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Version: v5.0.0

Subscriptions

Relay exposes the following APIs to create subscriptions.

const {requestSubscription} = require('react-relay');

type Variables = {[name: string]: any};

type Disposable = {
dispose(): void,
};

requestSubscription(
environment: Environment,
config: {
subscription: GraphQLTaggedNode,
variables: Variables,
onCompleted?: ?() => void,
onError?: ?(error: Error) => void,
onNext?: ?(response: ?Object) => void,
updater?: ?(store: RecordSourceSelectorProxy, data: SelectorData) => void,
configs?: Array<DeclarativeMutationConfig>,
},
) => Disposable;

The function returns a Disposable on which you could call dispose() to cancel the refetch.

Now let's take a closer look at the config:

  • subscription: the graphql tagged subscription query.
  • variables: an object that contains the variables needed for the subscription.
  • onCompleted: a callback function executed when the subscription is closed by the peer without error.
  • onError: a callback function executed when Relay or the server encounters an error processing the subscription.
  • onNext: a callback function executed each time a response is received from the server, with the raw GraphQL response payload.
  • updater: an optional function that can supply custom logic for updating the in-memory Relay store based on the server response.
  • configs: an array containing the updater configurations. It is the same as configs in commitMutation.

Example​

In a simple subscription, you only need subscription and variables. This is appropriate when you are only changing the properties of existing records that can be identified by their id:

const {
requestSubscription,
graphql,
} = require('react-relay');

const subscription = graphql`
subscription MarkReadNotificationSubscription(
$storyID: ID!
) {
markReadNotification(storyID: $storyID) {
notification {
seenState
}
}
}
`;

const variables = {
storyID,
};

requestSubscription(
yourEnvironment, // see Environment docs
{
subscription,
variables,
// optional but recommended:
onCompleted: () => {
// server closed the subscription
},
onError: error => console.error(error),
}
);

Updating the client on each response

For more complex use-cases, you may wish to perform custom logic to update Relay's in-memory cache when each subscription response is received. To do so, pass an updater function:

const {ConnectionHandler} = require('relay-runtime');

requestSubscription(
environment,
{
subscription,
variables,
updater: store => {
// Get the notification
const rootField = store.getRootField('markReadNotification');
const notification = rootField.getLinkedRecord('notification');
// Add it to a connection
const viewer = store.getRoot().getLinkedRecord('viewer');
const notifications =
ConnectionHandler.getConnection(viewer, 'notifications');
const edge = ConnectionHandler.createEdge(
store,
notifications,
notification,
'<TypeOfNotificationsEdge>',
);
ConnectionHandler.insertEdgeAfter(notifications, edge);
},
},
);