登录查看更多内容

What are common GraphQL vs REST API design mistakes?

由人工智能和领英社区提供技术支持

GraphQL and REST are two popular approaches to design and implement web APIs. They have different strengths and weaknesses, and choosing the right one for your project can have a significant impact on your performance, scalability, and maintainability. However, both GraphQL and REST APIs can also suffer from common design mistakes that can compromise their benefits and introduce unnecessary complexity and inefficiency. In this article, we will discuss some of these mistakes and how to avoid them.

此文章中的业界达人

由社区从 2 条内容中精选。了解更多

Prathamesh Narkhede

???? Software Development Engineer @ESRI | ?? C#, .Net, MAUI, AWS Expertise | ?? MS in CIS

1 Overfetching or underfetching data

One of the main advantages of GraphQL is that it allows clients to specify exactly what data they need from the server, avoiding overfetching or underfetching data. Overfetching means requesting more data than necessary, which can increase bandwidth usage and response time. Underfetching means requesting less data than necessary, which can result in multiple round trips to the server and additional complexity on the client side. However, GraphQL is not a magic bullet that solves all the data fetching problems. You still need to design your schema carefully and optimize your queries and resolvers to avoid performance issues and data inconsistencies. For example, you should avoid using nested queries that can generate multiple database calls, use pagination and caching to handle large datasets, and use directives and fragments to reuse and modify query fields.

添加您的观点

Prathamesh Narkhede

???? Software Development Engineer @ESRI | ?? C#, .Net, MAUI, AWS Expertise | ?? MS in CIS
举报内容
To mitigate these issues, a useful approach is implementing more flexible APIs. For overfetching, GraphQL serves as an excellent solution by allowing clients to specify exactly what data they need. As for underfetching, creating well-structured REST endpoints that aggregate related data can minimize the need for multiple requests, thereby enhancing efficiency.

已翻译

赞

2 Ignoring RESTful principles

REST stands for Representational State Transfer, and it is a set of principles and best practices for designing web APIs. Some of these principles are: using HTTP methods and status codes to indicate the actions and outcomes of the requests, using resource-oriented URLs to identify and manipulate the data, using media types to define the format and structure of the data, and using hypermedia links to enable discoverability and navigation of the API. Ignoring these principles can lead to inconsistent, confusing, and hard to maintain APIs. For example, you should avoid using verbs or actions in your URLs, such as /users/create or /posts/update, and instead use HTTP methods, such as POST or PUT, to indicate the intended operation. You should also avoid using custom headers or parameters to control the response format, and instead use the Accept and Content-Type headers to negotiate the media type.

添加您的观点

3 Mixing GraphQL and REST endpoints

GraphQL and REST are not mutually exclusive, and you can use both of them in your web application. However, you should be careful not to mix them in a way that creates confusion and inconsistency. For example, you should not use GraphQL to query data from a REST endpoint, or use REST to manipulate data from a GraphQL endpoint. This can result in unnecessary complexity, duplication, and overhead, as well as potential security and reliability issues. Instead, you should use GraphQL and REST for different purposes and layers of your application, and make sure they are well separated and documented. For example, you can use REST for low-level operations, such as authentication, logging, or monitoring, and use GraphQL for high-level operations, such as data fetching, filtering, or aggregation.

添加您的观点

Prathamesh Narkhede

???? Software Development Engineer @ESRI | ?? C#, .Net, MAUI, AWS Expertise | ?? MS in CIS
举报内容
One approach that has proven useful is to evaluate the specific needs of the application and choose either GraphQL or REST based on those requirements. If a hybrid approach is absolutely necessary, defining clear guidelines on when to use each and ensuring thorough documentation can help mitigate some of the challenges.

已翻译

赞

4 Not validating or sanitizing inputs

Both GraphQL and REST APIs expose endpoints that accept inputs from clients, such as query parameters, headers, body, or variables. These inputs can be malicious, invalid, or incomplete, and can cause errors, vulnerabilities, or unexpected behaviors in your API. Therefore, you should always validate and sanitize your inputs before processing them. Validating means checking if the inputs match the expected format, type, and range, and rejecting or correcting them if they don't. Sanitizing means removing or escaping any harmful or unnecessary characters or elements from the inputs, such as HTML tags, scripts, or SQL injections. You can use various tools and libraries to help you with validation and sanitization, such as JSON Schema, Joi, or GraphQL Scalars.

添加您的观点

5 Not testing or documenting your API

Testing and documenting your API are essential steps to ensure its quality, reliability, and usability. Testing means verifying that your API works as expected, handles errors gracefully, and meets the requirements and specifications. You can use various tools and frameworks to help you with testing, such as Postman, Mocha, or Jest. Documenting means describing your API's functionality, structure, and usage, as well as providing examples and guidelines for the clients. You can use various tools and formats to help you with documentation, such as Swagger, OpenAPI, or GraphQL Playground.

添加您的观点

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

添加您的观点

Programming

+ 关注

给文章评分

我们借助人工智能创建了此文章。您认为这篇文章怎么样？

很棒不太好

举报此文章

查看全部

What are common GraphQL vs REST API design mistakes?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Overfetching or underfetching data

2 Ignoring RESTful principles

3 Mixing GraphQL and REST endpoints

4 Not validating or sanitizing inputs

5 Not testing or documenting your API

6 Here’s what else to consider

Programming

给文章评分

感谢您的反馈

更多Programming相关文章

更多相关阅读内容

What are common GraphQL vs REST API design mistakes?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Overfetching or underfetching data

2 Ignoring RESTful principles

3 Mixing GraphQL and REST endpoints

4 Not validating or sanitizing inputs

5 Not testing or documenting your API

6 Here’s what else to consider

Programming

给文章评分

感谢您的反馈

查看其他技能