Quick demonstration on using GraphQL and Nestjs to upload files (NestJs Code First Approch)
Overview
Hi 👋 You, Today, I'm going to discuss how to upload files using graphql. You may already be familiar with how to upload files using the Rest API, but now you tried Graphql and you're wondering how to upload your cat pictures.
If you're using Nest Js and the Code-first GraphQL approch this guide is for you
Setup
Let's start by installing our dependencies
npm i @nestjs/graphql @nestjs/apollo graphql apollo-server-express graphql-upload@14
yarn add @nestjs/graphql @nestjs/apollo graphql apollo-server-express graphql-upload@14
Now everything is installed go to your app.module.ts file and import ApolloDriver, ApolloDriverConfig & GraphQLModule.
import { ApolloDriver, ApolloDriverConfig } from '@nestjs/apollo';
import { GraphQLModule } from '@nestjs/graphql';
Then add GraphQLModule config to the App module imports.
@Module({
imports: [
GraphQLModule.forRoot<ApolloDriverConfig>({
driver: ApolloDriver,
autoSchemaFile: join(process.cwd(), 'src/schema.gql'),
}),
],
Lets generate our graphql code now by using nest cli in our terminal.
nest g resource cats
Now Select GraphQL (code first)
? What transport layer do you use?
REST API
GraphQL (code first)
GraphQL (schema first)
Microservice (non-HTTP)
WebSockets
This will create a folder inside you src Directory called cats.
Let's Code
Now let's start by writing our mutation to create a cat object with an image
let's start by editing our createCatInput which is imported by our createCatmutation
@InputType()
export class CreateCatInput {
@Field(() => Int, { description: 'Example field (placeholder)' })
exampleField: number;
}
Our cat will have these properties name, breed & image
Create a file upload type that we can use for our image field which look like this
import { Stream } from 'stream';
export interface FileUpload {
filename: string;
mimetype: string;
encoding: string;
createReadStream: () => Stream;
}
Now Add The Fields With GraphQLUpload Scalar Type wich is imported from our package graphql-upload which gives us support for GraphQL multipart requests.
import * as GraphQLUpload from 'graphql-upload/GraphQLUpload.js';
@InputType()
export class CreateCatInput {
@Field(() => String)
name: string;
@Field(() => String)
breed: string;
@Field(() => GraphQLUpload)
image: Promise<FileUpload>;
}
Then head to the cat entity and create a similar type and modify the image field as string so we can return just the filename
@ObjectType()
export class Cat {
@Field(() => String)
name: string;
@Field(() => String)
breed: string;
@Field(() => String)
image: string;
}
Ok now we go to our cats.service.ts where we can handle our image.
create({ breed, name, image }: CreateCatInput) {
// your code goes here
}
We will return the breed and name precisely as we received them. readable stream ( image ) go ahead and create a new folder, you can name it upload,we will save our images inside it.
async create({ breed, name, image }: CreateCatInput) {
const { createReadStream, filename } = await image;
return new Promise(async (resolve) => {
createReadStream()
.pipe(createWriteStream(join(process.cwd(), `./src/upload/${filename}`)))
.on('finish', () =>
resolve({
breed,
name,
image: filename,
}),
)
.on('error',() => {
new HttpException('Could not save image', HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
});
});
}
Finally go to app.module.ts and add GraphQLUpload Middleware
import * as graphqlUploadExpress from 'graphql-upload/graphqlUploadExpress.js';
const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);
app.use(graphqlUploadExpress({ maxFileSize: 1000000, maxFiles: 10 }));
await app.listen(4000);
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Top comments (5)
I followed this artical to create fileupload end point but getting this error
createReadStream is not a function
can you share your code with me i can help you with that
I'm having an issue where the image is an empty file with the correct name in .src/upload, and when I log the readStream, the length is 0. I have tried with multiple images, any ideas why this could be?
nice!!! just one question though... is there a problem with current version of graphql-upload or why use version @14 ?
yes there is i had some issues with it