LingvinoCloudFunctions

Firebase Cloud Functions is a serverless compute service which lets you deploy code that responds to events from other sources or Google services. By using Cloud Functions, I eliminated the need to manage a back-end server and enabled it to be elastically scalable. Whenever I needed a back-end function, I could just deploy it and trigger it through HTTP request or set up a run schedule.

This repository hosts two separate cloud functions:

Word of the day

The function generates a WordOfTheDay object and stores its data in Firebase Database and Google Cloud Storage. A word gets picked on random basis by the function and is run every 24 hours automatically. The function communicates with the following services:

• Cloud Scheduler – triggers the execution of Cloud Functions.
• Wordnik API – expects a word and responds with word definition and example sentences.
• Cloud Translation – translates input text and returns the translated result.
• Text-to-Speech (MS Azure Cognitive Services) – expects text and responds with audio (natural speech).
• Cloud Storage – stores audio files from Text-to-Speech responses and makes them accessible through HTTP.
• Firebase Database – updates the current word of the day.

User management

This function gets triggered by HTTP requests from the LingvinoAdmin application. It facilitates administrative operations, including:

• getAllAccounts - returns all user accounts.
• updateAccount - expects a JSON object with user attributes to update (e.g. password, email), updates the account metadata and returns the results.
• deleteAccount - expects a user ID (uid), deletes the account and returns the results.
• createAccount - expects a JSON user object, creates an account and returns the results.

External dependencies

• axios
• firebase-admin
• firebase-functions
• google-cloud/storage
• google-cloud/translate
• lodash
• xmlbuilder