What is the Amplify backend best practice for adding calculated fields to GraphQL?

Question

I am using Amplify's GraphQL backend, which works perfectly for generating standard CRUD operations.

However, what if I want to add a calculated field to the model?

For instance, I want to make a query that fetches a set of prices, and some of those prices are in my DynamoDB table, while others will come from an API call to a third party.

I can see two options from the Amplify docs:
* Modify the existing query resolver lambda pipeline, which entails writing a bunch of VTL boilerplate - exactly the kind of work I think Amplify is designed to automate
* Make the query with the @function directive, but then we don't get all the nice benefits of Amplify's generated pipeline, including auth and so on

Neither of these is ideal, or makes for a great developer experience. Let me know if you have a better way!

Accepted Answer

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us

'@function' directive can be used in combination with field level authorization to get auth, the other components you would build yourself.

Is there a specific feature request you have in mind?

Apart from customizing resolvers we don't currently have a way to make something like this work.

What is the Amplify backend best practice for adding calculated fields to GraphQL?

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