Docs: Apollo Server example throws error

[hyposlasher]

Description

When trying run Apollo Server code example from https://graphql.org/code/ I got an error:

   throw new Error('You must `await server.start()` before calling `server.' +
            ^

Error: You must `await server.start()` before calling `server.applyMiddleware()`

Steps to Reproduce

1. npm install apollo-server-express express
2. run node server.js with this code in server.js:

const express = require('express');
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require('apollo-server-express');

const typeDefs = gql`
  type Query {
    hello: String
  }
`;

const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    hello: () => 'Hello world!',
  },
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

const app = express();
server.applyMiddleware({ app });

app.listen({ port: 4000 }, () =>
  console.log('Now browse to http://localhost:4000' + server.graphqlPath)
);

Expected Result

code runs with no errors

Actual Result

code runs with error

[saihaj]

server.start() is a promise so you need to resolve it. Checkout apollo docs on how to use it https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/tree/main/packages/apollo-server-express#express

Hey it is pretty simple to solve this issue. Here is what I did

const express = require("express");
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require("apollo-server-express");

const typeDefs = gql`
  type Query {
    hello: String
  }
`;

const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    hello: () => "Hello world!",
  },
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

const main = async () => {
  const app = express();
  await server.start();
  server.applyMiddleware({ app });

  app.listen({ port: 4000 }, () =>
    console.log("Now browse to http://localhost:4000" + server.graphqlPath)
  );
};

main();

Basically create a main function and make it an async function and await server.start();

[hyposlasher]

Hey it is pretty simple to solve this issue. Here is what I did

const express = require("express");
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require("apollo-server-express");

const typeDefs = gql`
  type Query {
    hello: String
  }
`;

const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    hello: () => "Hello world!",
  },
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

const main = async () => {
  const app = express();
  await server.start();
  server.applyMiddleware({ app });

  app.listen({ port: 4000 }, () =>
    console.log("Now browse to http://localhost:4000" + server.graphqlPath)
  );
};

main();

Basically create a main function and make it an async function and await server.start();

Thank you but I know how to solve it. I am just pointing that there is an error in the docs

I will open pr and fix this issue.

[hwillson]

As discussed in #1082 this was fixed, but the new instructions are not entirely accurate now that Apollo Server 4 has shipped. We'll get this updated - thanks!

[Urigo]

@hwillson is this still the case?

[novwhisky]

typeDefs was renamed to schema at some point. Didn't feel like going through the contributor sign-up process, but here's my closed PR addressing it.

[glasser]

The current code is very close to the block in the @apollo/server README except for the issues around typeDefs vs schema (and an unnecessary gql parsing, and reformatting to remove semicolons for some reason) — I'd just take the README code exactly:

import { ApolloServer } from '@apollo/server';
import { startStandaloneServer } from '@apollo/server/standalone';

// The GraphQL schema
const typeDefs = `#graphql
  type Query {
    hello: String
  }
`;

// A map of functions which return data for the schema.
const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    hello: () => 'world',
  },
};

const server = new ApolloServer({
  typeDefs,
  resolvers,
});

const { url } = await startStandaloneServer(server);
console.log(`🚀 Server ready at ${url}`);