Sprechen sie GraphSQLite? Or querying data in a SQLite database using GraphQL and Apollo Server

Introduction

The website sqlitetutorial.net has some good pointers on using the SQLite database. This worked example builds on their Querying Data in SQLite Database from Node.js Applications tutorial. The differences being I’m using the better-sqlite3 rather than the sqlite3 npm package¹ and I’m using a GraphQL API (powered by Apollo Server) to present the data (as opposed to console.log). As per the sqlitetutorial.net site I’m using the sample database chinook.db. This worked example is designed to mimic the tutorial as closely as possible - the queries and responses are almost exactly the same. It probably isn’t a great place to start though if you don’t understand the GraphQL fundamentals, in that case you might try Oh-so minimal GraphQL API example with Apollo Server first.

All code can be found at the repo PreciousChicken/sqlite-graphql-apollo-server.

I’m using Manjaro Linux 21.2.6, node v16.13.2, npm v8.3.2, better-sqlite3 v7.5.3 and apollo-server v3.8.1.

Initialisation

At the terminal create a directory, and install the relevant packages:

mkdir sqlite-graphql
cd sqlite-graphql
npm init -y
npm install apollo-server better-sqlite3

Download the database

Download and unzip the sample Chinook.db database from sqlitetutorial.net into the folder you just created, ensuring it is named chinook.db. If you have curl and 7z installed you could do this at the command line:

curl https://www.sqlitetutorial.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/chinook.zip --output chinook.zip
7z x -tzip chinook.zip chinook.db && rm chinook.zip

Create the server

Copy and paste the following into a new file called index.js:

const { ApolloServer } = require('apollo-server');
const { typeDefs, resolvers  } = require('./schema');

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

// The `listen` method launches a web server.
server.listen().then(({ url }) => {
  console.log(`Server ready at ${url}`);
});

Create the schema

Create a file named schema.js and paste the following:

const db = require('better-sqlite3')('chinook.db', { readonly: true, fileMustExist: true});
const { gql } = require('apollo-server');

const typeDefs = gql`
	type Playlist {
		"PlaylistId"
		id: ID
		"Name"
		name: String
	}

	type Customer {
		"Customer ID"
		id: ID
		"First name"
		firstName: String
		"Last name"
		lastName: String
		"Country"
		country: String
		"Email"
		email: String
	}

	type Query {
		playlists: [Playlist]
		playlist(id: ID!): Playlist
		customerLocation(country: String!): [Customer]
	}
`

const resolvers = {
	Query: {
		playlists: () => db.prepare(
			'SELECT DISTINCT Name name ' + 
			'FROM playlists ' + 
			'ORDER BY name'
		).all(),

		playlist: (_, args) => db.prepare(
			'SELECT PlaylistId id, Name name ' +
			'FROM playlists ' + 
			'WHERE PlaylistId  = ?'
		).get(args.id),

		customerLocation: (_, args) => db.prepare(
			'SELECT FirstName firstName, LastName lastName, Email email ' + 
			'FROM customers ' + 
			'WHERE Country = ? ' + 
			'ORDER BY FirstName'
		).all(args.country),
	},
}

exports.typeDefs = typeDefs;
exports.resolvers = resolvers;

A close examination will notice that the SELECT in each statement renames the elements - so the column FirstName in chinook.db is renamed firstName. This is done so that the data returned by the SQL matches the GraphQL naming convention and which is used for the definitions in the typeDefs. Not strictly necessary, but good practice.

Start the server

Having written the code, let’s start the server. At the terminal enter:

node index.js

Assuming success you should see a message similar to the following:

Server ready at http://localhost:4000/

Apollo Sandbox

Pointing our browser at the URL above we should now be invited to Query your server. Below are listed the examples given in the sqlitetutorial.net tutorial, broken down into operation (i.e. query), optional variables and expected response. Give it a go in the Apollo Sandbox ².

a. Return all distinct playlists

Corresponds with the Querying all rows with all() method example.

Operation

query Playlists {
  playlists {
    name
  }
}

Response

{
  "data": {
    "playlists": [
      {
        "name": "90’s Music"
      },
      {
        "name": "Audiobooks"
      },
      [...]
    ]
  }
}

b. Find a playlist given an ID

Corresponds with the Query the first row in the result set example.

Operation

query Playlist($playlistId: ID!) {
  playlist(id: $playlistId) {
    id
    name
  }
}

Variables

{
  "playlistId": 1
}

Response

{
  "data": {
    "playlist": {
      "id": "1",
      "name": "Music"
    }
  }
}

c. Find all customers in a given country

Corresponds with the Query rows with each() method example - although we are not using the each() method here, as we are returning the entire set of results with GraphQL and not iterating over the results.

Operation

query CustomerLocation($country: String!) {
  customerLocation(country: $country) {
    firstName
    lastName
    email
  }
}

Variables

{
  "country": "USA"
}

Response

{
  "data": {
    "customerLocation": [
      {
        "firstName": "Dan",
        "lastName": "Miller",
        "email": "[email protected]"
      },
      {
        "firstName": "Frank",
        "lastName": "Harris",
        "email": "[email protected]"
      },
      [...]
    ]
  }
}

Conclusion

Comments, feedback? Post below.

Related work

Some other resources I have produced on GraphQL are:

• Tie down scheme for an Apollo GraphQL server in a Node Docker container - Worked example deploying a GraphQL server in a docker container.

• Oh-so minimal GraphQL API example with Apollo Server - A more comprehensive tutorial on GraphQL APIs.

• A no jokes guide to testing a GraphQL API with Jest - Worked example as to testing a GraphQL API.

• Stacking Vercel, a GraphQL Apollo Server and React - Deploying a GraphQL API on Vercel.