Why not use GraphQL?

Re:Why not use GraphQL? by ldiracdelta on Saturday November 07, 2020 @05:53PM (#25020466)

I accomplish this with the same `?fields` query param and it is fractal. You can specify which _fields_ of the relations below the User you also want.

If `User` had `groups` and `groups` had `permissions`, then I can do:

    let results = await fetch('/rest/Users/?fields=' + JSON.stringify(
      {
        id: true,
        first_name: true,
        groups: {
          name: true,
          permissions: {
            name: true
          }
        }
      });

My system has its limitations however. It can't do relational constraints like GraphQL or renaming of fields, but it is likely the 20% that gets you 80% of the way.

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Re:Why not use GraphQL? by andrewingram on Saturday November 07, 2020 @05:58PM (#25020531)

To be honest, once you can traverse relationships like this, you've basically just got GraphQL in disguise and might as well be using it. You're going to have all the same difficulties as GraphQL in making it perform well, but don't have the elegant (IMO) query language -- and lose some of the expressivity of fields/relations being able to accept arguments.

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Re:Why not use GraphQL? by ldiracdelta on Saturday November 07, 2020 @07:53PM (#25021630)

Except I dont have to start with GraphQL. I can add the complexity when I need it instead of starting with complexity. Yes I finally got _one_ of the features of GraphQL, but I didn't have to swallow graphql or require everyone else to. They don't have to use the field specifier and it still looks very simple. In contrast to GraphQL.

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