Firebase Cloud Function location setting - firebase

I would like to request an API which only allow IP from Hong Kong, therefore I perform a check using https://ifconfig.co/country-iso. Even I set functions.region('asia-east2') as stated in the document page (https://firebase.google.com/docs/functions/locations), the console logged the location detected is US
exports.locationFunction = functions.region('asia-east2').pubsub.schedule('every 1 minutes').onRun((context) => {
request('https://ifconfig.co/country-iso', function (error, response, body) {
console.log("RESULTbody:" + body)
});
return admin.database().ref("mylocation").set("detection finished");
});

If you are using scheduled functions, as you are, then you have an App Engine machine that is required for Cloud Scheduler to work. I think that the default project region might be set to something else than 'asia-east2' that you want.
If the function is set correctly to asia-east2 the only other regional config that can affect is the default project region where the App Engine machine spins up, I think that might be your issue.
Here you have more information on scheduled functions and the information I mentioned about the App Engine machine.
And here you can see more information about default project location.
Let me know.

Related

Custom logging from firebase function

I'm trying to follow this guide to put some custom logging into a firebase function. The function itself is running, and I can see the data being passed in (it's an https 'callable' function). But as soon as it hits the line where it tries to actually write that log entry, I get "Error: 7 PERMISSION_DENIED"
Since the console.log() calls write to the cloud logs, I'd assumed the firebase function has access to Cloud Logging. But perhaps it needs additional permission? I can't find any reference to where this should be set on that page though.
// Logging, logName, region, functions are provided by the surrounding app
const logging = new Logging()
const log = logging.log(logName)
const METADATA = {
resource: {
type: 'cloud_function',
labels: {
function_name: 'CustomLog',
region
}
}
};
exports = module.exports = functions.https.onCall(async data => {
const exVersion = 6
const exId = data.exId
console.log('***** exVersion:', exVersion, 'exId:', exId) // exId from caller
const entry = log.entry(METADATA, data.error) // data.error from caller
console.log('METADATA:', METADATA) // Shows in Logs Explorer
console.log('entry:', entry) // Shows in Logs Explorer
log.write(entry) // Results in Error: 7 PERMISSION_DENIED
return {
exVersion,
exId,
}
})
If I run it from the CLI using firebase function:shell, the log entry is created correctly, so I'm pretty confident the code is correct.
OK, I finally tracked it down. According to this answer, the service account used by firebase functions is {project-id}#appspot.gserviceaccount.com, and in my project, that account did not have the 'Logs Writer' role. Adding that role solves the problem.
I find it odd that the firebase functions don't need that role to log messages using console.log(), but perhaps that call is intercepted by the functions environment, and the logs are written as a different service account. It also explains why the functions running locally were able to write the logs, as they run using the 'owner' service account, which has full access.
According to the Firebase documentation page you have linked:
The recommended solution for logging from a function is to use the
logger SDK. You can instead use standard JavaScript logging calls such
as console.log and console.error, but you first need to require a
special module to patch the standard methods to work correctly:
require("firebase-functions/lib/logger/compat");
Once you have required the logger compatibility module, you can use console.log() methods as normal in your code.
Thus you might to require this library, however I am not sure this is producing your "Error: 7 PERMISSION_DENIED error, but you might also try some solutions that have worked for some members of the community.
Perhaps the logging API is not enabled in your project. You'll get a permission denied error when attempting to use it in that case.
It's a couple levels in, but the guide you linked points to
https://github.com/googleapis/nodejs-logging#before-you-begin, which includes a step to "Enable the Cloud Logging API"

Firebase and LinkedIn Auth integration unknown route

I've been examining this code base as an example of how to implement LinkedIn authorization to my project with a Firebase Backend. One thing I'm confused about is these lines:
var code = getURLParameter("code");
var state = getURLParameter("state");
var error = getURLParameter("error");
if (error) {
document.body.innerText = "Error back from the LinkedIn auth page: " + error;
} else if (!code) {
// Start the auth flow.
window.location.href = "/redirect";
}
at window.location.href = '/redirect', I believe it is meant to invoke the cloud function called "redirect". In my code base, it simply goes to an unknown route and triggers my fallback. Am I wrong about the purpose of this line of code? Does anyone know any possible reasons it's not triggering the cloud function (console says 0 invocations)? What other information should I look into to try to debug this?
To provide a bit fuller of an answer:
The example you provided relies on a Firebase.json file. This file provides configuration if (and only if) your application is hosted with Firebase hosting (see docs).
If you expect to host your app elsewhere, you'll need to make sure your /redirect path points to the Firebase function URL itself (probably something like https://us-central1-project-name.cloudfunctions.net/redirect). In the authorization flow, the LinkedIn module in the example repo then will redirect to either a default or a configured callback url.

eHow to transition away from inline editor on actions on google

In a previous Stack Overflow question, I shied away from using an external webhook on Actions on Google
so I needed to go back to the inline editor. I got that worked out, but now I'm feeling brave again.
I've outgrown the inline editor and want the ability to develop my code on my laptop, testing it in Firebase, and publishing to a site for my webhook, presumably where the inline code editor publishes to. In fact, I have already written the require functions and deployed them from Firebase. So the full functionality is ready to go, I just need to hook it up properly to Actions on Google.
What I have now in Actions on Google, inline editor, is more of a stub. I want to merge that stub into my more fullblown logic that I have in Firebase. Here is what is in the inline editor:
const { conversation } = require('#assistant/conversation');
const functions = require('firebase-functions');
const app = conversation();
app.handle('intent_a_handler', conv => {
// Implement your code here
conv.add("Here I am in intent A");
});
app.handle('intent_b_handler', conv => {
// Implement your code here
conv.add("Here I am in intent B");
});
exports.ActionsOnGoogleFulfillment = functions.https.onRequest(app);
When I search on the Internet, I see discussion from the point of view of Dialogflow, but like I say, I'm in "Actions on Google". I want to transition away from the inline editor, taking what I already have, as a basis.Can someone explain how I set that up? I'm happy to do this within the context of the Google ecosystem.
To test your own webhook locally on your own system I would recommend incorporating a web app framework such as express. With express you can host code on your local machine and make it respond to request from Actions on Google. In your case you would replace this will all the code related to the Firebase functions package. Here is an example of what a simple webhook for Actions on Google looks like:
const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser')
const { conversation } = require('#assistant/conversation');
const exprs = express();
exprs.use(bodyParser.json()) // allows Express to work with JSON requests
const app = conversation();
app.handle('example intent', () => {
// Do something
})
// More app.handle() setups
exprs.post('/', app);
exprs.listen(3000);
With this setup you should be able to run your own application locally. The only thing you need to do is install the required dependencies and add your own intent handlers for your action. At this point you have a webhook running on your own machine, but that isn't enough to use it as a webhook in Actions on Google because it runs locally and isn't publicly available via the internet.
For this reason we will be using a tool called ngrok. With ngrok you can create a public https address that runs all messages to your local machine. This way you can use ngrok address as your webhook URL. Now you can just make as many code changes as you want and Actions on Google will automatically use the latest changes when you develop. No need to upload and wait for Firebase to do this.
Just to be clear: Ngrok should only be used for development. When you are done with developing your action you should upload all your code to a cloud service or host it on your own server if you have any. A (free plan) ngrok URL usually expires every 6 hours. So its not a suitable solution for anything other than development.

Why do I get auth'ed when I test hitting my Firebase Cloud Function in a browser?

I have a Firebase Cloud Function that handles HTTP requests, using:
export const foo = functions.https.onRequest((req, res) => {
// etc.
}
When I hit the URL for it in a browser, I see a Google sign in page, listing my Google accounts. If I sign in, I then get a 403:
Error: Forbidden
Your client does not have permission to get URL /foo from this server.
Why? There's nothing about this in the docs that I can find. I'm on the free plan ("Spark"), if that makes any difference.
[edit]
I'm accessing the function using the URL:
https://us-central1-[project name].cloudfunctions.net/[function name]
There's no vanity URL.
The 403 message is originating from the main url https://us-central1-[project-name].cloudfunctions.net/ which is fully managed by Google.
It seems cloud functions does not have an error handling for non-existing functions name. Thus everything that is not created are treated the same way as a forbidden link. I don't know if this is an intended behavior but since the functions are running on a managed environment, there's not much handling of not existing functions against your project cloud function url.
The following statement from the link above explains it all:
"Cloud Functions run in a fully-managed, serverless environment where Google handles infrastructure, operating systems, and runtime environments completely on your behalf. Each Cloud Function runs in its own isolated secure execution context, scales automatically, and has a lifecycle independent from other functions. "
Hope this helps.

How to run ElasticSearch on user's devices AND keep ElasticSearch server safe?

Writing a mobile app with Firebase being my backend, also using ES to power my search. I'm completely new to ES.
Suppose each user can publish articles, each of which contains some number of tags, which denotes what this article is about, kind of like questions asked here. Users can search for articles, with tags, and articles containing that tag will be displayed. I manage to do that with Cloud Function, so, the Cloud Function basically looks like this:
exports.articleSearch = functions.https.onRequest((req, res) => {
const { tag } = req.query;
const ElasticSearchConfig = {
uri: '..<my elastic cloud url>/articles/article/_search...',
method: 'GET',
body: ...,
json: true,
auth: {
username: '...<my elastic cloud username>...',
password: '...<my elastic cloud password>...'
}
};
// If succeeds, send results back to user, if not, send error back
request(ElasticSearchConfig).then((results) => ...)
.catch((error) => ...);
});
This works, however, it's a bit slow, because I'm not running ElasticSearch on user's devices, instead, through a cloud function. But if I do run the above code on user's devices, you noticed auth property of ElasticSearchConfig object, I'm basically giving everybody permissions to access and manipulate my ES server. How can I run the above code on user's devices and at the same time, prevent them from reading or writing anything without proper permission?
There's no secure way to do what your asking. Even if it was possible, you don't want that kind of processing client side draining the battery, especially on mobile. Your slow response from cloud functions may be caused from the function entering a timeout state, meaning it hasn't been called in a while.

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