ECM Evolution: Moving to GraphQL to Increase API Performance

According to a Forrester report commissioned by Adobe: “Decision makers no longer consider digital document processes as a ‘point solution,’ but as an integral part of their organization’s IT landscape.” The report found that “65% of respondents say that integrating digital document processes into everyday productivity applications is a very important or critical requirement.” With 328.77 million terabytes of data being created every day, file access and collaboration are becoming paramount in business processes and signaling the need for enterprise content management (ECM), a key element of intelligent automation solutions.

ECM tools capture, manage, store and deliver content and documents. They ensure that information is easily accessible and helpful throughout the content lifecycle. In addition, ECM tools give everyone in the organization easy access to the information necessary to make decisions, implement projects and work efficiently. Machine learning, cloud services and mobile capabilities create new challenges for business content management. However, the right ECM system will help you automate processes, increase productivity and improve collaboration.

Content sharing means that ECM integration is not an afterthought – it is critical to ensuring consistency, collaboration and streamlining the entire process of interacting with data. However, over the years, two distinct camps of application programming interfaces (APIs) for ECM integration have emerged: GraphQL and REST (short for REpresentational State Transfer). In this article, backed by research and practice, we will explore why GraphQL has become preferred over REST APIs.

REST APIs and GraphQL

Let’s say you want to interact with an application to retrieve information or perform a function. The API enables efficient communication by creating a request and response between a modern web client and a server or microservice. The application making the request is the client, and the server or service responds. For example, the design of a weather service’s API might specify that the user provides a zip code and the service responds with high and low temperatures for that particular area.

Compared to REST APIs, GraphQL offers a more efficient approach to specifying and retrieving data without wasting network resources and bandwidth. While REST APIs are considered the “backbone of the Internet,” they have drawbacks.

Among the criticisms are:

● Over and under downloading: Restricting overfetching wastes bandwidth and compute resources, while underfetching results in additional data requests because all the requested information is unavailable in a single REST endpoint request.
● Multiple round trips: Often, REST APIs require multiple visits to the server to retrieve data. Yo-yo activity increases latency, affects response times and hinders the efficiency of content search operations.
● Lack of flexibility in data search and manipulation: Traditional APIs typically provide predefined endpoints and persistent data structures, limiting the flexibility to retrieve and manipulate content. This lack of flexibility creates challenges when specific needs or data transformations arise.
● Architecture limitations: There are no standards for implementing REST APIs, only guidelines for architectural style. Traditional APIs are often built on monolithic architectures where all functionality and data access are tightly coupled. This limits the ability to scale and develop individual components independently, hampering flexibility and innovation.

GraphQL, developed at Facebook, is an open source query and data manipulation language for APIs. GraphQL efficiently retrieves information with a single query, saving bandwidth and reducing multiple cascading requests. Through optimized content delivery, seamless integration, and increased developer productivity, GraphQL enables enterprises to unlock the full potential of their content systems, providing a competitive advantage.

GraphQL enables declarative data retrieval, where the client can specify what data is needed from the API. Instead of multiple endpoints that return separate data, the GraphQL server provides a single endpoint and precisely responds to the client’s requested data. Because the GraphQL server can pull data from individual sources and present it as a unified graph, it is not tied to any specific database or storage engine.

REST vs. GraphQL: Consolidated Differences

● REST is a set of rules that define structured data exchange between a client and a server. GraphQL is a query language, architectural style, and tools for creating and manipulating APIs.
● REST is suitable for simple data sources with well-defined resources, while GraphQL is suitable for large, complex and interconnected data sources.
● REST has multiple endpoints in the form of URLs to define resources. GraphQL has a single URL endpoint.
● REST returns data in a structure defined by the server. GraphQL returns data in a flexible, client-defined structure.
● REST data is “weakly typed”, so the client must decide how to interpret the formatted data when returned. GraphQL data is “strongly typed”, the client receives data in predetermined and mutually understandable formats.

In a direct comparison, GraphQL is a better choice for content management than REST API. The performance, flexibility, and improved developer experience of GraphQL are benefits and potential game-changers for your organization. Adopting GraphQL opens up opportunities for more efficient content management and delivery.

Application

In a survey of 450 senior IT and business decision-makers from North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific responsible for digital document processes in their organizations, 61% said that adopting digital document processing tools was “very important” or a “critical requirement.” . ” ECM meets these requirements by automating processes and increasing productivity. However, choosing APIs that provide these benefits can significantly impact the quality of your document management.

Over time, it has become clear that developers prefer GraphQL over REST APIs for web client interfaces to deliver and consume content more efficiently. For example, companies like Netflix and Shopify have successfully implemented GraphQL for their content management needs, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction. Making the right choice can be the difference between happy end users and a DevOps team receiving an avalanche of problem reports.