Sorting arguments in GraphQL - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ query_result

intermediate

Sorting users by age ascending

Given this GraphQL query to fetch users sorted by age in ascending order, what is the order of user names returned?

GraphQL

query {
  users(sort: {field: "age", direction: ASC}) {
    name
    age
  }
}

A ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]

B ["Charlie", "Bob", "Alice"]

C ["Alice", "Charlie", "Bob"]

D ["Bob", "Alice", "Charlie"]

💡 Hint

Think about sorting numbers from smallest to largest.

The query sorts users by their age in ascending order, so the youngest user appears first.

📝 Syntax

intermediate

Identify the syntax error in sorting argument

Which option contains a syntax error in the sorting argument of this GraphQL query?

GraphQL

query {
  products(sort: {field: "price", direction: DESC}) {
    id
    price
  }
}

A }CSED :noitcerid ,"ecirp" :dleif{ :tros

B sort: {field: "price", direction: DESC}

C sort: {field: "price", direction: "DESC"}

D sort: {field: price, direction: "DESC"}

💡 Hint

Field names in GraphQL arguments must be strings if they are not enums.

Option D misses quotes around the field name 'price', causing a syntax error.

❓ optimization

advanced

Optimizing sorting for large datasets

Which sorting argument approach is best to optimize performance when fetching a large list of items sorted by creation date descending?

GraphQL

query {
  items(sort: {field: "createdAt", direction: DESC}) {
    id
    createdAt
  }
}

A Sort by 'id' instead of 'createdAt' to speed up sorting.

B Fetch all items unsorted and sort on the client side.

C Use server-side sorting with an indexed 'createdAt' field.

D Remove sorting argument to reduce query complexity.

💡 Hint

Think about where sorting is most efficient for large data.

Sorting on the server using an indexed field is faster and uses less bandwidth than client-side sorting.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

Understanding multi-field sorting arguments

How does the following sorting argument affect the order of results?

sort: [{field: "lastName", direction: ASC}, {field: "firstName", direction: ASC}]

A Sorts results first by lastName ascending, then by firstName ascending within each lastName.

B Sorts results by firstName ascending only, ignoring lastName.

C Sorts results randomly because multiple fields are not supported.

D Sorts results by lastName descending, then firstName ascending.

💡 Hint

Think about sorting by multiple keys in order.

The results are sorted by lastName ascending first. If lastNames are equal, then firstName ascending is used to order those entries.

🔧 Debug

expert

Debugging incorrect sorting direction

A developer wrote this query to sort posts by date descending but results appear sorted ascending. Which option explains the likely cause?

GraphQL

query {
  posts(sort: {field: "date", direction: "desc"}) {
    id
    date
  }
}

A The field name "date" is invalid and causes fallback to default sorting.

B The sorting direction value is case-sensitive and should be "DESC" instead of "desc".

C The query is missing a limit argument causing sorting to fail.

D GraphQL does not support sorting by date fields.

💡 Hint

Check if sorting direction values are case-sensitive enums.

Sorting direction is often case-sensitive. Using "desc" instead of "DESC" can cause the server to ignore the direction or default to ascending.