nativescript-plugin-firebase

NativeScript Firebase plugin

Google's realtime app platform (Database, Authentication, Configuration, Notifications) firebase.google.com

If you can spare 41 seconds, check this plugin's demo app in action:

Use when

• you need to store JSON data in the cloud (but don't want to loose data when the device is offline),
• you want to sync that data to other devices and platforms,
• you want to optionally protect that data by having users log in,
• you want to update clients at the moment the data changes (think chat and multiplayer games),
• you want an easy way to remotely configure app features,
• you want push notifications.

Prerequisites

Head on over to https://console.firebase.google.com/ and sign up for a free account. Your first 'Firebase' will be automatically created and made available via an URL like https://n-plugin-test.firebaseio.com.

Open your Firebase project at the Google console and click 'Add app' to add an iOS and / or Android app. Follow the steps (make sure the bundle id is the same as your nativescript.id in package.json and you'll be able to download:

• iOS: GoogleService-Info.plist which you'll add to your NativeScript project at app/App_Resources/iOS/GoogleService-Info.plist

• Android: google-services.json which you'll add to your NativeScript project at platforms/android/google-services.json

Installation

From the command prompt go to your app's root folder and execute:

tns plugin add nativescript-plugin-firebase

Android

Install packages 'Google Play Services' and 'Google Repository' in your Android SDK Manager

Open app/App_Resources/Android/app.gradle

• Add applicationId "com.example.app" to the defaultConfig node (change the id to the same as in your app's package.json), so it becomes:

android {
    ...
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.app"
        ...
    }
}

Open platforms/android/build.gradle

• Near the top there's a dependencies section, add classpath "com.google.gms:google-services:3.0.0" so it becomes something like:

  dependencies {
    classpath "com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.5.0"
    classpath "com.google.gms:google-services:3.0.0"
  }

• Add the very bottom of the same file add apply plugin: "com.google.gms.google-services"

Usage

If you want a quickstart, clone our demo app (an older version is used in the YouTube video).

Start-up wiring

We need to do some wiring when your app starts, so open app.js and add this before application.start();:

var firebase = require("nativescript-plugin-firebase");

Note that if you previously (before plugin version 3.3.0) added some other code for this plugin to app.js you can now go ahead and remove it.

init

  var firebase = require("nativescript-plugin-firebase");

  firebase.init({
    // Optionally pass in properties for database, authentication and cloud messaging,
    // see their respective docs.
  }).then(
      function (instance) {
        console.log("firebase.init done");
      },
      function (error) {
        console.log("firebase.init error: " + error);
      }
  );

All further examples assume firebase has been required.

Also, all functions support promises, but we're leaving out the .then() stuff for brevity where it doesn't add value.

Features

For readability the supported features have been moved to their own README's:

• Realtime Database
• Authentication
• Remote Config
• Cloud Messaging

Known issues on Android

DexIndexOverflowException

com.android.dex.DexIndexOverflowException: method ID not in..

Congrats, you ran into this issue which can be solved by adding multiDexEnabled true to your app/App_Resources/Android/app.gradle so it becomes something like this:

android {  
  defaultConfig {  
    applicationId "my.package.id"
    multiDexEnabled true
    generatedDensities = []
  }  
  aaptOptions {  
    additionalParameters "--no-version-vectors"  
  }  
}

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded

Increase the Java Max Heap Size like this (the bit at the end):

android {  
  defaultConfig {  
    applicationId "my.package.id"
    multiDexEnabled true
    generatedDensities = []
  }
  aaptOptions {  
    additionalParameters "--no-version-vectors"  
  }
  dexOptions {
    javaMaxHeapSize "4g"
  }
}

FirebaseApp with name [DEFAULT] doesn't exist

Another possible error is "FirebaseApp with name [DEFAULT] doesn't exist." which will be solved by placing google-services.json to platforms/android/google-services.json (see above), and making the changes to build.gradle which are mentioned above as well.

Could not find com.google...

And there's this one: "Could not find com.google.firebase:firebase-auth:9.0.2". That means making sure you have the latest Google Repository bits installed. Just run android from a command prompt and install any pending updates.

Found play-services:9.0.0, but version 9.0.2 is needed..

Update your Android bits like the issue above and reinstall the android platform in your project.

Future work

• Add support for removeEventListener
• Possibly add more login mechanisms
• Add other Firebase 3.x SDK features (there's already a few feature requests in the GitHub issue tracker

Credits

The starting point for this plugin was this great Gist by John Bristowe.

Changelog

3.3.0 (2016, June 26)

Full changelog

SDK versions

If version numbers changed, clean your platform folders to avoid build errors.

• iOS: 3.2.x
• Android: 9.0.2

New

• #54 FCM Messaging / Push Notifications (docs)