firestore-demo

BoilerPlate to setup firestore

Includes:

Repository Pattern

Clean Architecture Implementation

Usage for Authentication and Products Lists

Slides:

https://outcodesoftware-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/ashutosh_chapagain_outcodesoftware_com/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?action=edit&sourcedoc=%7B1366afb0-0246-4390-a458-3d0eb4ff7cd0%7D&wdOrigin=TEAMS-ELECTRON.teamsSdk.openFilePreview&wdExp=TEAMS-CONTROL&web=1

Notes:

Firebase Short Intro and Key Features

Firebase as a mobile and web development platform provided by Google and mention its various features and services:

• Firebase is a comprehensive platform for building mobile and web applications developed by Google.
• It offers a wide range of features and services that simplify the development process and help developers create high-quality apps more efficiently.
• Key features and services provided by Firebase include:
  • Real-time Database: A cloud-hosted NoSQL database that enables real-time synchronization of data across devices.
  • Authentication: Provides secure user authentication and authorization using email/password, social logins (e.g., Google, Facebook, Twitter), and more.
  • Cloud Firestore: A flexible and scalable NoSQL document database for storing and syncing app data across devices, with real-time updates and offline capabilities.
  • Cloud Storage: Offers secure and scalable cloud storage for app assets such as images, videos, and files.
  • Cloud Functions: Lets you run serverless functions that respond to events triggered by Firebase or third-party services, allowing you to build custom backend logic.
  • Cloud Messaging: Provides a reliable and efficient messaging service for sending push notifications to devices.
  • Remote Config: Allows you to manage app configuration settings remotely without requiring an app update.
  • Performance Monitoring: Helps you gain insights into your app's performance, including response times, latency, and resource usage.
  • Test Lab: Provides a cloud-based infrastructure for testing your app on real devices to identify and fix bugs before release.
  • Crashlytics: Offers real-time crash reporting and analysis, helping you track and resolve app crashes.
  • Analytics: Provides comprehensive app analytics, including user engagement, retention, and conversion tracking.
  • AdMob: Enables you to monetize your app by integrating ads from various ad networks.
  • Machine Learning: Integrates machine learning capabilities into your app using pre-trained models or custom models built with TensorFlow.
  • App Distribution: Simplifies app distribution and beta testing by allowing you to deploy pre-release versions of your app to trusted testers.

These are just some of the many features and services offered by Firebase. Each feature serves a specific purpose in the app development lifecycle, providing developers with powerful tools to enhance their apps and improve the user experience.

Firestore Brief Intro

Firebase Firestore is a NoSQL document database offered by Firebase, a mobile and web development platform provided by Google. Here's an overview of Firestore, highlighting its key features:

• Firestore is designed to store and synchronize data for mobile and web applications. It provides a flexible and scalable solution for managing app data.
• Unlike traditional SQL databases, Firestore is a NoSQL database, which means it stores data in flexible, schema-less documents rather than rigid tables. This structure allows for easy scalability and adaptability to changing data requirements.
• Firestore offers seamless real-time synchronization of data across multiple devices and platforms. When data changes in Firestore, it automatically updates in real-time on all connected devices. This real-time capability is particularly useful for applications that require instant updates, such as chat apps, collaborative tools, and real-time dashboards.
• Another significant feature of Firestore is its offline capabilities. It allows apps to continue functioning even without an internet connection. When the device is offline, Firestore stores changes made locally and automatically synchronizes them with the server when the connection is restored. This offline support ensures that users can still interact with the app and their data, providing a seamless experience.
• Firestore provides powerful querying capabilities to retrieve data efficiently. You can perform queries based on specific criteria, sort and filter data, and paginate through large result sets. This flexibility allows developers to build robust and performant applications.
• Firestore also includes built-in security features. It integrates with Firebase Authentication to provide secure access control and user authentication for accessing and modifying data. Developers can define security rules to restrict access to certain documents or collections, ensuring data privacy and integrity.
• Additionally, Firestore offers SDKs for various platforms, including Flutter, iOS, Android, and web. These SDKs provide easy-to-use APIs and libraries that simplify the integration of Firestore into your mobile and web applications.

Overall, Firestore is a powerful and scalable NoSQL document database that enables real-time synchronization and offline capabilities. It empowers developers to build responsive, collaborative, and feature-rich applications for both mobile and web platforms.

Key features of Firebase Firestore, along with their explanations:

1. Document-based data model:

   • Firestore uses a document-based data model, where data is organized into collections and documents.
   • A collection is a group of related documents, and each document is a set of key-value pairs.
   • This flexible structure allows for hierarchical data organization and easy retrieval of specific documents or subsets of data.

2. Real-time updates:

   • Firestore provides real-time synchronization of data across devices and platforms.
   • When data changes in Firestore, any connected clients listening to that data receive automatic updates in real-time.
   • This real-time capability is particularly useful for collaborative applications, chat apps, live dashboards, and other scenarios where instant updates are required.

3. Scalability and performance:

   • Firestore is designed to scale seamlessly to handle millions of concurrent users and large amounts of data.
   • It automatically distributes data across multiple servers, ensuring high availability and efficient performance.
   • Firestore also offers horizontal scaling, allowing applications to handle increased user traffic without sacrificing performance.

4. Offline data access:

   • Firestore provides robust offline support, allowing apps to function even without an internet connection.
   • When a device is offline, Firestore caches the data locally and enables read and write operations to be performed.
   • Any changes made offline are synchronized with the server once the device is back online, ensuring data consistency.

5. Security rules and authentication:

   • Firestore integrates with Firebase Authentication, which provides secure user authentication and authorization mechanisms.
   • You can define security rules that control access to data based on user roles, authentication status, or other conditions.
   • These security rules help protect sensitive data and ensure that only authorized users can read, write, or modify documents.

These key features make Firebase Firestore a powerful database solution for mobile and web applications. It offers a flexible data model, real-time updates, scalability, offline capabilities, and robust security measures, empowering developers to build responsive, collaborative, and secure applications.

Structure and Components

In Firebase Firestore, data is organized into collections and documents. Let's explore the structure and concepts:

1. Collections:

   • A collection is a group of documents in Firestore.
   • Collections act as containers for organizing related documents.
   • Collections are similar to tables in traditional SQL databases but with a more flexible and scalable structure.
   • Each collection has a unique name within a Firestore database.

2. Documents:

   • A document is a set of key-value pairs stored within a collection.
   • Documents are similar to rows in a table, but again, they have a more flexible structure.
   • Each document within a collection has a unique identifier, typically generated automatically.
   • Documents can contain various types of data, including strings, numbers, booleans, arrays, nested objects, and even subcollections.
   • Unlike SQL databases, documents within the same collection do not have to follow a fixed schema, meaning they can have different fields and structures.

Example of Data Organization: Let's consider a simple example of a blogging application where users can create posts and leave comments:

1. Collection: "posts"

   • This collection stores all the blog posts created by users.
   • Each document within the "posts" collection represents a single blog post.
   • The document ID can be generated automatically or set to a specific value (such as a unique post ID).
   • Example document:

     Document ID: "post1"
     {
       title: "Introduction to Firebase Firestore",
       content: "Firebase Firestore is a NoSQL document database...",
       author: "John Doe",
       likes: 10,
       comments: 5
     }
     

2. Collection: "comments"

   • This collection stores the comments made on each blog post.
   • Each document within the "comments" collection represents a single comment.
   • The document ID can be generated automatically or set to a specific value (such as a unique comment ID).
   • Example document:

     Document ID: "comment1"
     {
       postID: "post1",
       author: "Jane Smith",
       content: "Great introduction! I learned a lot.",
       timestamp: Timestamp(...)
     }
     

In this example, the "posts" collection contains multiple documents, each representing a blog post. Each blog post document has fields like title, content, author, likes, and comments. The "comments" collection contains multiple documents, each representing a comment on a specific post. The comment documents have fields like postID, author, content, and timestamp.

This structure allows for efficient querying and retrieval of data. For example, you can fetch all the comments for a particular post by querying the "comments" collection with a filter based on the postID field.

The flexible nature of Firestore's document-based data model enables developers to adapt the structure according to their application's specific needs and easily manage complex data relationships.

Read Data

To read data from Firestore in a Flutter app, you need to integrate the Firebase Flutter SDK and use the Firestore API provided by the SDK. Here's an explanation of how to read data and code examples for retrieving collections, documents, and querying data:

1. Integration and Setup:

   • Add the cloud_firestore package as a dependency in your pubspec.yaml file.
   • Run flutter pub get to fetch the package and its dependencies.
   • Import the Firestore package in your Dart file: import 'package:cloud_firestore/cloud_firestore.dart';
   • Initialize Firestore by calling FirebaseFirestore.instance once during app initialization.

2. Retrieving a Collection:

   • To retrieve all documents within a collection, you can use the get() method on a collection reference.
   • Example code to retrieve a collection named "posts":

     CollectionReference postsRef = FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('posts');
     QuerySnapshot snapshot = await postsRef.get();
     
     // Iterate over the documents in the snapshot
     snapshot.docs.forEach((doc) {
       print(doc.data()); // Access the data of each document
     });

3. Retrieving a Document:

   • To retrieve a specific document by its ID, you can use the doc() method on a collection reference.
   • Example code to retrieve a document with ID "post1" from the "posts" collection:

     DocumentSnapshot snapshot = await FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('posts').doc('post1').get();
     
     if (snapshot.exists) {
       print(snapshot.data()); // Access the data of the document
     } else {
       print('Document does not exist.');
     }

4. Querying Data:

   • Firestore provides powerful querying capabilities to retrieve specific data based on conditions.
   • Example code to query the "posts" collection for documents with a specific condition:

     QuerySnapshot snapshot = await FirebaseFirestore.instance
         .collection('posts')
         .where('likes', isGreaterThan: 10) // Filter documents with "likes" greater than 10
         .get();
     
     // Iterate over the documents in the snapshot
     snapshot.docs.forEach((doc) {
       print(doc.data()); // Access the data of each document
     });

These code examples demonstrate how to read data from Firestore in a Flutter app. Remember to handle asynchronous operations appropriately using async and await keywords or using .then() callbacks when working with the Firestore API. Also, make sure to handle any potential error scenarios and provide proper error handling in your app.

Write Data

To write data to Firestore in a Flutter app, you can use the Firestore API provided by the Firebase Flutter SDK. Here's an explanation of how to write data and code examples for adding, updating, and deleting documents:

1. Adding a Document:

   • To add a new document to a collection, you can use the add() method on a collection reference. Firestore will automatically generate a unique document ID for you.
   • Example code to add a new document to the "posts" collection:

     CollectionReference postsRef = FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('posts');
     
     // Create a new document with a generated ID
     await postsRef.add({
       'title': 'New Post',
       'content': 'This is a new post.',
       'author': 'John Doe',
     });

2. Updating a Document:

   • To update an existing document, you can use the update() method on a document reference. Provide the updated field values within a map.
   • Example code to update the "likes" field of a document with ID "post1" in the "posts" collection:

     DocumentReference docRef = FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('posts').doc('post1');
     
     // Update the document with new values
     await docRef.update({
       'likes': 20,
     });

3. Deleting a Document:

   • To delete a document, you can use the delete() method on a document reference.
   • Example code to delete a document with ID "post1" from the "posts" collection:

     DocumentReference docRef = FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('posts').doc('post1');
     
     // Delete the document
     await docRef.delete();

4. Batched Writes (Multiple Operations):

   • If you need to perform multiple write operations as a single atomic unit, such as adding multiple documents or updating multiple documents, you can use a batched write.
   • Example code to perform batched writes (adding two documents and updating one document):

     WriteBatch batch = FirebaseFirestore.instance.batch();
     
     // Add two new documents
     CollectionReference postsRef = FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('posts');
     batch.set(postsRef.doc(), {
       'title': 'New Post 1',
       'content': 'This is a new post 1.',
       'author': 'Jane Smith',
     });
     batch.set(postsRef.doc(), {
       'title': 'New Post 2',
       'content': 'This is a new post 2.',
       'author': 'John Doe',
     });
     
     // Update an existing document
     DocumentReference docRef = postsRef.doc('post1');
     batch.update(docRef, {
       'likes': 30,
     });
     
     // Commit the batched write
     await batch.commit();

These code examples demonstrate how to write data to Firestore in a Flutter app. Remember to handle asynchronous operations appropriately using async and await keywords or using .then() callbacks when working with the Firestore API. Also, make sure to handle any potential error scenarios and provide proper error handling in your app.

Security Rules in Firestore

1. Importance of Firestore Security Rules:

   • Firestore security rules play a crucial role in protecting your data and ensuring that only authorized users can access and modify it.
   • They act as a firewall, allowing you to define granular access controls and enforce security policies at the database level.
   • By properly configuring security rules, you can prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, and malicious activities.
   • Firestore security rules also help maintain data integrity, ensuring that only valid and well-formed data is written to the database.

2. Setting up and Configuring Security Rules:

   • Firestore security rules are written using the Firebase Security Rules language, which is a domain-specific language for defining access rules.
   • To set up and configure security rules for Firestore:
     • Access the Firestore section of the Firebase console.
     • Navigate to the "Rules" tab.
     • In the editor, you can define rules based on the structure of your data and the desired access controls.
     • Rules are written using a combination of match conditions, request properties, and logical operators.
     • Test and validate your rules using the simulator provided in the Firebase console.

3. Best Practices for Securing Firestore:

   • Principle of Least Privilege: Follow the principle of granting the least amount of privileges required for each user or user role. Limit access to sensitive data and operations to only authorized users.
   • Validate User Authentication: Leverage Firebase Authentication to authenticate users. Verify the user's identity and role before granting access to sensitive data or allowing write operations.
   • Use Secure Validation Rules: Write comprehensive security rules to validate and enforce data integrity. Validate incoming data for type, format, and constraints to prevent malicious or malformed data from being written.
   • Protect Sensitive Information: Be cautious when storing sensitive information. Avoid storing plaintext passwords or other confidential data in Firestore. Utilize secure storage solutions, such as Firebase Authentication, to store sensitive user information.
   • Implement Rate Limiting: Protect against abusive or excessive usage by implementing rate limiting mechanisms. This helps prevent unauthorized access attempts or denial-of-service attacks.
   • Regularly Review and Update Rules: Continuously monitor and review your security rules to ensure they align with your application's evolving requirements. Regularly update rules as new features or data structures are introduced.

By following these best practices, you can enhance the security of your Firestore database, protect sensitive data, prevent unauthorized access, and maintain the integrity of your application's data. It's essential to regularly review and update your security rules to address any potential vulnerabilities and ensure ongoing protection.