Server-Driven UI Schema Design

Use enums, contracts, and interfaces to implement SDUI

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These patterns provide examples of server-driven UI (SDUI) and how to structure your graph's schema to encode and represent UI elements. Clients can then use platform-specific rendering engines to interpret the schema and generate UI components.

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For more information on SDUI in general, see Server-driven UI basics.

Device-based SDUI with enums

Different devices (for example, mobile, web, Roku, Apple TV) may require different UI layouts or components. You can use enums for device type lists to declare which UI type to retrieve.

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enum UIDeviceType {
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  MOBILE
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  WEB
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  ROKU
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  APPLETV
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}
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interface UIApp {}
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type WebApp implements UIApp {}
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type IOSApp implements UIApp {}
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type AndroidApp implements UIApp {}
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type AppleTVApp implements UIApp {}
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type RokuApp implements UIApp {}
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type Query {
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  app(type: UIDeviceType! = WEB): UIApp!
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}

In this example, the UIDeviceType enum lets you specify the type of device you want to retrieve the UIApp for.

Device-based SDUI with contracts

You can use a similar device-based SDUI with contracts to remove UI components that are unrelated to the target platform from your schema.

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type UIApp {
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  spotlight: UISpotlightComponent @tag(name: "DESKTOP")
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  dashboard: UIDashboardComponent
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  mobileMenu: UIMenuComponent @tag(name: "MOBILE")
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  menu: UIMenuComponent @tag(name: "WEB")
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}
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type Query {
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  app: UIApp!
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}

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SDUI web dashboard

The following example shows a schema with a static structure that clients can use to create a web dashboard UI.

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type AppLogo {
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  url: String
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  alt: String
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}
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type AppLink {
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  icon: String
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  label: String
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  path: String
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}
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type AppUserMenu {
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  user: User
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}
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type AppNavbar {
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  logo: AppLogo
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  items: [AppLink]
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  user: AppUserMenu
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}
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type AppMobileMenu {
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  items: [AppLink]
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  user: AppUserMenu
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}
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type AppHomePage {
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  recommended: [AppLink]
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}
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type WebApp {
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  navbar: AppNavbar
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  menu: AppMobileMenu
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  home: AppHomePage
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  settings: AppSettingsPage
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  profile: AppProfilePage
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}
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type Query {
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  app: WebApp!
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}

SDUI web dashboard using interfaces

The example schema below is also for a web dashboard UI, but it uses interfaces to construct dynamic responses for the UI. By using interfaces, an "experience" subgraph can dynamically return different UI components.

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interface UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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}
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type UILogo implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  url: String
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  alt: String
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}
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interface UINavbarItem implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  label: String
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  path: String
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  icon: String
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}
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interface UINavbar implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  logo: UILogo
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  items: [UINavbarItem]
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}
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interface UIMenuItem implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  label: String
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  path: String
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  icon: String
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}
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interface UIMenu implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  logo: UILogo
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  items: [UIMenuItem]
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}
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interface UISidebar implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  title: String
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  content: [UIComponent]
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}
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interface UILayout implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  content: [UIComponent]
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}
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interface UIScreen implements UIComponent {
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  id: ID
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  current: UIPage
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  navbar: UINavbar
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  menu: UIMenu
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  main: UILayout
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  sidebar: UISidebar
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}
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enum UIPage {
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  HOME
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  DASHBOARD
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  SETTINGS
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}
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type Query {
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  app(page: UIPage!): UIScreen!
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}

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