How to query all the GraphQL type fields without writing a long query?
I guess the only way to do this is by utilizing reusable fragments:
fragment UserFragment on Users {
id
username
count
}
FetchUsers {
users(id: "2") {
...UserFragment
}
}
Unfortunately what you'd like to do is not possible. GraphQL requires you to be explicit about specifying which fields you would like returned from your query.
Yes, you can do this using introspection. Make a GraphQL query like (for type UserType)
{
__type(name:"UserType") {
fields {
name
description
}
}
}
and you'll get a response like (actual field names will depend on your actual schema/type definition)
{
"data": {
"__type": {
"fields": [
{
"name": "id",
"description": ""
},
{
"name": "username",
"description": "Required. 150 characters or fewer. Letters, digits and @/./+/-/_ only."
},
{
"name": "firstName",
"description": ""
},
{
"name": "lastName",
"description": ""
},
{
"name": "email",
"description": ""
},
( etc. etc. ...)
]
}
}
}
You can then read this list of fields in your client and dynamically build a second GraphQL query to get the values of all of these fields.
This relies on you knowing the name of the type that you want to get the fields for -- if you don't know the type, you could get all the types and fields together using introspection like
{
__schema {
types {
name
fields {
name
description
}
}
}
}
NOTE: this is the over-the-wire GraphQL data -- you're on your own to figure out how to read and write with your actual client. Your graphQL javascript library may already employ introspection in some capacity, for example the apollo codegen command uses introspection to generate types.
20222 Update
Since this answer was originally written, it is now a recommended security practice to TURN OFF introspection in production. Reference: Why you should disable graphql introspection in production.
For an environment where introspection is off in production, you could use it in development as a way to assist in creating a static query that was used in production; you wouldn't actually be able to create a query dynamically in production.