diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7bbc71c..daea7c4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ wheels/
 *.egg-info/
 .installed.cfg
 *.egg
+.idea/
 
 # PyInstaller
 #  Usually these files are written by a python script from a template
diff --git a/flasql/graphiql.py b/flasql/graphiql.py
index bb075c2..98668c1 100644
--- a/flasql/graphiql.py
+++ b/flasql/graphiql.py
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-import json
+from flask import render_template_string, json
 
-from flask import render_template_string
-
-GRAPHIQL_VERSION = '0.7.1'
+GRAPHIQL_VERSION = '0.11.5'
 
 TEMPLATE = '''<!--
 The request to this GraphQL server provided the header "Accept: text/html"
@@ -23,11 +21,14 @@
     }
   </style>
   <meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">
-  <link href="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/graphiql/{{graphiql_version}}/graphiql.css" rel="stylesheet" />
+
+  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/es6-promise/4.0.5/es6-promise.auto.min.js"></script>
   <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/fetch/0.9.0/fetch.min.js"></script>
-  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/react/15.0.0/react.min.js"></script>
-  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/react/15.0.0/react-dom.min.js"></script>
-  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/graphiql/{{graphiql_version}}/graphiql.min.js"></script>
+  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/react/15.4.2/react.min.js"></script>
+  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/react/15.4.2/react-dom.min.js"></script>
+
+  <link href="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/graphiql@{{graphiql_version}}/graphiql.css" rel="stylesheet" />
+  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/graphiql@{{graphiql_version}}/graphiql.min.js"></script>
 </head>
 <body>
   <script>
@@ -89,21 +90,14 @@
     // that it can be easily shared.
     function onEditQuery(newQuery) {
       parameters.query = newQuery;
-      updateURL();
     }
 
     function onEditVariables(newVariables) {
       parameters.variables = newVariables;
-      updateURL();
     }
 
     function onEditOperationName(newOperationName) {
       parameters.operationName = newOperationName;
-      updateURL();
-    }
-
-    function updateURL() {
-      history.replaceState(null, null, locationQuery(parameters));
     }
 
     // Render <GraphiQL /> into the body.
@@ -125,10 +119,11 @@
 </html>'''  # noqa
 
 
-def render(params, result):
+def render(params, result, graphiql_version=GRAPHIQL_VERSION):
+    result = json.dumps(result, indent=2) if result else ""
     return render_template_string(
         TEMPLATE,
-        graphiql_version=GRAPHIQL_VERSION,
-        result=json.dumps(result, indent=2, ),
+        graphiql_version=graphiql_version or GRAPHIQL_VERSION,
+        result=result,
         params=params
     )
diff --git a/flasql/views.py b/flasql/views.py
index 5b13c42..55e048d 100644
--- a/flasql/views.py
+++ b/flasql/views.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                  error_handler=None,
                  result_class=None,
                  enable_graphiql=True,
+                 graphiql_version=graphiql.GRAPHIQL_VERSION,
                  context_factory=None):
 
         super(GraphQLView, self).__init__()
@@ -53,6 +54,8 @@ def __init__(self,
         self.result_class = result_class or GraphQLResult
         self.enable_graphiql = enable_graphiql
         self.context_factory = context_factory or False
+        self.graphiql_version = graphiql_version
+        self._params = None
 
     @property
     def can_display_graphiql(self):
@@ -80,26 +83,35 @@ def should_display_graphiql(self):
 
     @property
     def params(self):
+        if self._params:
+            return self._params
+
         request_keys = {'query', 'operationName', 'variables'}
 
         if request.method == 'GET':
             # we will collect the data from the query parameters,
             # such as ?query={}
-            return {k: request.args.get(k) for k in request_keys}
-
+            self._params = {k: request.args.get(k) for k in request_keys}
+            return self._params
         if request.method == 'POST':
             if request.mimetype == 'application/graphql':
                 return {'query': request.data.decode('utf8')}
 
             elif request.mimetype == 'application/json':
-                return request.json
+                payload = request.json
+                if "variables" in payload and isinstance(payload["variables"], str):
+                    payload["variables"] = json.loads(payload["variables"])
+                self._params = payload
+                return self._params
 
             elif request.mimetype in ('application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
                                       'multipart/form-data'):
-                return request.form
+                self._params = request.form
+                return self._params
 
         # Else, return an empty map
-        return {k: None for k in request_keys}
+        self._params = {k: None for k in request_keys}
+        return self._params
 
     def format_execution_result(self, result):
         """
@@ -185,7 +197,8 @@ def get(self):
         result = self.handle_request()
 
         if self.should_display_graphiql:
-            return graphiql.render(params=self.params, result=result)
+            return graphiql.render(params=self.params, result=result,
+                                   graphiql_version=self.graphiql_version)
 
         return self.result_class(result)
 
