fb3-ng2

Angular 2 Helpers for Firebase SDK 3.x

N.B.: This library is in active development, so things may change suddenly. Also, it was originally intended to be a drop-in replacement for the official angularfire2 library until that library is updated to Firebase SDK 3.x. That library, when ready, may make this one unnecessary.

Overview

This library concentrates on reading data objects and arrays from Firebase 3.x SDK databases. The goal is to be simple to understand and easy to use, rather than provide a comprehensive Angular 2 implementation of the SDK.

Features

• Type definitions for SDK 3.x
• FirebaseObject class extending Object, instantiated from a reference.
• FirebaseArray class extending Array, instantiated from a reference or query.

Left out (at least for now)

• Writing data, e.g., set, update, push and remove, and two-way data binding.
• Authorization
• Storage

Much of this can be easily done (and is perhaps better done) via the SDK itself rather than Angular 2 abstractions. That said, I'm open to suggestions.

Installation Instructions

Install in an existing app...

npm i firebase fb3-ng2 --save

Or clone the example app...

A prebuilt version of an app can be cloned from fb3-ng2-example.

git clone [e-mail]:nowzoo/fb3-ng2-example.git
cd fb3-ng2-example
npm i

The following instructions are based on installing the library for an Angular 2 app built from the angular2-webpack seed project. If your app uses another seed or build system, such as SystemJS, you will have to modify some of the following.

Add the Firebase SDK 3.x typings

# install the typings library globally if you don't have it.. 
#  npm i typings -g 

Until official typings are published to a registry, use the typings found in this gist. Open up typings.json and add the following line to globalDependencies.

"firebase": "https://gist.githubusercontent.com/cdcarson/28399c50b02bf6c507fbf5b7b30daa31/raw/fa089d231ca4253d4715f8161efc6af74c972dfa/firebase-sdk-3-typings.d.ts"

Then run:

typings i

Tell the build where to find the Firebase and fb3-ng2 libraries

If you're using the example app with Webpack, just add the following to src/vendor.ts:

import 'firebase';
import 'fb3-ng2';

Other build systems/seeds will require you to add paths/references/maps to the libraries in various other places. Consult Google to figure out where.

Use it!

Add a DEFAULT_FIREBASE_APP provider in src/main.ts, or wherever you bootstrap() your app:

//other imports...
 
// Add these lines  up top...
import * as firebase from 'firebase';
 
// DEFAULT_FIREBASE_APP is an OpaqueToken that we can use to provide the app...
import {DEFAULT_FIREBASE_APP} from 'fb3-ng2';
 
// more imports and other stuff...
 
bootstrap(AppComponent, [
    // other providers...
 
    // add a factory for getting a firebase application instance...
    {
        provide: DEFAULT_FIREBASE_APP, useFactory: () => {
            let app: firebase.app.App;
            try {
                // this will work if the app already exists...
                app = firebase.app();
            } catch (e) {
              // the app does not yet exist, so...
                app = firebase.initializeApp({
                  // get this object from the firebase console...
                    apiKey: 'YOUR API KEY',
                    authDomain: '<your-firebase-app>.firebaseapp.com',
                    databaseURL: 'https://<your-firebase-app>.firebaseio.com',
                    storageBucket: '<your-firebase-app>.appspot.com'
                });
            }
            return app;
        }
    }
  ])
  .catch(err => console.error(err));
 

Then in a component, instantiate some data. In src/app/home/home.component.ts...

// add Inject here...
import { Component, OnInit, Inject } from '@angular/core';
 
// import firebase and fb3-ng2 stuff...
import * as firebase from 'firebase';
import { DEFAULT_FIREBASE_APP, FirebaseObject, FirebaseArray } from 'fb3-ng2';
 
@Component({
  selector: 'my-home',
  template: require('./home.component.html'),
  styles: [require('./home.component.scss')]
})
export class HomeComponent implements OnInit {
 
  //define some properties...
  public posts: FirebaseArray;
  public listOfScalars: FirebaseArray;
  public anObject: FirebaseObject;
  public doesntExist: FirebaseObject;
  public aScalar: FirebaseObject;
 
 
  //inject the app...
  constructor(@Inject(DEFAULT_FIREBASE_APP) private fbApp: any) {}
 
  ngOnInit() {
    // initialize the data...
    this.posts = new FirebaseArray(this.fbApp.database().ref('posts'));
    this.listOfScalars = new FirebaseArray(this.fbApp.database().ref('listOfScalars'));
    this.anObject = new FirebaseObject(this.fbApp.database().ref('anObject'));
    this.doesntExist = new FirebaseObject(this.fbApp.database().ref('doesntExist'));
    this.aScalar = new FirebaseObject(this.fbApp.database().ref('aScalar'));
  }
 
}
 

Finally, in src/app/home/home.component.html...

<p>
  Home Works!
</p>
 
<h3>Posts</h3>
<pre>
{{ posts | json }}
</pre>
 
<h3>A list of scalars</h3>
<pre>
{{ listOfScalars | json }}
</pre>
 
<h3>An Object</h3>
<pre>
{{ anObject | json }}
</pre>
 
<h3>A Scalar</h3>
<pre>
{{ aScalar | json }}
</pre>
 
<h3>Does not exist</h3>
<pre>
{{ doesntExist | json }}
</pre>

See the results:

npm start

If you've cloned the example, the app will be available at http://localhost:3002/

Contributing

Feel free to make suggestions, post issues and make PRs.

# clone the repo... 
git clone [e-mail]:nowzoo/fb3-ng2.git
 
# install dependencies... 
npm install
 
# install the typings library globally if you need to.. 
#  npm i typings -g 
 
# install typings... 
typings install
 
# unit tests... 
npm test
 
# watch test... 
npm run test-watch
 
# build... 
npm build

License

MIT