Build a Basic GraphQL Schema Using PHP

What is GraphQL?

GraphQL is an alternative to REST and other API systems that, in essence, convert your application into a graph database that you can query against.

Instead of exposing and hand-crafting the specific endpoints, you can expose the data structures instead.

This approach empowers API consumers like front-end applications and makes it unnecessary to introduce constant changes in the back-end of an application.

Why Resonance?

Resonance is an asynchronous PHP framework that can resolve all the GraphQL fields in parallel.

For example, let's say you are querying the schema for a few fields:

query BlogPosts() {
    post1: blogPost(slug: "foo") { content }
    post2: blogPost(slug: "bar") { content }
}

Resonance will internally make two database queries in parallel (one for the "foo" blog post and the second one for the "bar" blog post) - similarly to how it would happen with Node.js, Go, or other inherently asynchronous languages.

Basic GraphQL Schema

Let's start with a basic GraphQL schema - one that exposes the ping object that has a single field: message which always resolves to "pong".

For example, the query:

query Ping() {
    ping1: ping { message }
    ping2: ping { message } 
    ping3: ping { message }
}

Is going to return the following JSON:

{
    "data": {
        "ping1": { "message": "pong" },
        "ping2": { "message": "pong" },
        "ping3": { "message": "pong" }
    }
}

Exposing the GraphQL Endpoint

Let's create a Responder which handles all the POST requests issued to the '/graphql' and returns GraphQL responses:

<?php

namespace App\HttpResponder;

use App\HttpRouteSymbol;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\Attribute\RespondsToHttp;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\Attribute\Singleton;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\HttpResponder;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\HttpResponder\GraphQL as ResonanceGraphQL;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\HttpResponderInterface;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\RequestMethod;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\SingletonCollection;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\SiteAction;
use Swoole\Http\Request;
use Swoole\Http\Response;

#[RespondsToHttp(
    method: RequestMethod::POST,
    pattern: '/graphql',
    routeSymbol: HttpRouteSymbol::GraphQL,
)]
#[Singleton(collection: SingletonCollection::HttpResponder)]
final readonly class GraphQL extends HttpResponder
{
    public function __construct(private ResonanceGraphQL $graphql) {}

    public function respond(Request $request, Response $response): HttpResponderInterface
    {
        return $this->graphql;
    }
}

The Ping Object Type

Resonance's GraphQL implementation uses the webonyx/graphql-php library internally to build schemas so that we will follow their object type format.

We will use a Closure to resolve the ping field value:

<?php

namespace App\ObjectType;

use Distantmagic\Resonance\Attribute\Singleton;
use GraphQL\Type\Definition\ObjectType;
use GraphQL\Type\Definition\Type;

#[Singleton]
final class PingType extends ObjectType
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct([
            'name' => 'Ping',
            'description' => 'Test field',
            'fields' => [
                'message' => [
                    'type' => Type::string(),
                    'description' => 'Always responds with pong',
                    'resolve' => $this->resolvePong(...),
                ],
            ],
        ]);
    }

    private function resolvePong(string $rootValue): string
    {
        return $rootValue;
    }
}

Building the Root Query

Now that we have a ping type, we need to assign it to the root GraphQL schema so you can query it.

Just defining the ping type did nothing yet because GraphQL still doesn't know the name of the field and other necessary details to use that field.

Let's define those now:

<?php

namespace App\GraphQLRootField;

use App\ObjectType\PingType;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\Attribute\GraphQLRootField;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\Attribute\Singleton;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\GraphQLFieldableInterface;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\GraphQLRootFieldType;
use Distantmagic\Resonance\SingletonCollection;

#[GraphQLRootField(
    name: 'ping',
    type: GraphQLRootFieldType::Query,
)]
#[Singleton(collection: SingletonCollection::GraphQLRootField)]
final readonly class Ping implements GraphQLFieldableInterface
{
    public function __construct(private PingType $pingType) {}

    public function resolve(): string
    {
        return 'pong';
    }

    public function toGraphQLField(): array
    {
        return [
            'type' => $this->pingType,
            'resolve' => $this->resolve(...),
        ];
    }
}

That is it! Now, your project should have the GraphQL schema exposed at the /graphql URL.

Summary

This post explains how to start with a GraphQL schema with Resonance. If you want to expand this schema, add more Object Types and nest them inside each other. I encourage you to experiment and build a more complex graph.

Additional resources:
Documentation: https://resonance.distantmagic.com/