Jeff Knowles Jr Digital Development

AppSync Contact Form Integration Debugging

Published on April 9, 2024

Issue: Contact Form Submission Failing with 500 Error

During the implementation of the contact form using AWS AppSync, we encountered a 500 Internal Server Error with the message "You are not authorized to make this call". This document outlines our debugging process and the eventual resolution.

Error Details

POST http://localhost:3000/api/contact/submit 500 (Internal Server Error) Error: You are not authorized to make this call

Debugging Process

1. Initial Investigation

  • Checked the API route implementation in src/app/api/contact/submit/route.ts
  • Verified the API service implementation in src/services/api.ts
  • Examined the GraphQL mutation in src/graphql/mutations.ts

2. Environment Variables Verification

NEXT_PUBLIC_APPSYNC_API_URL=https://5o56c4gzlfaohlo7gnaauyffsy.appsync-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/graphql NEXT_PUBLIC_APPSYNC_API_KEY=da2-3zzxvx3farclpmnwq7ihrrrx3e

3. AppSync API Configuration Check

Using AWS CLI, we verified the API configuration and API keys:

# List available AppSync APIs aws appsync list-graphql-apis # Check API keys for the ContactFormAPI aws appsync list-api-keys --api-id jdarmqqnpnfvnpsvxzkubf5a7y

4. Code Implementation Review

GraphQL Mutation
export const createContactForm = /* GraphQL */ `
  mutation CreateContactForm(
    $input: CreateContactFormInput!
  ) {
    createContactForm(input: $input) {
      id
      name
      email
      subject
      message
      createdAt
      status
    }
  }
`;
API Service Implementation
export async function submitContactForm(formData: ContactFormData) {
  const endpoint = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_APPSYNC_API_URL
  const apiKey = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_APPSYNC_API_KEY

  if (!endpoint || !apiKey) {
    throw new Error('AppSync configuration missing')
  }

  const variables = {
    input: {
      id: `contact-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 10)}`,
      createdAt: new Date().toISOString(),
      name: formData.name,
      email: formData.email,
      subject: formData.subject,
      message: formData.message,
      status: 'new'
    }
  }

  try {
    const response = await fetch(endpoint, {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        'x-api-key': apiKey
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        query: createContactForm,
        variables
      })
    })

    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`)
    }

    const result = await response.json()

    if (result.errors) {
      console.error('AppSync errors:', result.errors)
      throw new Error(result.errors[0].message)
    }

    if (!result.data?.createContactForm) {
      throw new Error('Invalid response format from AppSync')
    }

    return result.data.createContactForm
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error in submitContactForm:', error)
    if (error instanceof Error) {
      throw error
    }
    throw new Error('Failed to submit contact form')
  }
}

Root Cause Analysis

The error "You are not authorized to make this call" indicated one of several potential issues:

  1. Schema Mismatch: The GraphQL schema in AppSync didn't match the mutation we were trying to execute
  2. API Key Permissions: The API key didn't have the necessary permissions to execute the mutation
  3. Resolver Configuration: The resolver for the createContactForm mutation wasn't properly configured

Required AppSync Schema

type ContactForm {
  id: ID!
  name: String!
  email: String!
  subject: String!
  message: String!
  createdAt: AWSDateTime!
  status: String!
}

input CreateContactFormInput {
  id: ID!
  name: String!
  email: String!
  subject: String!
  message: String!
  createdAt: AWSDateTime!
  status: String!
}

type Mutation {
  createContactForm(input: CreateContactFormInput!): ContactForm
}

type Query {
  getContactForm(id: ID!): ContactForm
}

Resolution Steps

  1. Verify AppSync Schema
    • Ensure the schema matches the expected types and mutations
    • Check that all required fields are present
  2. Configure Resolver
    • Create a resolver for the createContactForm mutation
    • Set up the DynamoDB data source
    • Configure the resolver mapping template
  3. API Key Permissions
    • Verify the API key has access to the resolver
    • Check IAM roles and policies
  4. Testing
    • Use the AppSync console to test the mutation
    • Verify the DynamoDB table structure
    • Test with sample data

Best Practices

  1. Error Handling
    • Implement comprehensive error handling in the API service
    • Log detailed error information for debugging
    • Provide user-friendly error messages
  2. Security
    • Never expose API keys in client-side code
    • Use environment variables for sensitive information
    • Implement proper input validation
  3. Monitoring
    • Set up CloudWatch alarms for API errors
    • Monitor DynamoDB table metrics
    • Track API usage and performance

Additional Resources