Remove GraphQL from the CMS

[emteknetnz]

GraphQL is used inconsistently in the CMS for some of the XHR requests made by react components. The majority of XHR requests are currently made to "regular Silverstripe controller endpoints", which also includes "Form Schema" endpoints used to process Form requests.

This lack of standardisation has lead to inefficiencies in development an maintenance for the CMS Squad. There has also been a fair bit of negative feedback from several developers in the community who think they're supposed to do all admin XHR requests using GraphQL, which has proven to be very difficult for people to learn and use.

This card is about removing GraphQL from the CMS entirely and be replaced with "regular Silverstripe controller endpoints" in the name of standardisation.

Removing GraphQL from the CMS also means that projects no longer need to have the .graphql-generated directory by default.

Acceptance criteria

• Functionality that GraphQL enabled is retained and replaced with regular Silverstripe controller endpoints
• Overall test coverage is not reduced
• All GraphQL code and config is removed (excluding the actual silverstripe/graphql module)
• GraphQL dependency is not included in any commericially supported composer.json files
• The .graphql-generated folder is not created when creating a project with silverstripe/installer or silverstripe/recipe-kitchen-sink (will probably still be created for recipe-sink because we're including the graphql module)
• silverstripe/graphql is still included in silverstripe/recipe-kitchen-sink
• PRs target CMS 6
• Removed classes and methods are deprecated in CMS 5
• In docs.silverstripe.org, the "Developer Guides > GraphQL" section is moved to "Optional features" (have raised new card for this)
• Any other relevant documentation referring to graphql in docs.silverstripe.org is updated accordingly
• Create follow up PRs to use the correct deprecation version in CMS 5 e.g. for asset-admin it should be deprecated in 2.3.0, not 5.3.0. After merging ensure merge-up is done correctly as the deprecated methods will have been removed

New issues created

• Move GraphQL docs to be added as optional module in CMS 6 doc.silverstripe.org#304

CMS 5 PRs

• API Deprecate GraphQL silverstripe-asset-admin#1484
• API Deprecate GraphQL silverstripe-cms#2986
• API Deprecate GraphQL silverstripe-elemental#1235
• API Deprecate GraphQL silverstripe-versioned#462
• DOC Remove recommendation for GraphQL developer-docs#555
• DOC Deprecate CMS GraphQL endpoints developer-docs#559
• FIX Include deprecation import silverstripe-versioned#464

CMS 6 multi PR CI

• https://github.com/creative-commoners/recipe-kitchen-sink/actions/runs/10627272875

CMS 6 PRs

• DEP Remove GraphQL webpack-config#76
• ENH Add lib/getJsonErrorMessage to externals.js webpack-config#78
• MNT Temporarily add Deprecation class silverstripe-elemental#1239
• API Remove GraphQL #1802
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-asset-admin#1477
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-cms#2977
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-versioned-admin#354
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-elemental#1220
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-versioned#456
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-framework#11316
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-subsites#584
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-frameworktest#197
• API Remove GraphQL silverstripe-installer#375
• DEP Remove GraphQL recipe-cms#88
• MNT Move graphql tests out of recipe-cms recipe-kitchen-sink#69
• API Migrate code and docs from other modules silverstripe-graphql#596
• MNT Mock version of framework bringyourownideas/silverstripe-maintenance#236
• DOC Remove GraphQL developer-docs#556

Other PRs

• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-campaign-admin#316
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-elemental-bannerblock#156
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-linkfield#310
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-login-forms#191
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-session-manager#205
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-blog#770
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-contentreview#245
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-documentconverter#90
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-externallinks#136
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-gridfieldqueuedexport#116
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-lumberjack#161
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-mfa#553
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-realme#151
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-segment-field#118
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-sharedraftcontent#245
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-sitewidecontent-report#99
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-tagfield#299
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-totp-authenticator#167
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-userforms#1309
• MNT Use webpack-config 3 silverstripe-webauthn-authenticator#191
• DEP Remove unused apollo dependency silverstripe-linkfield#309
• API Use correct version for deprecation silverstripe-asset-admin#1493
• API Use correct version for deprecation silverstripe-versioned#471

Notes

• This refers exclusively to GraphQL endpoints inside the CMS
• Commercial support for the silverstripe/graphql module is not being changed at this point

[michalkleiner]

And asset-admin will still use it or also switch to standard controllers?

[emteknetnz]

Any supported module, including asset-admin, that uses some graphql for some of its functionality will standardise entirely on standard controllers for CMS 6

I've linked the PRs that were used in a POC to prove viability in the description - I'll continue using these same PR's in this issue. That includes a PR for asset-admin

[GuySartorelli]

Webpack PR merged, reassigning to Steve to rebuild dist files

[GuySartorelli]

@emteknetnz #1802 needs rebasing - after that everything is ready to go!
Don't bother redoing the kitchen sink run, it's just yarn.lock.

[GuySartorelli]

@emteknetnz
Just one more PR needs rebasing.

There's also an acceptance criteria I think might have been added after refinement:

Create follow up PRs to use the correct deprecation version in CMS 5 e.g. for asset-admin it should be deprecated in 2.3.0, not 5.3.0. After merging ensure merge-up is done correctly as the deprecated methods will have been removed

Not sure what that's about... do you need to do anything more for this?

[emteknetnz]

Have rebased blog PR, and raised new CMS 5 PRs for asset-admin and versioned to use the correct version for deprecation notices

[GuySartorelli]

PRs merged