September 2021 Summaries

GraphQL directives are annotations that can alter the behavior of a query or mutation. They are prefixed with "@" and are used in specific locations as defined by their specification. The standardized directives include @deprecated, @skip, @include, and @specifiedBy. These directives allow for communication about deprecated fields, conditional field inclusion/exclusion, and type references. Future specification directives like @defer and @stream are also being developed to improve data retrieval efficiency. Custom directives such as @cached, @rest, @dbquery, @materializer, @external, @requires, @provides, @key, and @_ have been implemented by various API providers for specific use-cases.

The low-code ecosystem is rapidly growing and expected to reach $13 billion by the end of 2021. Low-code tools like Draftbit, Bubble, and Retool allow for quick development of mobile, web, and admin applications, as well as workflow automation. However, more thought is required when using these tools, as they abstract implementation details. Well-documented application flows lead to better communication and understanding of production timelines. Low-code does not mean less programming; logical thinking and knowledge of programming concepts are still necessary. Coupling low-code tools with Hasura can improve iteration speed on both data and presentation layers. Notable features of Hasura include fine-grained access controls, REST endpoints, API observability, and instant cache. The low-code space offers efficiency and improved time-to-value for businesses of all sizes.

Hasura Cloud has achieved Service Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type 2 certification, further emphasizing its commitment to security for users and enabling mission-critical workloads. The SOC 2 examination was conducted by an independent third-party firm, evaluating Hasura's processes, procedures, and controls for security, availability, and confidentiality. This certification verifies that Hasura Cloud has implemented a secure platform with a verified track record of maintaining its implementation.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to connect BigQuery with Hasura and set default limits. The integration between BigQuery and Hasura provides a fast and descriptive API for BigQuery that can be integrated with the rest of your data layer, opening up new use-cases for large datasets. Key features include dynamic GraphQL APIs, fine-grained authorization controls, caching directives, rate limits, query depth limits, and allow-lists for tracking actual query usage. By integrating BigQuery with Hasura, developers can focus on domain code rather than proxy code, reducing the time to market for applications.

In this video, we will demonstrate how low-ops/no-ops tooling supports rapid prototyping. We'll use DBDiagram.io for database modeling, Heroku for Postgres database provisioning, Mockeroo for mock data generation, Hasura for API layer creation, and Retool for backend tooling iteration. The video covers creating a project in Hasura, working with DBDiagram.io, creating tables in Postgres, generating mock data, importing mock data, and using Retool.

Multi-tenancy in computing dates back to the 1960s when companies shared mainframe resources. The concept evolved over time and is now prevalent in cloud computing with many services being multi-tenant, such as Salesforce, Google Docs, and Spotify. Multi-tenancy can be achieved through various methods like service/API, schema & data, or database separation. GraphQL combined with Hasura provides a significant advantage in developing applications that need multiple databases federated together via an API.

In August, Hasura released several product updates and launches. These include the integration of graphql-ws, support for computed fields on remote schema joins, caching on Hasura Cloud free tier, VPC Peering on Hasura Cloud, self-signed HTTPS webhooks, and remote schema customisations. The company also upgraded its GitHub Integration feature to allow users to deploy local migrations to staging and production by a simple git push. These updates aim to enhance the user experience and improve functionality for GraphQL subscriptions and other features.

This tutorial demonstrates how to integrate Hasura with Microsoft Power Automate for business workflow automation. The integration involves creating a daily digest that notifies users of any flagged uploads requiring attention. Prerequisites include familiarity with the base tutorial, an accessible Hasura project, and a Microsoft Office 365 account. The tutorial focuses on enabling GraphQL queries instead of persisting data behind a REST endpoint.

The Hasura team has decided to sponsor open-source GraphQL projects in an effort to give back to the community that helped make their own GraphQL Engine successful. They have chosen to support five projects, including graphql-flutter, graphql-dotnet, gqless, graphql-code-generator, and elm-graphql. These projects were selected for their significant contributions to the GraphQL ecosystem and their potential to help expand its adoption. The sponsorship aims to provide financial support to developers behind these projects, increase awareness of them, and encourage more open-source development within the community. Hasura plans to continue sponsoring new projects each month and is actively seeking suggestions for other projects they should support.