Discovery: Audit Forms-related GraphQL queries that would be affected by upgrade to GraphQL 4.0

[wesrowe]

Description

User story

AS A CMS Engineer I WANT to have a detailed list of GQL queries that need to be updated to GQL 4.0 for the Forms API SO THAT the Forms API remains stable and can receive expected data after GQL 4.0 / Drupal 10 upgrade.

Engineering notes / background

The Forms API in Lighthouse pulls Form related data via vets-api, using GraphQL queries. We need to understand:

• What queries they use
• What data they access

So we can share that with the CMS team, in service of the GraphQL / Drupal 10 upgrade project.

Acceptance criteria

• [x] Forms API GraphQL queries in vets-api are identified and documented in this ticket
• [ ] Findings are shared with CMS Team (Tim, Edmund)

[jtmst]

It seems to me like a big part of this migration first me having to define a schema in the va.gov-cms repo, before we could look at the front end queries. I'm not sure this makes sense to estimate as a front-end task right now

[jilladams]

From GraphQL meeting on 4/13: (Erika, DaveC, Wes, Kamari, MikeH, Edmund, Tim, Nate, Siwrt, Daniel, Ryan, Josh)

Dave's immediate concerns:

• Do we do GraphQL migration to 4?
  • GraphQL 3 is not supported on Drupal 10. So: yes, unless we want to own GraphQL 3 and make it work with Drupal 10.
  • Moving to 10, forking GraphQL 3: we still have to update this module to make it compatible with Drupal 10. That's throwaway work. We also don't know for certain that it's possible.
  • Daniel tried this live: "I was able to upgrade the webonx/php-graphql library in 5 minutes. Drupal Graphql 3.x working (with a few test queries). For bringing in D10 compatibility, there seems to be a small amount of changes necessary."
• Do we wait and "just" do Fast Publishing?
  • No: we cannot complete AP before Nov, when Drupal 9 EOLs.
  • Drupal 9 End of Life is November 2023 because Symfony 4's EoL is the same time. Symfony's such a massive project that we don't think Drupal can support it past that point.
  • Decision: We must upgrade to Drupal 10 in November. Other decisions on this topic need to be inservice of that.
  • Decision: We cannot move fully off of content-build by November. Moving to JSON-API is too large / too painful. We will be using Drupal10 + content-build for awhile.
• Can we be on Drupal9 unsupported?
  • We're not vulnerable to attacks, etc. But: there are reasons (missed them) to get onto 10 on time.
  • Security risk of being on Drupal 10 with one forked / behind module (GraphQL3) is better than lagging behind
  • Staying on Drupal 9 introduces tech debt because we have to fall behind other ongoing module updates on 10.
• Do we do a hybrid?
  • Swirt: maybe could do. We would need to basically fork GraphQL3, re-namespace, and support it in parallel to GraphQL 4.
• Is there another option?

• ---

core_schema_module: would help bring GraphQL 4 queries closer to GraphQL 3. Could reduce effort to ~1 quarter, rather than XL But: FE templates will require checking regardless, due to some syntax changes, etc.

FE impact:

• there are 98 graphQL queries in content-build, give or take

JSON-API / Other GraphQL consumers

• https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-cms/blob/main/READMES/downstream_dependencies.md if they aren't listed here, that's a problem.
• AP original plan was to move forward with JSON API. TBD if that will be true with renewed AP effort.

Scenarios

1. GraphQL 4 on Drupal 10 (AP on its own) (would need GraphQL 3 to be on at the same time for cutover)
2. GraphQL 3 with 10 (AP on its own)
3. Stay on GraphQL 3 / Drupal 9 til AP completes, then move to GraphQL 4. (would still need overlap of api and 4)

Actions:

• SPIKE: Can GraphQL3 be 'made to work' for Drupal10.
• Map ownership and consumers of each of the current 98 GraphQL queries.
  • VA Forms API is a known consumer.
  • Chatbot is a consumer but uncertain of how much is production vs experimental.
• How might we do reverse entitylookup should we move to GraphQL 4.
• A6: Need to make time/space for thinkers to develop a real plan for how we could achieve:
  • Hit Drupal 10 by November.
  • Reduce double work as much as possible.
• Present options to DaveC & Erika and raise flags for help prioritizing / strategizing. By end of Sprint 82. CMS to drive the effort.

[swirtSJW]

This graph looks like a commit graph but it is more about steps. The idea is to identify the common work that is aligned with getting us to AP on Drupal 10 with the least duplication or throwaway work.

"Main" in this case it not a branch in a repository, but is the main timeline . Unfortunately I can not re-name it.

---
title: APIs From Now to AP
---
gitGraph:
branch GraphQL-3
branch GraphQL-4
branch "AP-json"
branch "AP-GQL"
checkout main
commit id:"current"
checkout GraphQL-3
commit id:"Copy 3 to 3custom"
commit id:"Namespace to run concurrently"
commit id:"Point content-build to new namespace"type: HIGHLIGHT
checkout main
merge GraphQL-3 id:"3 custom"
checkout GraphQL-3
commit id:"Patch 3custom to D10 ready"
checkout main
merge GraphQL-3 id:"3custom D10 ready"
checkout GraphQL-3
commit id:"Point VA forms to new namespace" type: HIGHLIGHT
commit id:"Point Chatbot to new namespace" type: HIGHLIGHT
checkout GraphQL-4
commit id:"Install 4"
checkout GraphQL-3
cherry-pick id: "Install 4"

checkout main
merge GraphQL-3 id:"GQL D10 ready"

commit id:"drupal 10"
checkout "AP-json"

checkout "AP-json"

commit id:"Build JSON Queries" type: HIGHLIGHT
commit id:"Build Next Templates" type: HIGHLIGHT
commit id: "full-AP"

checkout "AP-GQL"
commit id:"Convert existing GQL3 queries to GQL4" type: HIGHLIGHT
cherry-pick id:"Build Next Templates"
cherry-pick id:"full-AP"

checkout main
cherry-pick id: "full-AP"
commit id: "Shutdown GQL 3c"

[jilladams]

4/18 meeting: Tim, Steve, me, Josh, Daniel, Wes, Nate, Edmund, Mike, Kamari, Ryan, Dawn

Good news

• GraphQL 3 - can be used with D10 with the update of a few queries
• Won't block D10. We can keep GraphQL3 and hit D10 November upgrade deadline.
• Edmund has a playground up running D10 + patched GraphQL 3 (141811 library version, same as GQL 4). GraphQL keeps version info in Github (rather than Drupal.org)

Open question:

• Is there an advantage to properly namespacing our fork of GraphQL3 in order to be able to run GraphQL 4 in parallel?
  • Nested question: would doing this ^ be advantageous for Fast Publishing somehow? (per Steve's note above)
  • JSON API will become the template / query language with Fast Publishing. GraphQL 4 becomes an optional Drupal query option, so we don't need to update FE templates to use new GraphQL 4 queries.
  • "Forms & the Chatbot will drive the requirement to use GraphQL 4"
  • Chatbot: Swirt knows: a year ago, Chatbot team was trying to query specific paragraphs using GQL. They do have a CMS account / access, but they were struggling with the query. They have not accessed recently -- last API access = 2y1mo ago, virtual_agent_api = never.
    • List of API users and last access (FYI @wesrowe ): https://prod.cms.va.gov/admin/people?user=api&status=1&role=All&workbench_access_section__section=All&order=access&sort=desc
    • So: this is a theoretical business requirement, but we could move Chatbot to JSON API instead.
  • Lighthouse Forms API team: Also pull CMS data for Forms. We need to work out what queries they use, from Vets API, for CMS team awareness.

PW Next step:

• Repurpose this ticket to address the Lighthouse Forms API query question above

Next steps that sit with CMS team:

• Verify that D10 + GQL 3 doesn't negatively affect anything in templates / performance and we get the same data out
• Evaluate JSON API vs. GraphQL performance (really a Fast Publishing topic?)
• Determine whether we are going to namespace GQL3 so we could run GQL4 in parallel.

[jilladams]

@wesrowe let's plan to talk about this one in FE refinement tomorrow. After you dropped from the GraphQL call we did identify one need for GQL query info, for Forms. I updated the ticket with that in mind, but we should review it as a group.

[dsasser]

VA Forms GraphQL queries used in vets-api

• https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-api/blob/master/modules/va_forms/config/graphql_list.txt
• https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-api/blob/master/modules/va_forms/config/graphql_query.txt
• https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-api/blob/master/modules/va_forms/config/test.txt

[jilladams]

@edmund-dunn @timcosgrove @swirtSJW ^ FYI

[jilladams]

Shared outcome with CMS team: https://dsva.slack.com/archives/CT4GZBM8F/p1682371789855499

Closing.