Settings View Source Importing Types

It doesn't take long for a schema module to become crowded with types, resolvers, and other customizations.

A good first step in cleaning up your schema is extracting your types, organizing them into other modules, and then using Absinthe.Schema.Notation.import_types/1 to make them available to your schema.

Example

Let's say you have a schema that looks something like this:

defmodule MyAppWeb.Schema do
  use Absinthe.Schema

  object :user do
    field :name, :string
  end

  # Rest of the schema...

end

You could extract your :user type into a module, MyAppWeb.Schema.AccountTypes:

defmodule MyAppWeb.Schema.AccountTypes do
  use Absinthe.Schema.Notation

  object :user do
    field :name, :string
  end
end

Note that, unlike your schema module, type modules should use Absinthe.Schema.Notation, not Absinthe.Schema.

Now, you need to make sure you use import_types to tell your schema where to find additional types:

defmodule MyAppWeb.Schema do
  use Absinthe.Schema

  import_types MyAppWeb.Schema.AccountTypes

  # Rest of the schema...
end

Important: You should only use import_types from your schema module; think of it like a manifest.

Now, your schema will be able to resolve any references to your :user type during compilation.

What about root types?

Root types (which are defined using the query, mutation, and subscription macros), can only be defined on the schema module---you can't extract them, but you can use the import_fields mechanism to extract their contents.

Here's an example:

query do
  import_fields :account_queries
end

This will look for a matching object type :account_queries, and pull its fields into the root query type.

For more information, see the guide.