AngularFireStorage.getDownloadUrl() is not handling the error properly

[salah3x]

Version info

Angular:
7.2.0
Firebase:
5.8.5
AngularFire:
5.1.1
Other (e.g. Ionic/Cordova, Node, browser, operating system):
node: v10.13.0
chrome: 73.0.3683.86
os: Windows 8.1

How to reproduce these conditions

Steps to set up and reproduce

export class Service{

  constructor(private storage: AngularFireStorage) { }
  getImageUrl(path: string):  Observable<string> {
    return this.storage.ref(path).getDownloadURL().pipe(
      take(1),
      catchError(() => of('/assets/default.png'))
      )
    );
  }

export class Component{
constructor(private service: Service) { }
  url: string;
  getImageUrl(): {
    this.service.getImageUrl(aPathFromSomeModel)
      .subscribe(data => this.url = data, err => console.error(err));
  }

Debug output

** Errors in the JavaScript console **

FirebaseStorageError {code_: "storage/invalid-root-operation", message_: "Firebase Storage: The operation 'getDownloadURL' c…eference using child, such as .child('file.png').", serverResponse_: null, name_: "FirebaseError"}
code: "storage/invalid-root-operation"
code_: "storage/invalid-root-operation"
message: "Firebase Storage: The operation 'getDownloadURL' cannot be performed on a root reference, create a non-root reference using child, such as .child('file.png')."
message_: "Firebase Storage: The operation 'getDownloadURL' cannot be performed on a root reference, create a non-root reference using child, such as .child('file.png')."
name: "FirebaseError"
name_: "FirebaseError"
serverResponse: null
serverResponse_: null
__proto__: Object

** Output from firebase.database().enableLogging(true); **

** Screenshots **

Expected behavior

When passing an empty, null or undefined path, the error should be handled by the catchError operator.

Actual behavior

The error is not handled by catchError and get passed through the error channel

Fix

I had to do a manual check before calling the getDownloadURL()

  if (!path) {
    return  of('/assets/default.png');
  }

I'm no sure if this is an actual issue or I'm just doing it wrong, so any tip would be appreciated.

[nikmartin]

Can confirm this is a bug; Wrapping the call in a try/catch also does nothing.

[jamesdaniels]

Closing as that should have been addressed in a past JS SDK fix