Can't query a node that has a DateTime

[catherineluse]

I'm using the Neo4j GraphQL library and I'm new at this. I successfully created a schema and some nodes of type event. The event nodes have a field called startTime which is defined as a DateTime in my schema:

type Event {
    id:                    ID! @id
    title:                 String!
    startTime:             DateTime!

When I run a mutation to create the events, they are successfully created. But when I query the events, it breaks, but only when the startTime is included in the response. With this query

query {
	events{
		id
		title
		startTime
	}
}

I get this error:

{
	"errors": [
		{
			"message": "Unknown function 'apoc.date.convertFormat' (line 2, column 34 (offset: 52))\n\"RETURN this{.title, startTime: apoc.date.convertFormat(toString(this.startTime), \"iso_zoned_date_time\", \"iso_offset_date_time\")} AS this\"\n     

The mutation I had previously used to create the node was like this:

mutation {
  createEvents(input: [
    {
      title: "New Year's Eve Block Party at Hance Park2",
      startTime: "2021-12-31T02:21:37.146Z",
...

It looks like there is something wrong with the format that I used to create the title string. I saw some docs about creating the date as an object, but that format was invalid as well. How do I create the DateTime correctly in the mutation?

[sameer_gijare14]

I think extra field timezone should be added as far as Event Data model is concerned.

[sanjaysingh13]

Have you installed the APOC library?

[catherineluse]

Have you installed the APOC library?

I tried installing it, with no effect. The error says it is an internal server error so I figured there must be something wrong with the input.

I think extra field timezone should be added

Do you have an example of that? I couldn't find an example in the documentation where you create a DateTime on a node along with the timezone in a separate field. I thought the timezone wouldn't have to be in a separate field because it is encoded in the Javascript date string.

I'm following these introductory docs. Getting Started - Neo4j GraphQL Library I made a simpler example and still got the error. I started with a Movie type in that tutorial and then added a startTime field to it:

type Movie {
        title: String
        actors: [Actor] @relationship(type: "ACTED_IN", direction: IN)
        startTime: DateTime
    }

When creating a movie with a startTime, the movie is created successfully:

mutation {
  createMovies (input: {
      title: "Test2"
      startTime: "2022-02-07T01:13:43.342Z"
  }){
    movies {
      title
    }
  }
}

But then when querying the movie it gives a similar error (it works if I don't include startTime in the query):

query Query {
  movies {
    title
    startTime
  }
}

The full error is:

{
	"errors": [
		{
			"message": "Unknown function 'apoc.date.convertFormat' (line 2, column 34 (offset: 52))\n\"RETURN this{.title, startTime: apoc.date.convertFormat(toString(this.startTime), \"iso_zoned_date_time\", \"iso_offset_date_time\")} AS this\"\n                                  ^",
			"locations": [
				{
					"line": 2,
					"column": 2
				}
			],
			"path": [
				"movies"
			],
			"extensions": {
				"code": "INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR",
				"exception": {
					"code": "Neo.ClientError.Statement.SyntaxError",
					"name": "Neo4jError",
					"stacktrace": [
						"Neo4jError: Unknown function 'apoc.date.convertFormat' (line 2, column 34 (offset: 52))",
						"\"RETURN this{.title, startTime: apoc.date.convertFormat(toString(this.startTime), \"iso_zoned_date_time\", \"iso_offset_date_time\")} AS this\"",
						"                                  ^",
						"",
						"    at captureStacktrace (/Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/result.js:239:17)",
						"    at new Result (/Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/result.js:59:23)",
						"    at newCompletedResult (/Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/transaction.js:375:12)",
						"    at Object.run (/Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/transaction.js:229:20)",
						"    at Transaction.run (/Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/transaction.js:101:34)",
						"    at /Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/@neo4j/graphql/dist/utils/execute.js:66:104",
						"    at TransactionExecutor._safeExecuteTransactionWork (/Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/internal/transaction-executor.js:92:26)",
						"    at TransactionExecutor._executeTransactionInsidePromise (/Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/internal/transaction-executor.js:83:34)",
						"    at /Users/catherineluse/gennit-vue/neo4j-graphql-example/node_modules/neo4j-driver-core/lib/internal/transaction-executor.js:40:19",
						"    at new Promise (<anonymous>)"
					]
				}
			}
		}
	],
	"data": null
}

My full code is:

github.com

catherineluse/neo4j-graphql-example/blob/main/index.js

const { Neo4jGraphQL } = require("@neo4j/graphql");
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require("apollo-server");
// const typeDefs = require('./schema')

require('dotenv').config();
const neo4j = require("neo4j-driver");
const password = process.env.NEO4J_PASSWORD;

const driver = neo4j.driver(
    "bolt://localhost:7687",
    neo4j.auth.basic("neo4j", password)
);

const typeDefs = gql`
    type Movie {
        title: String
        actors: [Actor] @relationship(type: "ACTED_IN", direction: IN)
        startTime: DateTime
    }

This file has been truncated. show original

This seems like a bug so I opened an issue to track it: https://github.com/neo4j/graphql/issues/941

[catherineluse · Accepted solution]

OK, the problem was that I missed the database requirements and I didn't understand that APOC is a database plugin.

The solution is here: https://github.com/neo4j/graphql/issues/941#issuecomment-1031856171

I've suggested docs changes to clarify this:

• https://github.com/neo4j/graphql/pull/943
• https://github.com/neo4j/graphql/pull/942