Firebase recommends in their documentation to use their cloud functions logger SDK. Does anyone recommend to use another logger such as Winston instead?
const functions = require("firebase-functions");
functions.logger.log("Hello from info");
I personally prefer to use directly Cloud Logging library as it gives more customization if needed. (Firebase logging relies on it)
If you prefer Winston you have an implementation for Google Cloud. https://cloud.google.com/logging/docs/samples/logging-winston-quickstart
I would choose one or another depending on "portability". If you plan to stick with Firebase/Google Cloud I will go for Cloud Logging as it will work also with other Google services (ex. Cloud Run). If not, Winston is almost and standard.
Related
In a Firebase Cloud Function I want to trigger other functions on command (these would be http functions, since I don't think there's another way to do this). I want to make these functions not callable by any user, but only from the admin sdk, from other cloud functions. How should I do that?
HTTP functions deployed by the Firebase CLI are made public by default. You can choose not to make them public by configuring them to not allow public access (requiring authentication). This requires some knowledge about how the underlying Cloud Functions infrastructure works in Google Cloud Platform (Firebase does not expose all these details). The documentation for securing functions starts here.
If you choose not to allow unauthenticated access, you will have to provide IAM account credentials in the request from the code that you do want to allow to invoke the function.
I've got 2 different firestore interfaces: both using the same firestore project.
I'm finding this abit confusing - which one am I meant to operate in?
How come the 2nd doesn't have access to other settings such as Rules?
They are both meant for you to operate in. Which one you use depends on whatever your preference is. If you prefer to stay in the Firebase ecosystem, then use the Firebase console. If you prefer to stay in the Google Cloud ecosystem, then use the Cloud console.
Read more about the differences with Cloud Firestore between Firebase and Google Cloud.
Cloud Firestore is available with, or without Firebase SDKs.
For Firebase users, the Firebase interface allows you to configure Firebase specific functionality (Rules).
For GCP users, the Google Cloud interface keeps you closer to other services and admin settings you'll likely be using, such as IAM, BigQuery, etc. It also gives you quick access to a shell (Just click the Cloud Shell icon) so you can quickly run commands like gcloud firestore export.
Both interfaces will show you the same data.
Work in the first one. The second one is a simplified screen I think, because it is also for other services
I'd like to implement a full text search an app that is using Cloud Firestore.
Integrating with Algolia sounds great, but it can't work on the free Spark plan since outbound networking is limited to Google services only.
Therefore, the obvious question:
(1) Is it possible to use firebase-functions to create a function that monitors Firestore changes and deploy it to something like Zeit's Lambda or AWS Lambda?
Somewhat related question:
(2) Is it possible to use onSnapshot instead of onCreate/onUpdate/etc. to monitor Firestore changes?
You can't deploy Cloud Functions code to other serverless function providers. You can certainly try to reuse your core logic, but each provider has its own APIs and infrastructure, and firebase-functions only knows how to work with Cloud Functions.
In times when Parse.com was on they had a function that called a cloud function directly and returned whatever I wanted. So I could have all the server logic on the server, not in client code. Doe's Firebase has it as well? I can't find it - all I found are HTTP triggers, but it implies that it's not available through Javascript SDK. Am I missing something or do I have to use REST interface for that?
To run server-side code that is triggered by events in Firebase, you'd use Cloud Functions for Firebase. Currently these can trigger code through the Firebase Database updates, Authentication, Analytics, Cloud Storage and HTTP. The documentation I linked has all the details.
As Frank van Puffelen has explained you could use Functions, I'll like to add a couple of things.
You could also use the Firebase Database Admin SDK for the Database, this requires you have a server
Firebase Functions is a sort of big brother, constantly listening for whatever you want. Currently starting and deploying functions is fairly easy and fast, I love this how to video. Basically, you have to install the CLI and then using commands, create a project, write your js for Functions and for deploying those changes to Firebase Functions use the CLI again
Functions can listen more than what the Admin SDK can, the Admin SDK is for the Database while Functions is for, authentification, database, and cloud messaging. This means any user registration or deletion or any change in a node, can trigger further logic. This logic could include sending push notifications. There is a github repo where you can see a lot of examples, I made myself a small repo for the same purpose
What is the scope of implementing a micro-service architecture using firebase cloud functions? Is it a correct way to do it or is it a step backward. As we have seen fire base is built to be server less application back-end, But with multiple triggers and support for HTTPS should we try to get back to micro services. Just to try I have implemented multiple services on firebase cloud functions which had multiple URLs, they had a really good response time averaging at 500ms
This is a very challenging question to answer. It is not a step backward, you can think of Cloud Functions as a tool that you can use along with other technologies to implement your microservice strategy. For instance, if you are going to be leveraging the Firebase Database, and other features within Firebase then it makes sense to use the Cloud Functions for Firebase.
Let's say you don't want to use Cloud Functions for Firebase and you choose another technology such as Kubernetes or App Engine. First, you'll have to add the firebase SDKs to that stack and make sure it can access your Firebase project. You get access for free in Cloud Functions for Firebase. Next, you will write the same code that you would implement in the Cloud Function. Finally, you will have additional steps for deploying those technologies. Leveraging Cloud Functions for Firebase will be quicker and more productive.
As time goes on it will become more apparent when to use an additional technology. I recently wrote a blog post about when I would choose Container Engine over Cloud Functions. This topic can become subjective since it's really based on your needs, features, and the technologies you are working with.
Cloud Functions vs Container Engine