How to return error response in apollo link? - apollo

Question

I'm using apollo link in schema stitching as an access control layer. I'm not quite sure how to make the link return error response if a user does not have permissions to access a particular operation. I know about such packages as graphql-shield and graphql-middleware but I'm curious whether it's possible to achieve basic access control using apollo link.
Here's what my link looks like:
const link = setContext((request, previousContext) => merge({
headers: {
...headers,
context: `${JSON.stringify(previousContext.graphqlContext ? _.omit(previousContext.graphqlContext, ['logger', 'models']) : {})}`,
},
})).concat(middlewareLink).concat(new HttpLink({ uri, fetch }));
The middlewareLink has checkPermissions that returns true of false depending on user's role
const middlewareLink = new ApolloLink((operation, forward) => {
const { operationName } = operation;
if (operationName !== 'IntrospectionQuery') {
const { variables } = operation;
const context = operation.getContext().graphqlContext;
const hasAccess = checkPermissions({ operationName, context, variables });
if (!hasAccess) {
// ...
}
}
return forward(operation);
});
What should I do if hasAccess is false. I guess I don't need to forward the operation as at this point it's clear that a user does not have access to it
UPDATE
I guess what I need to do is to extend the ApolloLink class, but so far I didn't manage to return error

Answer 1

Don't know if anyone else needs this, but I was trying to get a NetworkError specifically in the onError callback using Typescript and React. Finally got this working:
const testLink = new ApolloLink((operation, forward) => {
let fetchResult: FetchResult = {
errors: [] // put GraphQL errors here
}
let linkResult = Observable.of(fetchResult).map(_ => {
throw new Error('This is a network error in ApolloClient'); // throw Network errors here
});
return linkResult;
});
Return GraphQL errors in the observable FetchResult response, while throwing an error in the observable callback will produce a NetworkError

Answer 2

After some digging I've actually figured it out. But I'm not quite sure if my approach is correct.
Basically, I've called forward with a subsequent map where I return an object containing errors and data fields. Again, I guess there's a better way of doing this (maybe by extending the ApolloLink class)
const middlewareLink = new ApolloLink((operation, forward) => {
const { operationName } = operation;
if (operationName !== 'IntrospectionQuery') {
const { variables } = operation;
const context = operation.getContext().graphqlContext;
try {
checkPermissions({ operationName, context, variables });
} catch (err) {
return forward(operation).map(() => {
const error = new ForbiddenError('Access denied');
return { errors: [error], data: null };
});
}
}
return forward(operation);
});