Creating your GraphQL API Defining a basic post API Setting up your Amazon DynamoDB table Setting up an addPost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB PutItem)Setting up the getPost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB GetItem)Create an updatePost mutation (Amazon DynamoDB UpdateItem)Create vote mutations (Amazon DynamoDB UpdateItem)Setting up a deletePost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB DeleteItem)Setting up an allPost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB Scan)Setting up an allPostsByAuthor resolver(Amazon DynamoDB Query)Using sets Conclusion

Creating a simple post application using DynamoDB JavaScript resolvers

In this tutorial, you will import your Amazon DynamoDB tables to Amazon AppSync and connect them to build a fully-functional GraphQL API using JavaScript pipeline resolvers that you can leverage in your own application.

You will use the Amazon AppSync console to provision your Amazon DynamoDB resources, create your resolvers, and connect them to your data sources. You will also be able to read and write to your Amazon DynamoDB database through GraphQL statements and subscribe to real-time data.

There are specific steps that must be completed in order for GraphQL statements to be translated to Amazon DynamoDB operations and for responses to be translated back into GraphQL. This tutorial outlines the configuration process through several real-world scenarios and data access patterns.

Creating your GraphQL API

To create a GraphQL API in Amazon AppSync

Open the AppSync console and choose Create API.
Select Design from scratch and choose Next.
Name your API PostTutorialAPI, then choose Next. Skip to the review page while keeping the rest of the options set to their default values and choose Create.

The Amazon AppSync console creates a new GraphQL API for you. By detault, it's using the API key authentication mode. You can use the console to set up the rest of the GraphQL API and run queries against it for the rest of this tutorial.

Defining a basic post API

Now that you have your GraphQL API, you can set up a basic schema that allows the basic creation, retrieval, and deletion of post data.

To add data to your schema

In your API, choose the Schema tab.

We will create a schema that defines a Post type and an operation addPost to add and get Post objects. In the Schema pane, replace the contents with the following code:


schema {
    query: Query
    mutation: Mutation
}

type Query {
    getPost(id: ID): Post
}

type Mutation {
    addPost(
        id: ID!
        author: String!
        title: String!
        content: String!
        url: String!
    ): Post!
}

type Post {
    id: ID!
    author: String
    title: String
    content: String
    url: String
    ups: Int!
    downs: Int!
    version: Int!
}

Choose Save Schema.

Setting up your Amazon DynamoDB table

The Amazon AppSync console can help provision the Amazon resources needed to store your own resources in an Amazon DynamoDB table. In this step, you’ll create an Amazon DynamoDB table to store your posts. You’ll also set up a secondary index that we’ll use later.

To create your Amazon DynamoDB table

On the Schema page, choose Create Resources.
Choose Use existing type, then choose the Post type.
In the Additional Indexes section, choose Add Index.
Name the index author-index.
Set the Primary key to author and the Sort key to None.
Disable Automatically generate GraphQL. In this example, we'll create the resolver ourselves.
Choose Create.

You now have a new data source called PostTable, which you can see by visiting Data sources in the side tab. You will use this data source to link your queries and mutations to your Amazon DynamoDB table.

Setting up an addPost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB PutItem)

Now that Amazon AppSync is aware of the Amazon DynamoDB table, you can link it to individual queries and mutations by defining resolvers. The first resolver you create is the addPost pipeline resolver using JavaScript, which enables you to create a post in your Amazon DynamoDB table. A pipeline resolver has the following components:

The location in the GraphQL schema to attach the resolver. In this case, you are setting up a resolver on the createPost field on the Mutation type. This resolver will be invoked when the caller calls mutation { addPost(...){...} }.
The data source to use for this resolver. In this case, you want to use the DynamoDB data source you defined earlier, so you can add entries into the post-table-for-tutorial DynamoDB table.
The request handler. The request handler is a function that handles the incoming request from the caller and translates it into instructions for Amazon AppSync to perform against DynamoDB.
The response handler. The job of the response handler is to handle the response from DynamoDB and translate it back into something that GraphQL expects. This is useful if the shape of the data in DynamoDB is different to the Post type in GraphQL, but in this case they have the same shape, so you just pass the data through.

To set up your resolver

In your API, choose the Schema tab.
In the Resolvers pane, find the addPost field under the Mutation type, then choose Attach.
Choose your data source, then choose Create.

In your code editor, replace the code with this snippet:


import { util } from '@aws-appsync/utils'
import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb'

export function request(ctx) {
	const item = { ...ctx.arguments, ups: 1, downs: 0, version: 1 }
	const key = { id: ctx.args.id ?? util.autoId() }
	return ddb.put({ key, item })
}

export function response(ctx) {
	return ctx.result
}

Choose Save.

Note

In this code, you use the DynamoDB module utils that allow you to easily create DynamoDB requests.

Amazon AppSync comes with a utility for automatic ID generation called util.autoId(), which is used to generate an ID for your new post. If you do not specify an ID, the utility will automatically generate it for you.


const key = { id: ctx.args.id ?? util.autoId() }

For more information about the utilities available for JavaScript, see JavaScript runtime features for resolvers and functions.

Call the API to add a post

Now that the resolver has been configured, Amazon AppSync can translate an incoming addPost mutation to an Amazon DynamoDB PutItem operation. You can now run a mutation to put something in the table.

To run the operation

In your API, choose the Queries tab.

In the Queries pane, add the following mutation:


mutation addPost {
  addPost(
    id: 123,
    author: "AUTHORNAME"
    title: "Our first post!"
    content: "This is our first post."
    url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/"
  ) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose addPost. The results of the newly created post should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "addPost": {
      "id": "123",
      "author": "AUTHORNAME",
      "title": "Our first post!",
      "content": "This is our first post.",
      "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
      "ups": 1,
      "downs": 0,
      "version": 1
    }
  }
}

The following explanation shows what occurred:

Amazon AppSync received an addPost mutation request.

Amazon AppSync executes the request handler of the resolver. The ddb.put function creates a PutItem request that looks like this:


{
  operation: 'PutItem',
  key: { id: { S: '123' } },
  attributeValues: {
    downs: { N: 0 },
    author: { S: 'AUTHORNAME' },
    ups: { N: 1 },
    title: { S: 'Our first post!' },
    version: { N: 1 },
    content: { S: 'This is our first post.' },
    url: { S: 'https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/' }
  }
}

Amazon AppSync uses this value to generate and execute a Amazon DynamoDB PutItem request.

Amazon AppSync took the results of the PutItem request and converted them back to GraphQL types.


{
    "id" : "123",
    "author": "AUTHORNAME",
    "title": "Our first post!",
    "content": "This is our first post.",
    "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
    "ups" : 1,
    "downs" : 0,
    "version" : 1
}

The response handler returns the result immediately (return ctx.result).
The final result is visible in the GraphQL response.

Setting up the getPost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB GetItem)

Now that you’re able to add data to the Amazon DynamoDB table, you need to set up the getPost query so it can retrieve that data from the table. To do this, you set up another resolver.

To add your resolver

In your API, choose the Schema tab.
In the Resolvers pane on the right, find the getPost field on the Query type and then choose Attach.
Choose your data source, then choose Create.

In the code editor, replace the code with this snippet:


import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb'
	
export function request(ctx) {
	return ddb.get({ key: { id: ctx.args.id } })
}

export const response = (ctx) => ctx.result

Save your resolver.

Note

In this resolver, we use an arrow function expression for the response handler.

Call the API to get a post

Now that the resolver has been set up, Amazon AppSync knows how to translate an incoming getPost query to an Amazon DynamoDB GetItem operation. You can now run a query to retrieve the post you created earlier.

To run your query

In your API, choose the Queries tab.

In the Queries pane, add the following code, and use the id that you copied after creating your post:


query getPost {
  getPost(id: "123") {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose getPost. The results of the newly created post should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane.

The post retrieved from Amazon DynamoDB should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "getPost": {
      "id": "123",
      "author": "AUTHORNAME",
      "title": "Our first post!",
      "content": "This is our first post.",
      "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
      "ups": 1,
      "downs": 0,
      "version": 1
    }
  }
}

Alternatively, take the following example:


query getPost {
  getPost(id: "123") {
    id
    author
    title
  }
}

If your getPost query only needs the id, author, and title, you can change your request function to use projection expressions to specify only the attributes that you want from your DynamoDB table to avoid unnecessary data transfer from DynamoDB to Amazon AppSync. For example, the request function may look like the snippet below:


import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb'

export function request(ctx) {
	return ddb.get({
		key: { id: ctx.args.id },
		projection: ['author', 'id', 'title'],
	})
}

export const response = (ctx) => ctx.result

You can also use a selectionSetList with getPost to represent the expression:


import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb'

export function request(ctx) {
	const projection = ctx.info.selectionSetList.map((field) => field.replace('/', '.'))
	return ddb.get({ key: { id: ctx.args.id }, projection })
}

export const response = (ctx) => ctx.result

Create an updatePost mutation (Amazon DynamoDB UpdateItem)

So far, you can create and retrieve Post objects in Amazon DynamoDB. Next, you’ll set up a new mutation to update an object. Compared to the addPost mutation that requires all fields to be specified, this mutation allows you to only specify the fields that you want to change. It also introduced a new expectedVersion argument that allows you to specify the version that you want to modify. You’ll set up a condition that makes sure that you are modifying the latest version of the object. You’ll do this using the UpdateItem Amazon DynamoDB operation.sc

To update your resolver

In your API, choose the Schema tab.

In the Schema pane, modify the Mutation type to add a new updatePost mutation as follows:


type Mutation {
    updatePost(
        id: ID!,
        author: String,
        title: String,
        content: String,
        url: String,
        expectedVersion: Int!
    ): Post
    
    addPost(
        id: ID
        author: String!
        title: String!
        content: String!
        url: String!
    ): Post!
}

Choose Save Schema.

In the Resolvers pane on the right, find the newly created updatePost field on the Mutation type, then choose Attach. Create your new resolver using the snippet below:


import { util } from '@aws-appsync/utils';
import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb';

export function request(ctx) {
  const { id, expectedVersion, ...rest } = ctx.args;
  const values = Object.entries(rest).reduce((obj, [key, value]) => {
    obj[key] = value ?? ddb.operations.remove();
    return obj;
  }, {});

  return ddb.update({
    key: { id },
    condition: { version: { eq: expectedVersion } },
    update: { ...values, version: ddb.operations.increment(1) },
  });
}

export function response(ctx) {
  const { error, result } = ctx;
  if (error) {
    util.appendError(error.message, error.type);
  }
  return result;

Save any changes you made.

This resolver uses ddb.update to create an Amazon DynamoDB UpdateItem request. Instead of writing the entire item, you’re just asking Amazon DynamoDB to update certain attributes. This is done using Amazon DynamoDB update expressions.

The ddb.update function takes a key and an update object as arguments. Then, you check the values of the incoming arguments. When a value is set to null, use the DynamoDB remove operation to signal that the value should be removed from the DynamoDB item.

There is also a new condition section. A condition expression allows you tell Amazon AppSync and Amazon DynamoDB whether or not the request should succeed based on the state of the object already in Amazon DynamoDB before the operation is performed. In this case, you only want the UpdateItem request to succeed if the version field of the item currently in Amazon DynamoDB matches the expectedVersion argument exactly. When the item is updated, we want to increment the value of the version. This is easy to do with the operation function increment.

For more information about condition expressions, see the Condition expressions documentation.

For more info about the UpdateItem request, see the UpdateItem documentation and the DynamoDB module documentation.

For more information about how to write update expressions, see the DynamoDB UpdateExpressions documentation.

Call the API to update a post

Let’s try updating the Post object with the new resolver.

To update your object

In your API, choose the Queries tab.

In the Queries pane, add the following mutation. You’ll also need to update the id argument to the value you noted down earlier:


mutation updatePost {
  updatePost(
    id:123
    title: "An empty story"
    content: null
    expectedVersion: 1
  ) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose updatePost.

The updated post in Amazon DynamoDB should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "updatePost": {
      "id": "123",
      "author": "A new author",
      "title": "An empty story",
      "content": null,
      "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
      "ups": 1,
      "downs": 0,
      "version": 2
    }
  }
}

In this request, you asked Amazon AppSync and Amazon DynamoDB to update the title and content fields only. All of the other fields were left alone (other than incrementing the version field). You set the title attribute to a new value and removed the content attribute from the post. The author, url, ups, and downs fields were left untouched. Try executing the mutation request again while leaving the request exactly as is. You should see a response similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "updatePost": null
  },
  "errors": [
    {
      "path": [
        "updatePost"
      ],
      "data": null,
      "errorType": "DynamoDB:ConditionalCheckFailedException",
      "errorInfo": null,
      "locations": [
        {
          "line": 2,
          "column": 3,
          "sourceName": null
        }
      ],
      "message": "The conditional request failed (Service: DynamoDb, Status Code: 400, Request ID: 1RR3QN5F35CS8IV5VR4OQO9NNBVV4KQNSO5AEMVJF66Q9ASUAAJG)"
    }
  ]
}

The request fails because the condition expression evaluates to false:

The first time you ran the request, the value of the version field of the post in Amazon DynamoDB was 1, which matched the expectedVersion argument. The request succeeded, which meant the version field was incremented in Amazon DynamoDB to 2.
The second time you ran the request, the value of the version field of the post in Amazon DynamoDB was 2, which did not match the expectedVersion argument.

This pattern is typically called optimistic locking.

Create vote mutations (Amazon DynamoDB UpdateItem)

The Post type contains ups and downs fields to enable the recording of upvotes and downvotes. However, at this moment, the API doesn’t let us do anything with them. Let’s add a mutation to let us upvote and downvote the posts.

To add your mutation

In your API, choose the Schema tab.

In the Schema pane, modify the Mutation type and add the DIRECTION enum to add new vote mutations:


type Mutation {
    vote(id: ID!, direction: DIRECTION!): Post
    updatePost(
        id: ID!,
        author: String,
        title: String,
        content: String,
        url: String,
        expectedVersion: Int!
    ): Post
    addPost(
        id: ID,
        author: String!,
        title: String!,
        content: String!,
        url: String!
    ): Post!
}

enum DIRECTION {
  UP
  DOWN
}

Choose Save Schema.

In the Resolvers pane on the right, find the newly created vote field on the Mutation type, and then choose Attach. Create a new resolver by creating and replacing the code with the following snippet:


import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb';

export function request(ctx) {
  const field = ctx.args.direction === 'UP' ? 'ups' : 'downs';
  return ddb.update({
    key: { id: ctx.args.id },
    update: {
      [field]: ddb.operations.increment(1),
      version: ddb.operations.increment(1),
    },
  });
}

export const response = (ctx) => ctx.result;

Save any changes you made.

Call the API to upvote or downvote a post

Now that the new resolvers have been set up, Amazon AppSync knows how to translate an incoming upvotePost or downvote mutation to an Amazon DynamoDB UpdateItem operation. You can now run mutations to upvote or downvote the post you created earlier.

To run your mutation

In your API, choose the Queries tab.
In the Queries pane, add the following mutation. You’ll also need to update the id argument to the value you noted down earlier:
```
mutation votePost {
  vote(id:123, direction: UP) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}
```
Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose votePost.

The updated post in Amazon DynamoDB should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "vote": {
      "id": "123",
      "author": "A new author",
      "title": "An empty story",
      "content": null,
      "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
      "ups": 6,
      "downs": 0,
      "version": 4
    }
  }
}

Choose Run a few more times. You should see the ups and version fields incrementing by 1 each time you execute the query.

Change the query to call it with a different DIRECTION.


mutation votePost {
  vote(id:123, direction: DOWN) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose votePost.

This time, you should see the downs and version fields incrementing by 1 each time you run the query.

Setting up a deletePost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB DeleteItem)

Next, you'll want to create a mutation to delete a post. You’ll do this using the DeleteItem Amazon DynamoDB operation.

To add your mutation

In your schema, choose the Schema tab.

In the Schema pane, modify the Mutation type to add a new deletePost mutation:


type Mutation {
    deletePost(id: ID!, expectedVersion: Int): Post
    vote(id: ID!, direction: DIRECTION!): Post
    updatePost(
        id: ID!,
        author: String,
        title: String,
        content: String,
        url: String,
        expectedVersion: Int!
    ): Post
    addPost(
        id: ID
        author: String!,
        title: String!,
        content: String!,
        url: String!
    ): Post!
}

This time, you made the expectedVersion field optional. Next, choose Save Schema.
In the Resolvers pane on the right, find the newly created delete field in the Mutation type, then choose Attach. Create a new resolver using the following code:
```
import { util } from '@aws-appsync/utils'

import { util } from '@aws-appsync/utils';
import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb';

export function request(ctx) {
  let condition = null;
  if (ctx.args.expectedVersion) {
    condition = {
      or: [
        { id: { attributeExists: false } },
        { version: { eq: ctx.args.expectedVersion } },
      ],
    };
  }
  return ddb.remove({ key: { id: ctx.args.id }, condition });
}

export function response(ctx) {
  const { error, result } = ctx;
  if (error) {
    util.appendError(error.message, error.type);
  }
  return result;
}
```
Note
The expectedVersion argument is an optional argument. If the caller set an expectedVersion argument in the request, the request handler adds a condition that only allows the DeleteItem request to succeed if the item is already deleted or if the version attribute of the post in Amazon DynamoDB exactly matches the expectedVersion. If left out, no condition expression is specified on the DeleteItem request. It succeeds regardless of the value of version or whether or not the item exists in Amazon DynamoDB.
Even though you’re deleting an item, you can return the item that was deleted, if it was not already deleted.

For more info about the DeleteItem request, see the DeleteItem documentation.

Call the API to delete a post

Now that the resolver has been set up, Amazon AppSync knows how to translate an incoming delete mutation to an Amazon DynamoDB DeleteItem operation. You can now run a mutation to delete something in the table.

To run your mutation

In your API, choose the Queries tab.
In the Queries pane, add the following mutation. You’ll also need to update the id argument to the value you noted down earlier:
```
mutation deletePost {
  deletePost(id:123) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}
```
Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose deletePost.
The post is deleted from Amazon DynamoDB. Note that Amazon AppSync returns the value of the item that was deleted from Amazon DynamoDB, which should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:
```
{
  "data": {
    "deletePost": {
      "id": "123",
      "author": "A new author",
      "title": "An empty story",
      "content": null,
      "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
      "ups": 6,
      "downs": 4,
      "version": 12
    }
  }
}
```
The value is only returned if this call to deletePost is the one that actually deletes it from Amazon DynamoDB. Choose Run again.

The call still succeeds, but no value is returned:


{
  "data": {
    "deletePost": null
  }
}

Now, let’s try deleting a post, but this time specifying an expectedValue. First, you’ll need to create a new post because you’ve just deleted the one you’ve been working with so far.

In the Queries pane, add the following mutation:


mutation addPost {
  addPost(
    id:123
    author: "AUTHORNAME"
    title: "Our second post!"
    content: "A new post."
    url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/"
  ) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose addPost.

The results of the newly created post should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. Record the id of the newly created object because you'll need it in just a moment. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "addPost": {
      "id": "123",
      "author": "AUTHORNAME",
      "title": "Our second post!",
      "content": "A new post.",
      "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
      "ups": 1,
      "downs": 0,
      "version": 1
    }
  }
}

Now, let’s try to delete that post with an illegal value for expectedVersion. In the Queries pane, add the following mutation. You’ll also need to update the id argument to the value you noted down earlier:
```
mutation deletePost {
  deletePost(
    id:123
    expectedVersion: 9999
  ) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}
```

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose deletePost. The following result is returned:


{
  "data": {
    "deletePost": null
  },
  "errors": [
    {
      "path": [
        "deletePost"
      ],
      "data": null,
      "errorType": "DynamoDB:ConditionalCheckFailedException",
      "errorInfo": null,
      "locations": [
        {
          "line": 2,
          "column": 3,
          "sourceName": null
        }
      ],
      "message": "The conditional request failed (Service: DynamoDb, Status Code: 400, Request ID: 7083O037M1FTFRK038A4CI9H43VV4KQNSO5AEMVJF66Q9ASUAAJG)"
    }
  ]
}

The request failed because the condition expression evaluates to false. The value for version of the post in Amazon DynamoDB doesn't match the expectedValue specified in the arguments. The current value of the object is returned in the data field in the errors section of the GraphQL response. Retry the request, but correct the expectedVersion:
```
mutation deletePost {
  deletePost(
    id:123
    expectedVersion: 1
  ) {
    id
    author
    title
    content
    url
    ups
    downs
    version
  }
}
```

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose deletePost.

This time the request succeeds, and the value that was deleted from Amazon DynamoDB is returned:


{
  "data": {
    "deletePost": {
      "id": "123",
      "author": "AUTHORNAME",
      "title": "Our second post!",
      "content": "A new post.",
      "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/",
      "ups": 1,
      "downs": 0,
      "version": 1
    }
  }
}

Choose Run again. The call still succeeds, but this time no value is returned because the post was already deleted in Amazon DynamoDB.
```
{ "data": { "deletePost": null } }
```

Setting up an allPost resolver (Amazon DynamoDB Scan)

So far, the API is only useful if you know the id of each post you want to look at. Let’s add a new resolver that returns all the posts in the table.

To add your mutation

In your API, choose the Schema tab.

In the Schema pane, modify the Query type to add a new allPost query as follows:


type Query {
    allPost(limit: Int, nextToken: String): PaginatedPosts!
    getPost(id: ID): Post
}

Add a new PaginationPosts type:


type PaginatedPosts {
    posts: [Post!]!
    nextToken: String
}

Choose Save Schema.
In the Resolvers pane on the right, find the newly created allPost field in the Query type, then choose Attach. Create a new resolver with the following code:
```
import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb';

export function request(ctx) {
  const { limit = 20, nextToken } = ctx.arguments;
  return ddb.scan({ limit, nextToken });
}

export function response(ctx) {
  const { items: posts = [], nextToken } = ctx.result;
  return { posts, nextToken };
}
```
This resolver's request handler expects two optional arguments:
- limit - Specifies the maximum number of items to return in a single call.
- nextToken - Used to retrieve the next set of results (we’ll show where the value for nextToken comes from later).
Save any changes made to your resolver.

For more information about Scan request, see the Scan reference documentation.

Call the API to scan all posts

Now that the resolver has been set up, Amazon AppSync knows how to translate an incoming allPost query to an Amazon DynamoDB Scan operation. You can now scan the table to retrieve all the posts. Before you can try it out though, you need to populate the table with some data because you’ve deleted everything you’ve worked with so far.

To add and query data

In your API, choose the Queries tab.

In the Queries pane, add the following mutation:


mutation addPost {
  post1: addPost(id:1 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 1" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post2: addPost(id:2 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 2" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post3: addPost(id:3 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 3" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post4: addPost(id:4 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 4" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post5: addPost(id:5 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 5" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post6: addPost(id:6 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 6" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post7: addPost(id:7 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 7" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post8: addPost(id:8 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 8" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
  post9: addPost(id:9 author: "AUTHORNAME" title: "A series of posts, Volume 9" content: "Some content" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { title }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button).

Now, let’s scan the table, returning five results at a time. In the Queries pane, add the following query:


query allPost {
  allPost(limit: 5) {
    posts {
      id
      title
    }
    nextToken
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose allPost.

The first five posts should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "allPost": {
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": "5",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 5"
        },
        {
          "id": "1",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 1"
        },
        {
          "id": "6",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 6"
        },
        {
          "id": "9",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 9"
        },
        {
          "id": "7",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 7"
        }
      ],
      "nextToken": "<token>"
    }
  }
}

You received five results and a nextToken that you can use to get the next set of results. Update the allPost query to include the nextToken from the previous set of results:
```
query allPost {
  allPost(
    limit: 5
    nextToken: "<token>"
  ) {
    posts {
      id
      author
    }
    nextToken
  }
}
```

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose allPost.

The remaining four posts should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. There is no nextToken in this set of results because you’ve paged through all nine posts with none remaining. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "allPost": {
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": "2",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 2"
        },
        {
          "id": "3",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 3"
        },
        {
          "id": "4",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 4"
        },
        {
          "id": "8",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 8"
        }
      ],
      "nextToken": null
    }
  }
}

Setting up an allPostsByAuthor resolver(Amazon DynamoDB Query)

In addition to scanning Amazon DynamoDB for all posts, you can also query Amazon DynamoDB to retrieve posts created by a specific author. The Amazon DynamoDB table you created earlier already has a GlobalSecondaryIndex called author-index that you can use with an Amazon DynamoDB Query operation to retrieve all posts created by a specific author.

To add your query

In your API, choose the Schema tab.

In the Schema pane, modify the Query type to add a new allPostsByAuthor query as follows:


type Query {
    allPostsByAuthor(author: String!, limit: Int, nextToken: String): PaginatedPosts!
    allPost(limit: Int, nextToken: String): PaginatedPosts!
    getPost(id: ID): Post
}

Note that this uses the same PaginatedPosts type that you used with the allPost query.

Choose Save Schema.
In the Resolvers pane on the right, find the newly created allPostsByAuthor field on the Query type, and then choose Attach. Create a resolver using the snippet below:
```
import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb';

export function request(ctx) {
  const { limit = 20, nextToken, author } = ctx.arguments;
  return ddb.query({
    index: 'author-index',
    query: { author: { eq: author } },
    limit,
    nextToken,
  });
}

export function response(ctx) {
  const { items: posts = [], nextToken } = ctx.result;
  return { posts, nextToken };
}
```
Like the allPost resolver, this resolver has two optional arguments:
- limit - Specifies the maximum number of items to return in a single call.
- nextToken - Retrieves the next set of results (the value for nextToken can be obtained from a previous call).
Save any changes made to your resolver.

For more information about the Query request, see the Query reference documentation.

Call the API to query all posts by author

Now that the resolver has been set up, Amazon AppSync knows how to translate an incoming allPostsByAuthor mutation to a DynamoDB Query operation against the author-index index. You can now query the table to retrieve all the posts by a specific author.

Before this, however, let’s populate the table with some more posts, because every post so far has the same author.

To add data and query

In your API, choose the Queries tab.

In the Queries pane, add the following mutation:


mutation addPost {
  post1: addPost(id:10 author: "Nadia" title: "The cutest dog in the world" content: "So cute. So very, very cute." url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { author, title }
  post2: addPost(id:11 author: "Nadia" title: "Did you know...?" content: "AppSync works offline?" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { author, title }
  post3: addPost(id:12 author: "Steve" title: "I like GraphQL" content: "It's great" url: "https://aws.amazon.com/appsync/" ) { author, title }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose addPost.

Now, let’s query the table, returning all posts authored by Nadia. In the Queries pane, add the following query:


query allPostsByAuthor {
  allPostsByAuthor(author: "Nadia") {
    posts {
      id
      title
    }
    nextToken
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose allPostsByAuthor. All posts authored by Nadia should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "allPostsByAuthor": {
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": "10",
          "title": "The cutest dog in the world"
        },
        {
          "id": "11",
          "title": "Did you know...?"
        }
      ],
      "nextToken": null
    }
  }
}

Pagination works for Query just the same as it does for Scan. For example, let’s look for all posts by AUTHORNAME, getting five at a time.

In the Queries pane, add the following query:


query allPostsByAuthor {
  allPostsByAuthor(
    author: "AUTHORNAME"
    limit: 5
  ) {
    posts {
      id
      title
    }
    nextToken
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose allPostsByAuthor. All posts authored by AUTHORNAME should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "allPostsByAuthor": {
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": "6",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 6"
        },
        {
          "id": "4",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 4"
        },
        {
          "id": "2",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 2"
        },
        {
          "id": "7",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 7"
        },
        {
          "id": "1",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 1"
        }
      ],
      "nextToken": "<token>"
    }
  }
}

Update the nextToken argument with the value returned from the previous query as follows:


query allPostsByAuthor {
  allPostsByAuthor(
    author: "AUTHORNAME"
    limit: 5
    nextToken: "<token>"
  ) {
    posts {
      id
      title
    }
    nextToken
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose allPostsByAuthor. The remaining posts authored by AUTHORNAME should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "allPostsByAuthor": {
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": "8",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 8"
        },
        {
          "id": "5",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 5"
        },
        {
          "id": "3",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 3"
        },
        {
          "id": "9",
          "title": "A series of posts, Volume 9"
        }
      ],
      "nextToken": null
    }
  }
}

Using sets

Up to this point, the Post type has been a flat key/value object. You can also model complex objects with your resolver, such as sets, lists, and maps. Let’s update the Post type to include tags. A post can have zero or more tags, which are stored in DynamoDB as a String Set. You’ll also set up some mutations to add and remove tags, and a new query to scan for posts with a specific tag.

To set up your data

In your API, choose the Schema tab.

In the Schema pane, modify the Post type to add a new tags field as follows:


type Post {
  id: ID!
  author: String
  title: String
  content: String
  url: String
  ups: Int!
  downs: Int!
  version: Int!
  tags: [String!]
}

In the Schema pane, modify the Query type to add a new allPostsByTag query as follows:


type Query {
  allPostsByTag(tag: String!, limit: Int, nextToken: String): PaginatedPosts!
  allPostsByAuthor(author: String!, limit: Int, nextToken: String): PaginatedPosts!
  allPost(limit: Int, nextToken: String): PaginatedPosts!
  getPost(id: ID): Post
}

In the Schema pane, modify the Mutation type to add new addTag and removeTag mutations as follows:


type Mutation {
  addTag(id: ID!, tag: String!): Post
  removeTag(id: ID!, tag: String!): Post
  deletePost(id: ID!, expectedVersion: Int): Post
  upvotePost(id: ID!): Post
  downvotePost(id: ID!): Post
  updatePost(
    id: ID!,
    author: String,
    title: String,
    content: String,
    url: String,
    expectedVersion: Int!
  ): Post
  addPost(
    author: String!,
    title: String!,
    content: String!,
    url: String!
  ): Post!
}

Choose Save Schema.

In the Resolvers pane on the right, find the newly created allPostsByTag field on the Query type, and then choose Attach. Create your resolver using the snippet below:


import * as ddb from '@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb';

export function request(ctx) {
  const { limit = 20, nextToken, tag } = ctx.arguments;
  return ddb.scan({ limit, nextToken, filter: { tags: { contains: tag } } });
}

export function response(ctx) {
  const { items: posts = [], nextToken } = ctx.result;
  return { posts, nextToken };
}

Save any changes you've made to your resolver.

Now, do the same for the Mutation field addTag using the snippet below:

Note

Though the DynamoDB utils currently don't support set operations, you can still interact with sets by building the request yourself.


import { util } from '@aws-appsync/utils'

export function request(ctx) {
	const { id, tag } = ctx.arguments
	const expressionValues = util.dynamodb.toMapValues({ ':plusOne': 1 })
	expressionValues[':tags'] = util.dynamodb.toStringSet([tag])

	return {
		operation: 'UpdateItem',
		key: util.dynamodb.toMapValues({ id }),
		update: {
			expression: `ADD tags :tags, version :plusOne`,
			expressionValues,
		},
	}
}

export const response = (ctx) => ctx.result

Save any changes made to your resolver.

Repeat this one more time for the Mutation field removeTag using the snippet below:


import { util } from '@aws-appsync/utils';
	
export function request(ctx) {
	  const { id, tag } = ctx.arguments;
	  const expressionValues = util.dynamodb.toMapValues({ ':plusOne': 1 });
	  expressionValues[':tags'] = util.dynamodb.toStringSet([tag]);
	
	  return {
	    operation: 'UpdateItem',
	    key: util.dynamodb.toMapValues({ id }),
	    update: {
	      expression: `DELETE tags :tags ADD version :plusOne`,
	      expressionValues,
	    },
	  };
	}
	
	export const response = (ctx) => ctx.resultexport

Save any changes made to your resolver.

Call the API to work with tags

Now that you’ve set up the resolvers, Amazon AppSync knows how to translate incoming addTag, removeTag, and allPostsByTag requests into DynamoDB UpdateItem and Scan operations. To try it out, let’s select one of the posts you created earlier. For example, let’s use a post authored by Nadia.

To use tags

In your API, choose the Queries tab.

In the Queries pane, add the following query:


query allPostsByAuthor {
  allPostsByAuthor(
    author: "Nadia"
  ) {
    posts {
      id
      title
    }
    nextToken
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose allPostsByAuthor.

All of Nadia’s posts should appear in the Results pane to the right of the Queries pane. It should look similar to the following:


{
  "data": {
    "allPostsByAuthor": {
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": "10",
          "title": "The cutest dog in the world"
        },
        {
          "id": "11",
          "title": "Did you known...?"
        }
      ],
      "nextToken": null
    }
  }
}

Let’s use the one with the title The cutest dog in the world. Record its id because you’ll use it later. Now, let’s try adding a dog tag.
In the Queries pane, add the following mutation. You’ll also need to update the id argument to the value you noted down earlier.
```
mutation addTag {
  addTag(id:10 tag: "dog") {
    id
    title
    tags
  }
}
```

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose addTag. The post is updated with the new tag:


{
  "data": {
    "addTag": {
      "id": "10",
      "title": "The cutest dog in the world",
      "tags": [
        "dog"
      ]
    }
  }
}

You can add more tags. Update the mutation to change the tag argument to puppy:


mutation addTag {
  addTag(id:10 tag: "puppy") {
    id
    title
    tags
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose addTag. The post is updated with the new tag:


{
  "data": {
    "addTag": {
      "id": "10",
      "title": "The cutest dog in the world",
      "tags": [
        "dog",
        "puppy"
      ]
    }
  }
}

You can also delete tags. In the Queries pane, add the following mutation. You’ll also need to update the id argument to the value you noted down earlier:
```
mutation removeTag {
  removeTag(id:10 tag: "puppy") {
    id
    title
    tags
  }
}
```

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose removeTag. The post is updated and the puppy tag is deleted.


{
  "data": {
    "addTag": {
      "id": "10",
      "title": "The cutest dog in the world",
      "tags": [
        "dog"
      ]
    }
  }
}

You can also search for all posts that have a tag. In the Queries pane, add the following query:


query allPostsByTag {
  allPostsByTag(tag: "dog") {
    posts {
      id
      title
      tags
    }
    nextToken
  }
}

Choose Run (the orange play button), then choose allPostsByTag. All posts that have the dog tag are returned as follows:


{
  "data": {
    "allPostsByTag": {
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": "10",
          "title": "The cutest dog in the world",
          "tags": [
            "dog",
            "puppy"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "nextToken": null
    }
  }
}

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you’ve built an API that lets you manipulate Post objects in DynamoDB using Amazon AppSync and GraphQL.

To clean up, you can delete the Amazon AppSync GraphQL API from the console.

To delete the role associated with your DynamoDB table, select your data source in the Data Sources table and click edit. Note the value of the role under Create or use an existing role. Go to the IAM console to delete the role.

To delete your DynamoDB table, click on the name of the table in the data sources list. This takes you to the DynamoDB console where you can delete the table.

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