@populatedBy does not work in conjunction with DateTime data type: callback function is not called

[andreloeffelmann]

Describe the bug
The @populatedBy directive does not work if the field the directive is declared for has the DateTime datatype. The callback function never gets called.

Type definitions

type Request {
  status: Status!
  approvedAt: DateTime @populatedBy(callback: "setApprovedAtTimestampCallback", operations: [UPDATE])
}

enum Status {
  REQUESTED,
  APPROVED
}

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Declare the callback function:

const setApprovedAtTimestampCallback: async (root, _parent, _args, context) => {
        return root.status === 'APPROVED' ? new Date().toISOString() : null;
},

2. Execute the following Mutation...

mutation {
updateRequests(update: { status: APPROVED }){ info { nodesCreated } }
}

3. See error: the callback function is never called

Expected behavior
The callback function should be called and invoked as described in the docs.

System:

• Version: @neo4j/graphql@5.2.0

[neo4j-team-graphql]

Many thanks for raising this bug report @andreloeffelmann. 🐛 We will now attempt to reproduce the bug based on the steps you have provided.

Please ensure that you've provided the necessary information for a minimal reproduction, including but not limited to:

• Type definitions
• Resolvers
• Query and/or Mutation (or multiple) needed to reproduce

If you have a support agreement with Neo4j, please link this GitHub issue to a new or existing Zendesk ticket.

Thanks again! 🙏

[MacondoExpress]

Hi @andreloeffelmann ,
You're right DateTime is not supported by the populatedBy, populatedBy is supported only on primitive fields.
We'll update the documentation to reflect this as it's currently not clear that the @populatedBy directive can be used only on primitive fields.
I'll put the label feature request so that we can discuss and prioritize the development.

[andreloeffelmann]

Hi @MacondoExpress , thanks for the clarification.
I can understand that populatedBy is intended for primitive fields only. However, from the API's consumer point of view, a DateTime is just a String when passing it via GraphQL input fields.
It would be nice if this was supported :-)

[MacondoExpress]

I see and I agree it should not be hard to actually support @populatedBy for complex types, we will have to coerce the callback returned value or instruct the users to return the driver wrapper in case of temporal types and spatial types.

[andreloeffelmann]

Thanks guys for solving this 👍🏻