GraphQL-Java is a great library, but its syntax is a little bit verbose. This library offers an annotations-based syntax for GraphQL schema definition.

Getting Started

(Gradle syntax)

dependencies {
  compile "com.graphql-java:graphql-java-annotations:0.13.1"
}

Defining Objects

Any regular Java class can be converted to a GraphQL object type. Fields can be defined with a @GraphQLField (see more on fields below) annotation:

public class SomeObject {
  @GraphQLField
  public String field;
}

// ...
GraphQLObjectType object = GraphQLAnnotations.object(SomeObject.class);

Defining Interfaces

This is very similar to defining objects:

public interface SomeInterface {
  @GraphQLField
  String field();
}

// ...
GraphQLInterfaceType object = GraphQLAnnotations.iface(SomeInterface.class);

Fields

In addition to specifying a field over a Java class field, a field can be defined over a method:

public class SomeObject {
  @GraphQLField
  public String field() {
    return "field";
  }
}

Or a method with arguments:

public class SomeObject {
  @GraphQLField
  public String field(String value) {
    return value;
  }
}

Note: You need to use -parameters javac option to compile, which makes argument name as the default GraphQL name. Otherwise, you will need to add the @GraphQLName("value") annotation to specify one.

You can also inject DataFetchingEnvironment as an argument, at any position:

public class SomeObject {
  @GraphQLField
  public String field(DataFetchingEnvironment env, String value) {
    return value;
  }
}

Additionally, @GraphQLName can be used to override field name. You can use @GraphQLDescription to set a description.

These can also be used for field parameters:

public String field(@GraphQLName("val") String value) {
  return value;
}

In addition, @GraphQLDefaultValue can be used to set a default value to a parameter. Due to limitations of annotations, the default value has to be provided by a class that implements Supplier<Object>:

public static class DefaultValue implements Supplier<Object> {
  @Override
  public Object get() {
    return "default";
  }
}

@GraphQLField
public String field(@GraphQLDefaultValue(DefaultValue.class) String value) {
  return value;
}

@GraphQLDeprecate and Java's @Deprecated can be used to specify a deprecated field.

You can specify a custom data fetcher for a field with @GraphQLDataFetcher

Type Inference

By default, standard GraphQL types (String, Integer, Long, Float, Boolean, Enum, List) will be inferred from Java types. Also, it will respect @javax.validation.constraints.NotNull annotation with respect to value's nullability, as well as @GraphQLNonNull

Stream type is also supported and treated as a list.

If you want to register an additional type (for example, UUID), you have to create a new class implementing TypeFunction for it:

public class UUIDTypeFunction implements TypeFunction {
    ...
}

And register it with GraphQLAnnotations:

GraphQLAnnotations.register(new UUIDTypeFunction())

// or if not using a static version of GraphQLAnnotations:
// new GraphQLAnnotations().registerType(new UUIDTypeFunction())

You can also specify custom type function for any field with @GraphQLType annotation.

Relay Mutations

You can use @GraphQLRelayMutation annotation to make mutation adhere to Relay specification for mutations

Relay Connection

You can use @GraphQLConnection annotation to make a field iterable in adherence to Relay Connection specification.