Error handling benefits with Fabric’s API for GraphQL

• Data Engineering
• Data Science
• Microsoft Fabric

• February 5, 2025 by Sunitha Muthukrishna 99,120 Views

APIs are the unsung heroes in today’s web development landscape. APIs enable seamless communication between various services and applications. Among the popular API patterns, GraphQL stands out for its flexibility and efficiency.

You can take advantage of this with Fabric’s API for GraphQL. However, like any technology, effective error handling is crucial to ensure a smooth user experience and robust application performance. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the intricacies of error handling in GraphQL and share some best practices for managing errors effectively.

Understanding GraphQL API error handling

GraphQL is a query language for APIs that allows clients to request specific data. Unlike REST, GraphQL APIs return a single response containing the requested data or errors. Error handling in GraphQL is managed through the errors field in the response.

• Errors in HTTP response: GraphQL typically returns 200 OK even if some parts of the query fail. The errors are detailed in the errors array in the JSON response. Example

{
  "data": null,
  "errors": [
    {
      "message": "Product not found",
      "locations": [{ "line": 2, "column": 3 }],
      "path": ["getProduct"]
    }
  ]
}

GraphQL errors can include additional fields such as locations and paths to provide more context about where the error occurred in the query.

• Types of errors: There are two types of errors you can encounter – GraphQL errors or Network errors.
  • GraphQL errors: These are errors related to the server-side execution of a GraphQL operation. They include Syntax errors (e.g., a query structure was not valid). Validation errors (e.g., a query included a schema field that doesn’t exist)
  • Network errors: these are errors that occur while attempting to communicate with API for GraphQL which results in a 4xx or 5xx response status code.

• Managing Mixed Results: GraphQL supports resolving parts of a query while others fail. For instance, if you query ‘products’ and ‘orders’, you might get a valid result for ‘products’ even if ‘orders’ errors out.

Understanding REST API error handling

REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs follow a stateless, client-server architecture. Error handling in REST APIs is typically managed using HTTP status codes and response bodies. Here are some common HTTP status codes used in REST APIs:

• 400 Bad Request: the request was invalid or cannot be processed.
• 401 Unauthorized: authentication is required or has failed.
• 403 Forbidden: the server understands the request but refuses to authorize it.
• 404 Not Found: the requested resource could not be found.
• 500 Internal Server Error: an unexpected error occurred on the server.
• 200 OK: the request was successful.

In addition to status codes, REST APIs often include error messages in the response body to provide more context about the error. For example:

{
  "status": 400,
  "error": "Bad Request",
  "message": "Invalid input data"
}

Key differences in error handling for REST and GraphQL

You may have used REST APIs to fetch the data, but here are some key differences that make development with GraphQL more robust especially error handling. 

1. Error locations: The custom format of errors in response with API for GraphQL gives more contextual information.
   • REST: Errors are indicated by HTTP status codes and response bodies.
   • GraphQL: Errors are included in the errors field of the response.
2. Granularity: API for GraphQL  allows fine grained control with field level errors in a query.
   • REST: Errors are typically associated with the entire request.
   • GraphQL: Errors can be associated with specific fields or operations within a query.
3. Debugging : Richer debugging with context when using API for GraphQL
   • REST: Separate responses for successful and error cases.
   • GraphQL: A single response containing both data and errors.
4. Client support: The front-end client invoking the API for GraphQL can directly access the fields for errors provided in the response. This allows the client to manage errors more gracefully.

Conclusion

Effective error handling is crucial for building reliable and user-friendly APIs. By providing clear and informative error messages, you can improve the developers’ experience and ensure smooth communication between your services when using APIs for GraphQL in Fabric.