You will learn how to build and use a simple GraphQL service with MicroProfile GraphQL.

GraphQL is an open source data query language. Unlike REST APIs, each HTTP request that is sent to a GraphQL service goes to a single HTTP endpoint. Create, read, update, and delete operations and their details are differentiated by the contents of the request. If the operation returns data, the user specifies what properties of the data that they want returned. For read operations, a JSON object is returned that contains only the data and properties that are specified. For other operations, a JSON object might be returned containing information such as a success message.

Returning only the specified properties in a read operation has two benefits. If you’re dealing with large amounts of data or large resources, it reduces the size of the responses. If you have properties that are expensive to calculate or retrieve (such as nested objects), it also saves processing time. GraphQL calculates these properties only if they are requested.

A GraphQL service can also be used to obtain data from multiple sources such as APIs, databases, and other services. It can then collate this data into a single object for the user, simplifying the data retrieval. The user makes only a single request to the GraphQL service, instead of multiple requests to the individual data sources. GraphQL services require less data fetching than REST services, which results in lower application load times and lower data transfer costs. GraphQL also enables clients to better customize requests to the server.

All of the available operations to retrieve or modify data are available in a single GraphQL schema. The GraphQL schema describes all the data types that are used in the GraphQL service. The schema also describes all of the available operations. As well, you can add names and text descriptions to the various object types and operations in the schema.

You can learn more about GraphQL at the GraphQL website.

You’ll create a GraphQL application that retrieves data from multiple system services. Users make requests to the GraphQL service, which then makes requests to the system services. The GraphQL service returns a single JSON object containing all the system information from the system services.

You’ll enable the interactive GraphiQL tool in the Open Liberty runtime. GraphiQL helps you make queries to a GraphQL service. In the GraphiQL UI, you need to type only the body of the query for the purposes of manual tests and examples.

The Open Liberty Project team