You can also run mutations as well as mutations. Try deleting an author or blog and see what responses you get back. updateBlog updateAuthor is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories
