How to reload Algolia cache on CRUD operations? - firebase

Newbie here.
In Angular 5 application with instantsearch.js library, how do I reload Algolia cache from my model on CRUD operations? I am using Cloud Firestore as my database and I have a cloud function to sync the data with Algolia.
Currently, I have to refresh the browser for changes to take effect.

You should have a request sent to your frontends with for example websockets, when it gets a "new data" event like that, you should call search.refresh().
whateverListenerYouHave.on('data', () => search.refresh());
See also the docs, and some relevant issues: instantsearch.js#2670 and instantsearch.js#1050
In the context of Angular InstantSearch, you'll need to make a connector to have access to the search (instance of InstantSearch.js)

Related

Firebase custom auth in server-to-server scenario

I need to implement a scenario where, after a file is uploaded to Google Cloud Storage, a function is triggered and processes the file. In this case, processing basically means sanitizing the file, storing it into Firestore and making it accessible via another HTTP-triggered function (a REST API of sorts).
Both user-facing ends of this process (a file upload and HTTP function) need to be secured. The process will be used in server-to-server scenario: one side is going to be a backend written in either Node.js or .NET, the other will be my Firebase solution (Cloud Storage and HTTP-triggered function as per above). In Firebase, I am going to maintain a custom set of users that should have access to the system - my idea was to use a simple system where each user will have a client id and a client secret (basically an oAuth client credentials grant type).
Based on what I read online, an only option to implement this is to use [Firebase auth with custom tokens][1]. I found lots of examples online on how to do that, but it was always about client-to-server scenarios (e.g. a Javascript web app talking to REST API). Server-to-server scenarios were not mentioned anywhere and indeed, I am unsure how to go about implementing it - I can call auth.createCustomToken(uid) just fine in my HTTP Firestore function, but there seem to be no server-side libraries I could use to call auth.SignInWithCustomTokenAsync(customToken).
To sum it up:
How can I use Firebase auth with custom tokens in server-to-server
scenario, where I need to sign in using a previously generated
custom token from a server environment?
If it is not possible,
what's the other alternative to securely implement the
above-described architecture?
I've contacted Google Support and if anyone else is struggling with this, in server-side scenarios, recommended approach is to call signInWithCustomToken endpoint in Firebase Auth REST API.

Should I make a RESTful API using Cloud Functions or call Firebase and Firestore in app?

I am currently creating a marketplace mobile application from scratch and I'm using React Native for the front-end part and Firebase for the backend (using Firebase and Firestore).
I am wondering wether :
I should create a RESTful API using cloud functions and express to create API endpoints (that would connect to firebase and firestore) that I'd call from my redux actions in my React Native app (using redux thunk).
or, I should call firebase and firestore directly from redux actions.
I see couple pros and cons for each method.
Restful API pros :
Safer as I can check and manipulate submitted data more easily
Custom API reply (I can manipulate the return data)
Restful API cons :
Probably slower as I would have to call an API endpoint that will then call firebase and/or firestore.
Won't be as easy to set listeners on firestore data
What do you think about it ?
Which option should I choose knowing that I predict that the app will get a few thousand users daily. I want it to be as fast and safe as possible and be able to set listeners for notifications purposes.
In my opinion you should mix them, if you have to manage users, products or etc. Firebase produces client and admin sdk that has different roles. If you haven't need manage any data of products or users or etc. you can simply use client sdk.
My advise is you can use admin sdk on API (server-side) and feel free to use client sdk on your clients.
Use as managements on API, listening data, realtime chat etc. via client sdk.
You can check admin and client sdk. Also npm packages for React Native here.
Mixing will be of help, you can try:
Listen for small amounts of data using the client SDK
Write and sort data using the cloud functions
In my experience, writing to a firebase database that uses ordered ids (in my case) leads to some huge problems in the long run. I lost a good chunk of data when my app accidentally wrote to a root index instead of a child index when the app was resumed from inactivity because the android system cleared the RAM.
Also, for notification, use Firebase Cloud Messaging.

Firestore: how can I get stream of updates from a server side?

tldr: I need to have Google Cloud Functions on my own backend.
I write application, which uses firebase (especially firestore) as a transport layer between my own backend written on nodejs and client applications.
Sometimes, I need to catch some events from client on backend, but i want to avoid perform http queries directly to my backend (because I need to catch offline status, and other problems). It is better to made some changes in firestore documents, catch that changes on my backend and perform some business logic.
As for now, It can be solved with Cloud Functions, but this solution is not acceptable, because of delay between event and function invocation, and lack of invocation order.
Yet another solution, which is currently used in my project, is to making some changes to firestore document, and adding extra document, called "event" to other collection. On a server side, using firebase-admin sdk, I subscribe to that "events" collection and get realtime updates of it.
This work great, but looks like overcomplicated. Is there any way to subscribe from my backend to get all updates of all documents of firestore? Ideal solution is to subscribe to updates, as it done in Cloud Functions: https://firebase.google.com/docs/functions/firestore-events?authuser=0
The client and server SDKs don't have this capability. Cloud Functions is really your only way to get notified of changes in Firestore that match a wildcard pattern.

Difference between Vue router and express, are both needed (especially when using Firebase)?

I'm trying to build a relatively simple application that has several different views, requires authentication, collects some user data, stores it in a database, and needs backend logic to manipulate that data and spit it back out to the user in a view.
The stack I've decided on is Vue for the frontend, with Express and Node for server side logic and Firebase for some of their services (namely auth, firestore, storage).
I haven't been able to find any examples of this stack (Vue, Express, Firebase) anywhere (I have however found Vue/Express or Vue/Firebase examples). My question is whether or not Express is obsolete here in that I can use Vue router to do my routing. Is the difference that one does the rendering server-side?
You could use Cloud Functions for Firebase as your backend and then limit your stack to Vue.js and Firebase.
From the doc:
Cloud Functions for Firebase lets you automatically run backend code
in response to events triggered by Firebase features and HTTPS
requests. Your code is stored in Google's cloud and runs in a managed
environment. There's no need to manage and scale your own servers.
For your specific need: "backend logic to manipulate that data and spit it back out to the user in a view." you have several possible approaches:
You manipulate the data with Cloud Functions (in the back end), write the results of this manipulation to the Real Time Database and setup some listeners in your Vue.js frontend (with the on() method) that will refresh your front end upon changes in the database
Use some HTTPS Cloud Functions that you call, from your Vue.js front-end, as REST API endpoints. You can use Axios for example. See the doc here.
One advantage of the first solution is that you can easily, by default, rely on the database security rules, while it would need some more extra work in the second case.

Firebase: responding to http POST request

I was thinking of import my server Java code to firebase, basically replace my Dynamic web app with Jeresy and mongoDB to Firebase using hosting and functions .
I have implemented the sendWelcomeEmail and sendByeEmail with events user.created and user.deleted.
But now I want to do something more complicated.
Based on post request that comes from the mobile I want to extract the JSON data and then update the DataBase.
So I created js file with plenty of functions but now I am not sure it will actually work.
Is that the best way to implement this workflow.
The workflow goes like this.
Image is taken on the android device => extract information from image ==> upload the Json Data to the server (Firebase Hosting) => functions is been execute is response to POST request ==> extarct the data ==> save it to the Firebase Database.
Let me know if this sound ok, or I need to implent another workflow.
Thanks
Eran
The whole idea of Firebase is that your app talks directly to backend services (such as the database, or cloud storage), and you only write server-side code (with cloud functions) for functionality that Firebase doesn't provide a client-side API for.
Why don't you simply let the Android client write directly to the Firebase Database?

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