NativeScript Firebase plugin

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

Features

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

• Setup and troubleshooting (continue reading below)
• Realtime Database
• Authentication
• Remote Config
• Cloud Messaging
• Storage
• Crash Reporting
• Analytics

NativeScript version

Please update to at least tns 2.1.0 to make plugin installation a little easier (otherwise you'll need to manually add an applicationId to app/App_Resources/Android/app.gradle).

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

If you rather watch a video explaining the steps then check out this step-by-step guide - you'll also learn how to add iOS and Android support to the Firebase console and how to integrate anonymous authentication:

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

tns plugin add nativescript-plugin-firebase

This will guide you through installing additional components. Check the doc links above to see what's what. You can always change your choices later.

Do yourself a favor by adding TypeScript support to your nativeScript app:

tns install typescript

Then open references.d.ts in the root of your project and add this line to get autocompletion and type-checking for this plugin:

/// <reference path="./node_modules/nativescript-plugin-firebase/firebase.d.ts" />

Android

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

Open platforms/android/build.gradle

We're trying to automate these steps, but for now:

• 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:X.X.X"
    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.

Start-up wiring

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

JavaScript

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);
    }
);

TypeScript

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

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

Known issues on iOS

Authentication failed: invalid_token

On the simulator you may see this message if you have more than one app with the Firebase SDK ever installed:

[FirebaseDatabase] Authentication failed: invalid_token (Invalid claim 'aud' in auth token.)
or
[FirebaseDatabase] Authentication failed: invalid_token (audience was project 'firegroceries-904d0' but should have been project 'your-firebase-project')

This is a known issue in the Firebase SDK. I always use a real device to avoid this problem, but you can pass an 'iOSEmulatorFlush' option to init.

firebase.init({
  // Optionally pass in properties for database, authentication and cloud messaging,
  // see their respective docs and 'iOSEmulatorFlush' to flush token before init.
  iOSEmulatorFlush: true
}).then()

Pod dependency error

If you see an error like Unable to satisfy the following requirements: Firebase (~> 3.3.0) required by Podfile, then check issue 98 which perfectly explains how to update your local Pod spec repo, or first try to tns platform remove ios && tns platform add ios.

Known issues on Android

Genymotion

You can use the awesome Genymotion emulator but you'll need to install Google Play Services on it or you'll run into errors during authentication.

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 = "__PACKAGE__"  
    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 = "__PACKAGE__"  
    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:9.4.0". 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.