Magento 2 is a powerful ecommerce platform providing out-of-the-box features. However, there may be times when you need to extend the platform to meet specific business requirements. This is where custom GraphQL comes in!
If you’re unfamiliar with GraphQL, it’s a query language for APIs developed by Facebook (now Meta). It allows developers to get the data they need and only receive it in response to their queries. Magento 2 supports GraphQL to help you streamline your data processes.
In this article, I’ll tell you how to use GraphQL in Magento 2. I’ll start by enabling the GraphQL module in Magento 2 and accessing the GraphQL endpoint, and then make GraphQL queries to fetch data about products, categories, customers, orders, etc.
An Overview of GraphQL in Magento 2
GraphQL is an alternative to REST and SOAP in Magento 2. It allows you to specify and receive the data easily, making API responses more efficient and reducing network overhead. A simple example is Progressive Web App (PWA) with client-side rendering.
In Magento 2, GraphQL is a new feature added in version 2.3.4. The primary focus is to speed up and boost the APIs, their flexibility, and their effectiveness. It allows developers to query and mutate data in Magento’s database using a standardized syntax.
Three main operations of GraphQL are in use:
- queries (for reading and receiving information);
- mutations (needed for taking actions, creating data, and changing information. For example, a customer’s email);
- subscriptions (this operation isn’t available in Magento yet, but it provides the opportunity to get data from the server in real-time automatically after a while, for instance, for notifications).
Improvements of GraphQL in Magento 2.4.6
In Adobe Commerce 2.4.6, purchase orders functionality has also been fully exposed in the GraphQL layer by adding approval rules in the API.
Store owners and merchants will have big performance improvements due to the improved rendering process of the category tree in Magento Open Source 2.4.6.
The loading of category children by refactoring code has been improved by removing unnecessary method calls, improving category tree caching, and recursively loading category data.
Bulk cart operations have also been improved for query response times, specifically in situations where 500 or more products have been added to the shopping cart.
Why Is GraphQL Useful for Developers?
GraphQL is useful for Magento 2 developers for the following reasons.
- Developers can request only the data they need, which results in smaller and more efficient data transfers. This is especially important for mobile and low-bandwidth devices.
- It provides a flexible data model, which allows developers to query data more naturally and intuitively. This makes it easier to build complex data-driven applications.
- It has a simple and intuitive syntax, making it easy for developers to learn and use. This simplicity reduces the learning curve and allows developers to focus on building their applications.
- Developers can create custom GraphQL queries, mutations, and types, allowing them to extend the platform’s default schema and create custom functionality that meets their specific requirements.
- It allows for optimized queries, which can significantly improve application performance. This is because it reduces the number of API requests required to fetch data.
Compare GraphQL vs Rest API
With the rise of the PWA, getting smaller amounts of data and making fewer API requests is needed. There comes the advanced technology and need for GraphQL. Magento 2 supports both GraphQL and REST APIs for interacting with the platform.
Here are some of the key differences between REST API and GraphQL.
| REST API | GraphQL | |
| Querying | With REST APIs, you typically make separate requests for each resource or the endpoint you want to access. | With GraphQL, you can retrieve all the needed data in a single request and specify which fields and data you want. |
| Caching | REST APIs are often easier to cache than GraphQL because the URLs are used as the cache keys. | With GraphQL, caching can be more challenging because each request is unique and may require a different data set. |
| Learning Curve | REST APIs are simpler to understand and use, and a wealth of documentation and tooling is available. | GraphQL has a steeper learning curve, and it may take longer to become proficient with the technology. |
| Performance | REST APIs can be faster when only a small amount of data is required. | GraphQL can be more efficient than REST APIs for some use cases because it reduces over-fetching and under-fetching of data. |
Furthermore, one can notice that GraphQL embroils perform rate-limiting and other service denial safety measures.
Although the choice of GraphQL or REST API in Magento 2 is entirely subjective and based on the website’s needs. But the one key point to note is that when it comes to security – RestAPI gives many innate ways to impose the security of your APIs.
In this example, the mutation creates a new customer account with the specified email, first name, last name, and password. The response includes the new customer’s first name, last name, and email address.
Summary
By using GraphQL in Magento 2, you can create APIs that are more efficient and flexible than traditional REST APIs. This is because GraphQL allows developers to specify exactly what data they need, rather than receiving a fixed set of data that may contain more information than necessary.
In addition to improved performance, custom GraphQL modules can also provide a more streamlined developer experience. It can help easily understand how to query the API and get the data they need. This can reduce the time and effort required to build integrations and applications on top of your Magento store.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Why use GraphQL in Magento 2?
A. GraphQL provides a definite and understandable description of the data required in the API. You can create APIs that are more efficient and flexible than traditional REST APIs. GraphQL uses types to ensure channels only ask for what’s possible and provide clear and helpful errors.
Q. How to set up GraphQL in Magento 2?
A. To setup GraphQL in Magento, you will need the following steps:
You need GraphQL IDE such as GraphiQL or a browser extension to run the code samples and tutorials. If you install a browser extension, make sure it can set request headers. Altair GraphQL Client is one of the extensions on the Chrome Web Store that can do the job, or you can also use Postman.
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