Composition Rules

The Event-Driven Graph (or EDG) is an “abstract” subgraph, so it must not define any resolvers. EDGs are also subject to special compositional rules.

Root fields

EDG Root fields must define their respective event directive and a valid response type:

Root type	Directive	Response type
Query	@edfs__natsRequest	A non-nullable entity object
Mutation	@edfs__natsPublish	edfs__PublishResult!
	@edfs__kafkaPublish	edfs__PublishResult!
Subscription	@edfs__natsSubscribe	A non-nullable entity object
	@edfs__kafkaSubscribe	A non-nullable entity object

Note that the edfs__NatsStreamConfiguration input object must always be defined to satisfy the @edfs__natsSubscribe directive:

input edfs__NatsStreamConfigurationfiguration {
    consumerInactiveThreshold: Int! = 30
    consumerName: String!
    streamName: String!
}

Here is an example of a valid EDG mutation:

directive @edfs__natsPublish(
  subject: String!,
  providerId: String! = "default"
) on FIELD_DEFINITION

type Mutation {
    updateUser(
        id: ID!, update: UpdateUserInput!
    ): edfs__PublishResult! @edfs__natsPublish(subject: "updateUser.{{ args.id }}")
}

type edfs__PublishResult {
    success: Boolean!
}

type UpdateUserInput {
    forename: String!
    surname: String!
}

Attempting to return a type other than edfs__PublishResult! from a EDG Mutation root field will result in a compositional error.

Root field arguments and event subjects

Arguments can be defined on a root field, which can then be passed to event subjects through an argument template. Argument templates are only support on the subject by NATS. In Kafka we use the subscription filter to split the topic into different streams.

The argument template should follow the period delimiter of your subject. The args refers to the field arguments, which has its own period delimiter, followed by a name of a field argument. This argument name must match exactly to a corresponding field argument name.

eventSubject.{{ args.nameOfAFieldArgument }}

type Subscription {
    # note that the arg template names correspond to the field argument names
    userUpdated(myArgumentName: Int!, another: Int!): User! @edfs__natsSubscribe(
        subjects: ["users.{{ args.myArgumentName }}", "users.{{ args.another }}"]
    )
}

type User @key(fields: "id", resolvable: false) {
    id: @external
}

Entity definitions

EDG entities must be “minimal stubs”. This means that only the fields (and nested fields) that form part of its primary key should be included:

1. The primary key must contain the “resolvable” argument set to false.
2. Fields (including nested fields) must form part of the primary key
3. Fields (including nested fields) must be declared @external

Here is an example of a valid EDG entity object definition:

type User @key(fields: "id object { id }", resolvable: false) @external {
 id: Int!
 object: Object!
}

type Object {
 id: Int! @external
}

Other definitions

The EDGs must not define any objects and fields that do not form part of an entity’s primary key. Most other definitions are simply ignored, unless, for example, a root field requires an input object.