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https://github.com/equalogic/typeorm-relations-graphql

Automatically join TypeORM relations based on fields selected in a GraphQL query.
https://github.com/equalogic/typeorm-relations-graphql

graphql typeorm

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Automatically join TypeORM relations based on fields selected in a GraphQL query.

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Automatically determine the entity relationships that must be `JOIN`ed in a TypeORM query to satisfy nested object

fields selected by a client in a GraphQL query.



Can be used as a potentially higher performance alternative to the [DataLoader pattern](https://github.com/graphql/dataloader).



---



## Installation



```

npm i typeorm-relations-graphql

```



This library is written in TypeScript, so type definitions are included in the box.



Your project must also install the following as peer dependencies (you should have them already):



- [typeorm](https://typeorm.io/) v0.3.x

- [graphql](https://www.npmjs.com/package/graphql) v14.x or higher



Note: typeorm v0.3.0 [changed](https://typeorm.io/changelog#030httpsgithubcomtypeormtypeormpull8616-2022-03-17) the way

relations and data sources work. If you are still using typeorm v0.2.x, please install

[typeorm-graphql-joiner@^1](https://github.com/equalogic/typeorm-relations-graphql/blob/1.x/README.md) and read the usage

instructions for that version.



---



## Introduction



When your GraphQL server is backed by TypeORM entities, you may have object relationships like the following example:



```

{

  // Product entity

  "product": {

    "id": "1234",

    "name": "Some product",

    // nested Owner entity

    "owner": {

      "id": "4321",

      "name": "Some owner"

    }

  }

}

```



Let's say `product` corresponds to a `Product` entity in TypeORM, and it has a

[many-to-one relationship](https://typeorm.io/#/many-to-one-one-to-many-relations) to an `Owner` entity defined on the

`product.owner` property. In your database, you have a table for each of these entities.



Now you want to expose `Product` as an object in your GraphQL schema with the same relationship. You could simply

resolve `product.owner` using a database query to fetch the related `Owner` object, but if you create a GraphQL resolver

that returns a list of _n_ products then your server will need to perform _n_ + 1 database queries to fully resolve it.

This problem multiplies exponentially as your schema grows more complex and you have levels of nested relationships.



**typeorm-relations-graphql** can help here by optimizing these relationships into SQL `JOIN`s. Instead of fetching the

`product` and then each `owner` individually, it enables you to fetch the `product` with all requested relationships

in a single database query by making use of TypeORM's `relations` [option](https://typeorm.io/#/find-options) on `find`

methods.



So in this simple example, instead of your resolvers producing this SQL:



```sql

SELECT * FROM product;

SELECT * FROM owner WHERE product_id = :x;

SELECT * FROM owner WHERE product_id = :y;

SELECT * FROM owner WHERE product_id = :z;

```



You can optimize it to:



```sql

SELECT * FROM product LEFT JOIN owner ON product.id = owner.product_id;

```



The value of this optimization increases as you have greater levels of nesting, of course.



You could join these relations manually (or eagerly) with TypeORM, but then you are likely to end up overfetching -

retrieving relations that were not requested by the client and producing SQL that is more expensive than necessary.

**typeorm-relations-graphql** only joins relations that were requested in the client's GQL query.



You could also use a [DataLoader](https://github.com/slaypni/type-graphql-dataloader) to batch requests, but this will

usually still result in more database queries than are produced by joining relations. Beware however that large joins

with many levels of nesting can be bad for performance, too, so you may need to mix approaches.



---



## Usage



First, create a `GraphRelationBuilder` instance, passing in a TypeORM `DataSource` object (which provides access to

entity metadata):



```ts

import { GraphRelationBuilder } from 'typeorm-relations-graphql';

import { dataSource } from './datasource';



const graphRelationBuilder = new GraphRelationBuilder(dataSource);

```



Inside a GraphQL query resolver (where you have a `GraphQLResolveInfo` object available) you can use

`GraphRelationBuilder` to determine the relations you need to join to fulfill the query.



The `build` and `buildForQuery` methods of `GraphRelationBuilder` return a `RelationMap` instance. This is a class

provided by the [typeorm-relations package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/typeorm-relations) and contains methods that

you can use to manipulate the relations before passing them to TypeORM. Read the

[typeorm-relations documentation](https://github.com/equalogic/typeorm-relations#readme) to learn more about it.



### GraphRelationBuilder



#### `buildForQuery(entity: Constructor, info: GraphQLResolveInfo): RelationMap`



Builds a `RelationMap` for an entity class by mapping from the root of the GraphQL query.



The `entity` passed in should be an entity class constructor (not an instance of the entity).



For example, if you have a `products` query in your GQL schema which returns a list of `Product` entities (where the

`Product` entity and `Product` GQL object type are equivalent), you can simply map `Product` relations in this way:



```ts

import { GraphQLResolveInfo } from 'graphql';

import { dataSource } from './datasource';



// Example resolver function for a "products" query in your GQL schema

function products(source: any, args: any, context: any, info: GraphQLResolveInfo): Promise {

  const graphRelationBuilder = new GraphRelationBuilder(dataSource);



  const productRelationMap = graphRelationBuilder.buildForQuery(Product, info);



  return dataSource.getRepository(Product).find({

    relations: productRelationMap.toFindOptionsRelations(),

  });

}

```



In this example if your `Product` entity has an `owner` property that relates to another entity, and the `owner` field

is selected by the client's GraphQL query, then calling `toFindOptionsRelations()` will produce:



```

{

  owner: true

}

```



Or, if `owner` contains an additional relationship to an `address` entity which is also selected by the client, you can

get a nested structure like:



```

{

  owner: {

    address: true

  }

}

```



#### `buildForQuery(entity: Constructor, info: GraphQLResolveInfo, path: string): RelationMap`



In some cases you may need to map relations to entity fields where the GQL object type for the entity is not the root

node in the query. A common example of this is in a mutation which returns a payload object containing the modified

object rather than the object directly. In this case you can pass a `path` string as the last argument to

`buildForQuery`:



```ts

import { GraphQLResolveInfo } from 'graphql';

import { dataSource } from './datasource';



// Example resolver function for a "createProduct" mutation in your GQL schema

async function createProduct(

  source: any,

  args: any,

  context: any,

  info: GraphQLResolveInfo,

): Promise {

  const graphRelationBuilder = new GraphRelationBuilder(dataSource);



  // Create the new product

  const product: Product = await dataSource.getRepository(Product).save(

    dataSource.getRepository(Product).create({

      name: 'New Product',

    }),

  );



  // Create payload and re-fetch the new product to retrieve all requested relations

  const payload: CreateProductPayload = {

    success: true,

    product: await dataSource.getRepository(Product).findOneOrFail({

      where: { id: product.id },

      relations: graphRelationBuilder.buildForQuery(Product, info, 'product').toFindOptionsRelations(),

    }),

  };



  return payload;

}

```



A GraphQL query for this mutation might look like:



```graphql

mutation {

  createProduct {

    success

    product {

      id

      name

      owner {

        id

        name

      }

    }

  }

}

```



The `Product` entity here exists below the root level of the object being resolved (`createProduct`), at a field called

`product`. So the path `'product'` must be given to `buildForQuery`.



Dotted path notation can be used when the entity is at an even lower level in the node tree. For example, the path

`'product.owner'` could be used to map the `Owner` entity in this example.



#### `build(entity: Constructor, baseNode: SelectionNode, fragments?: Record): GraphRelationBuilder`



This method works like `buildForQuery` (and is called by it internally), but it can operate on an arbitrary

`SelectionNode` rather than requiring an entire `GraphQLResolveInfo` object.



If your GQL for the selection may contain named fragments, the definition of those fragments must be passed through.

The required data can be retrieved from the `fragments` property on the top level `GraphQLResolveInfo` object.



---



## License



MIT