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Getting to know the API

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Based on the developer environment you created in the previous chapter, you’ll now install and test Enonic’s headless graphql API, aka Guillotine

Headless API

Enonic provides an out-of-the-box GraphQL API that dynamically reflects changes in your applications and content.The API is highly flexible, and may even be customized.For a deep dive, visit the Guillotine documentation.

New to GraphQL?Check out the GraphQL documentation

Task: Install API

The headless API can be installed via an application called Guillotine.

  1. Install via XP menu (XP icon in the top right corner) → Applications → Install. Search for Guillotine and install the app.

  2. Once installed, Guillotine will automatically create and expose a GraphQL API for your application and project. You can verify that Guillotine is working by opening Content Studio. Look for a new menu item on the left called Query Playground.

    content studio guillotine

Accessing the API externally

Guillotine application creates a graphQL API endpoint for every site that it is added to. So if your Enonic XP is running on http://localhost:8080, you will get the following URLs for every site with Guillotine app added:

http://localhost:8080/site/[project-name]/[branch-name]

where branch-name can only be draft or master, with draft being protected by authentication.

Task: Run a simple query

Query playground lets us browse and use the API directly. Use the left hand field to type/paste in queries, press the "play" button to run the query, and the result will be presented in the right hand field.

  1. Query movies:

    One of the objectives in this tutorial is listing and presenting movie details. Run this simple query that retrieves the ID and displayName of some movies:

    Query to fetch movies from the Headless API: 
    {
    guillotine {
        queryDsl(
          query: {
            boolean: {
              must:[
                {term: {field: "valid", value: {boolean:true}}}
                {term: {field: "type", value: {string: "com.example.myproject:movie"}}}
              ]
            }
          }
          sort: {
          	field:"displayName"
          	direction:ASC
        	}
        ) {
            id: _id
            displayName
        }
    }
}
    com.example.myproject refers to the name of the application you created in the previous chapter. movie is a specific content type within the app.

  2. View the Result

    After executing the query, you should get a result in the right hand response panel. content studio basic query

Task: Query variables

In addition to the query itself, GraphQL also supports optional query variables. Query variables enable you to re-use the same query, but for instance fetch different content each time.

  1. Add query to the GraphQL playground:

    query($path:ID!){               (1)
  guillotine {
    get(key:$path) {            (2)
      type
      _id
      displayName
    }
  }
}
    1 path is declared (with a $ marking it as a variable in the query). The declaration includes its type (ID), and a ! marking it as a required parameter).
    2 The path variable here used as the value of the key parameter, passed to the get field.

  2. Add query Variables. In the bottom left of Query Playground, you will find a the `Query variables`tab. Add the following JSON to the field.

    Tthe path field in the JSON corresponds to the $path in the query string above: 
    {
    "path": "/movies/se7en"
}

  3. Run the query to validate that the parameter working as expected.

Task: Type introspection

The queries above only specify fields like _id and displayName for each content found. These are general fields in the CMS, available across all content types.

Content types may also define their own custom fields. These are stored under the data field. In the headless API, deeper data and functionality belonging to a content type is accessed through introspection.

For example, you may introspect the fields that are exclusive to the com.example.myproject:movie content type like this:

Content type introspection: 
... on com_example_myproject_Movie
The fully-qualified content type name is used, dots are replaced with underscores, and the name is capitalized Movie.

  1. Fetch a complex data set

    Lets get content for a movie, the referenced image items media:image and person items com.example.myproject:person in a single query:

    Paste this query into the GraphQL Playground:

    A query with nested introspections 
    query($path:ID!){
  guillotine {
    get(key:$path) {
      type
      displayName
      ... on com_example_myproject_Movie {
        data {
          subtitle
          abstract
          trailer
          release
          photos {
            ... on media_Image {
                imageUrl: imageUrl(type: absolute, scale: "width(500)")
            }
          }
          cast {
            character
            actor {
              displayName
              ... on com_example_myproject_Person {
                _path
                data {
                  photos {
                    ... on media_Image {
                      imageUrl: imageUrl(type: absolute, scale: "block(100,100)")
                    }
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
    1 Notice how imageUrl is requested with parameters of its own? Type introspections can expose certain functions for processing data before returning it.

    Run the query in the Playground. It should produce a complete set of data - which will come in handy later in this tutorial.

    All in all, this allows for fetching deep and rich content data in a single API request.

Moving forward, you’ll get introduced to the concept of sites.

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