Astra/Gatsby.js Starter

30 minutes, Beginner, Start Building

Create a React.js, Gatsby application that reads data from DataStax Astra using GraphQL.

Objectives

• Provide a fullstack development example using GraphQL with Astra as the storage backend.

How this works

Once the Astra credentials are provided, the necessary tables are created in the database. The webservice will be available on port 8080 once the application has been deployed.

This example uses Typescript. TypeScript is a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript, and adds optional static typing to the language. It is is designed for development of large applications and transpiles to JavaScript.

Gatsby is a React-based, GraphQL powered, static site generator, with much of the functionality of a modern front-end framework. It brings together the best components of React, webpack, react-router, GraphQL, and other front-end tools. This is used to generate the application.

Get Started

To build and play with this app, follow the build instructions that are located here: https://github.com/DataStax-Examples/astra-gatsbyjs-starter

Running Astra/Gatsby.js Starter

Follow the instructions below to get started.

Prerequisites

Let's do some initial setup.

DataStax Astra

1. Create a DataStax Astra account if you don't already have one:

2. On the home page. Locate the button Add Database

3. Pick free plan and a region close to you, click configure.

4. Define a database name, keyspace name and credentials (Take note of the DB Password)

5. Your Astra DB will be ready when the status will change from Pending to Active 💥💥💥

6. After your database is provisioned, head to the Connect screen and copy your connection information (we'll need this later!):

Github

1. Click Use this template at the top of the GitHub Repository:

2. Enter a repository name and click 'Create repository from template':

3. Clone the repository:

🚀 Getting Started Paths:

Make sure you've completed the prerequisites before starting this step

• Running on your local machine
• Running on Gitpod
• Deploying to Netlify

Running on your local machine

1. Install Node dependencies with Yarn: yarn install (Alternatively, use npm: npm install)

2. Run the set up script: . ./gitpod-setup.sh

3. Start your app by running: yarn start(If using npm: npm start)

4. You can view your app at http://localhost:8000/:

Running on GitPod

1. Click the 'Open in GitPod' link:

2. Wait for your GitPod workspace to start:

3. Set your Astra database details in the GitPod terminal at the bottom of the screen:

4. Click the 'Open browser' button in the bottom right of the screen:

5. View your application:

Deploying to Netlify

1. Click the 'Deploy to Netlify' button:

2. Connect your GitHub account:

3. Fill in the Netlify environment variables with information on your Astra database:

4. Click 'Save and Deploy':

5. Wait for your app to deploy (this will take a minute or two, the screen will auto-refresh when the deployment is complete):

6. Click your Netlify app link to view your live app:

7. You've deployed your app to Netlify!