Firebase

Firebase is a set of application development platforms and backen cloud computing services. We will be using Firebase's Realtime Database for data storage.

Setting up Firebase

Creating a Firebase Project

Sign into Firebase with your google account then open the Firebase console and create a new project. The project will default to using the no-cost Spark plan.

Add a web app to your firebase project. You shouldn't need to worry about installing the Firebase SDK because it is already in the package.json dependencies for this repo. This will generate a configuration for your web app that looks something like this:

const firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: ...,
  authDomain: ...,
  projectId: ...,
  storageBucket: ...,
  messagingSenderId: ...,
  appId: ...,
  measurementId: ...
};

Create a file named .env in stretch-web-interface and add the config to the .env file. The config will need to be reformatted slightly so the contents of .env look like this:

apiKey=DEzaSyAzZEQ89KBuKXgKJ-UWV9vm3xM
authDomain=stretch-teleop-interface.firebaseapp.com
projectId=stretch-teleop-interface
storageBucket=stretch-teleop-interface.appspot.com
messagingSenderId=124457856584
appId=1:364440456284:web:1e2603a456f839280det99
measurementId=T-6GMDF5W03Z

Setup the Realtime Database

Select the Realtime Database option under Build in the Firebase console for your project, then create a database. Select "Start in locked mode" in Security Rules and click Enable. Add the following to the database rules:

{
    "rules": {
        ".write": "auth.token.email == '[e-mail]' || auth.token.email == '[e-mail]'",
        "users" : {
	        "$user_id" : {
            ".write": "$user_id === auth.uid",
            ".read": "$user_id === auth.uid"
          }
        },
        "layouts": {
        	".read": "auth != null"
        },
        "currentLayouts": {
        	".read": "auth != null"
        }
    }
}

Replace '[e-mail]' and '[e-mail]' with the email addresses of the users you'd like to give write access to. You can add as many users as you'd like by separating them with ||.

Setup Authentication

Select the Authentication option under Build in the Firebase console for your project, then click Get Started. Click Email/Password and enable it. Do not enable passwordless sign-in. Click Add new Provider and Anonymous then enable it and click Save. Finally, add another provider, click Google and add a Project public-facing name, select a support email and click Save. We will primarily be using Google for authentication.