Fields¶

Graphene-Django-Extras provides several field types for building GraphQL schemas with enhanced functionality.

DjangoObjectField¶

Used for single object queries with automatic ID filtering.

from graphene_django_extras import DjangoObjectField
from .types import UserType

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    user = DjangoObjectField(UserType, description='Single User query')

Features: - Automatic ID-based filtering - No need to define custom resolve function - Built-in error handling for non-existent objects

Usage in GraphQL:

{
  user(id: 1) {
    id
    username
    firstName
  }
}

DjangoFilterListField¶

Provides filtering capabilities for list queries without pagination.

from graphene_django_extras import DjangoFilterListField
from .types import UserType

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    users = DjangoFilterListField(UserType)

Features: - Django-filter integration - Multiple filter types (exact, contains, etc.) - No pagination (returns all matching results)

Usage in GraphQL:

{
  users(firstName_Icontains: "john") {
    id
    username
    firstName
    lastName
  }
}

DjangoFilterPaginateListField¶

Combines filtering and pagination for list queries.

from graphene_django_extras import DjangoFilterPaginateListField
from graphene_django_extras.paginations import LimitOffsetGraphqlPagination
from .types import UserType

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    users = DjangoFilterPaginateListField(
        UserType, 
        pagination=LimitOffsetGraphqlPagination(default_limit=20)
    )

Features: - All filtering capabilities of DjangoFilterListField - Built-in pagination support - Configurable pagination class

Usage in GraphQL:

{
  users(firstName_Icontains: "john", limit: 10, offset: 0) {
    results {
      id
      username
      firstName
    }
    totalCount
  }
}

DjangoListObjectField¶

Recommended for Queries

This is the most flexible approach for list queries with built-in support for filtering and pagination.

from graphene_django_extras import DjangoListObjectField
from .types import UserListType

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    users = DjangoListObjectField(UserListType, description='All Users query')

Features: - Works with DjangoListObjectType - Inherits pagination configuration from the type - Support for custom FilterSet classes - Built-in caching support

Usage in GraphQL:

{
  users(limit: 10, offset: 0) {
    results {
      id
      username
      firstName
    }
    totalCount
  }
}

With Custom FilterSet¶

import django_filters
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class UserFilter(django_filters.FilterSet):
    name = django_filters.CharFilter(method='filter_by_name')

    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ['username', 'email']

    def filter_by_name(self, queryset, name, value):
        return queryset.filter(
            Q(first_name__icontains=value) | Q(last_name__icontains=value)
        )

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    users = DjangoListObjectField(
        UserListType, 
        filterset_class=UserFilter,
        description='Users with custom filtering'
    )

Field Comparison¶

Feature	DjangoObjectField	DjangoFilterListField	DjangoFilterPaginateListField	DjangoListObjectField
Single Objects	✅	❌	❌	❌
List Objects	❌	✅	✅	✅
Filtering	ID only	✅	✅	✅
Pagination	❌	❌	✅	✅
Custom FilterSet	❌	✅	✅	✅
Type Integration	Basic	Basic	Basic	Full
Caching	❌	❌	❌	✅

Best Practices¶

1. Use DjangoListObjectField for Lists¶

# ✅ Recommended
class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    users = DjangoListObjectField(UserListType, description='All users')

# ❌ Less flexible
class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    users = DjangoFilterPaginateListField(UserType)

2. Define Filter Fields in Types¶

class UserType(DjangoObjectType):
    class Meta:
        model = User
        filter_fields = {
            "username": ("exact", "icontains"),
            "email": ("exact", "icontains"),
            "is_active": ("exact",),
        }

3. Use Descriptive Names¶

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    # ✅ Clear and descriptive
    active_users = DjangoListObjectField(
        UserListType, 
        description='List of active users with pagination'
    )

    user_by_id = DjangoObjectField(
        UserType, 
        description='Get a single user by ID'
    )

4. Combine with Permissions¶

from graphene_django_extras import DjangoListObjectField

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    users = DjangoListObjectField(UserListType)

    def resolve_users(self, info, **kwargs):
        if not info.context.user.is_staff:
            raise PermissionError("Staff access required")
        return super().resolve_users(info, **kwargs)