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Ali Raslan
Ali Raslan

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Build a Next App with a full GraphQL API using just a JSON or CSV file

#nextjs #typescript #graphql #prisma

Introduction

In this guide we'll be using a JSON or CSV file with some data in it to build a fully featured GraphQL API inside a NextJS application.

For this to work, we'll need some tools, here's links to all the tools used in this guide if you'd like to check any of them out or potentially explore replacements:

Create a MongoDB database and add your data (skip if you already have a MongoDB database with data in it)

Head to mongodb.com and sign up for a free Atlas account or set up mongodb locally

Create your project

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Create a cluster, select SHARED for the free tier.

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Create your user and add your IP address to the list of allowed IP addresses (or 0.0.0.0 to allow any connection).

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Press connect on your cluster on mongodb.com

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Click on Compass

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Download Compass if you don't have it, and copy the connection string

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Paste the connection string into Compass, replacing with the password for the database user you created earlier and press connect
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Click databases
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Click create
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In the database name and collection name fields, describe the data type your database will contain, for example a database of football players could be called football_players or players
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Once the database is created, click on it
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Click the collection
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You can now upload your JSON or CSV file to the database to fill it
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We now have a database with the data we need, you can close Compass.

Create a NextJS app with TypeScript

Answer the questions as you like but when asked

'if you want to use the new /app directory' no

'if you want to use src directory' no

yarn create next-app --typescript
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Install dependencies 

yarn add prisma typegraphql-prisma -D

yarn add @apollo/server @as-integrations/next @prisma/client graphql class-validator type-graphql@next reflect-metadata graphql-scalars graphql-fields @types/graphql-fields tslib
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Initialize prisma 

yarn prisma init --datasource-provider mongodb
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Add mongodb connection and the eventual graphql api url to .env 

DATABASE_URL="mongodb+srv://username:password@address.mongodb.net/tablename?retryWrites=true&w=majority"
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL="http://localhost:3000/api/graphql"
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Pull the database schema into Prisma 

yarn prisma db pull
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Add generator to prisma 

generator typegraphql {
  provider = "typegraphql-prisma"
  output   = "../prisma/generated/type-graphql"
  simpleResolvers = true
}
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Create tsconfig.json or modify it at the NextJS root 

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "allowJs": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "jsx": "preserve",
    "incremental": true,
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./*"]
    },
    "sourceMap": true,
    "outDir": "dist",
    "strict": true,
    "lib": ["esnext", "esnext.asynciterable", "dom", "dom.iterable"],
    "target": "es2018",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true
  },
  "include": ["next-env.d.ts", "**/*.ts", "**/*.tsx"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules"]
}
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Generate the prisma schema 

yarn prisma generate
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Create /pages/api/graphql.ts 

import 'reflect-metadata';
import { resolvers } from 'prisma/generated/type-graphql';
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
import { ApolloServer } from '@apollo/server';
import * as tq from 'type-graphql';
import { startServerAndCreateNextHandler } from '@as-integrations/next';

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

const schema = tq.buildSchemaSync({
  resolvers,
  validate: false,
});

const server = new ApolloServer({ schema });

export default startServerAndCreateNextHandler(server, {
  context: async () => ({ prisma }),
});
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Add this line to the top of _app.tsx 

import 'reflect-metadata';
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Start your Next app 

yarn dev
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Access the server at http://localhost:3000/api/graphql

Enabling CORS to use outside Vercel

Add the following to next.config.js.

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  reactStrictMode: true,
  async headers() {
    return [
      {
        source: '/api/:path*',
        headers: [
          { key: 'Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', value: 'true' },
          { key: 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin', value: '*' },
          {
            key: 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods',
            value: 'GET,OPTIONS,PATCH,DELETE,POST,PUT',
          },
          {
            key: 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers',
            value:
              'X-CSRF-Token, X-Requested-With, Accept, Accept-Version, Content-Length, Content-MD5, Content-Type, Date, X-Api-Version',
          },
        ],
      },
    ];
  },
};

module.exports = nextConfig;
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Automatically generate types for the client

Install graphql-code-generator

yarn add -D ts-node @graphql-codegen/cli @graphql-codegen/client-preset
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Create codegen.ts

import { CodegenConfig } from '@graphql-codegen/cli';

const config: CodegenConfig = {
  schema: "http://localhost:3000/api/graphql",
  documents: ['pages/**/*.tsx'],
  ignoreNoDocuments: true, // for better experience with the watcher
  generates: {
    './gql/': {
      preset: 'client',
      plugins: [],
    },
  },
};

export default config;
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Install concurrently

yarn add -D concurrently
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Modify your dev script in package.json

"dev": "concurrently \"yarn next dev\" \"yarn graphql-codegen --watch\"",
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Communicating with the API within Next

Add graphql-request and react-query

yarn add graphql-request react-query
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Add React query provider and a global graphql-request client to _app.tsx

import 'reflect-metadata';
import type { AppProps } from 'next/app';
import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from 'react-query';
import { GraphQLClient } from 'graphql-request';

const queryClient = new QueryClient();

export const client = new GraphQLClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL as string, {
  headers: {},
});

export default function App({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
  return (
    <QueryClientProvider client={queryClient}>
      <Component {...pageProps} />
    </QueryClientProvider>
  );
}
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You're now ready to use react-query with your types, here's an example index.tsx with a database of players

import Head from 'next/head';
import { graphql } from 'gql';
import { useQuery } from 'react-query';
import React from 'react';
import { client } from './_app';

const findManyPlayers = graphql(`
  query FindManyPlayers($take: Int) {
    findManyPlayers(take: $take) {
      age
      hits
      name
      id
      nationality
      overall
      player_id
      position
      potential
      team
    }
  }
`);

export default function Home() {
  const { data } = useQuery(['players'], async () =>
    client.request(findManyPlayers, {
      take: 5,
    })
  );
  if (!data) return <></>;
  return (
    <>
      <Head>
        <title>Create Next App</title>
        <meta name='description' content='Generated by create next app' />
        <meta name='viewport' content='width=device-width, initial-scale=1' />
        <link rel='icon' href='/favicon.ico' />
      </Head>
      <main>
        <div>
          {data.findManyPlayers.map((player) => (
            <React.Fragment key={player.id}>
              <p>{player.name}</p>
            </React.Fragment>
          ))}
        </div>
      </main>
    </>
  );
}
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