Use Cloud Firestore with Cloud Functions
Introduction
This tutorial demonstrates using Google Cloud Functions to store and retrieve data to Google Cloud Firestore. The Cloud Function is implemented in Node.js version 6 (or 8).
The sample Cloud Function is triggered by a web request,
which you can simulate with curl.
Prerequisites
- Create a project in the Google Cloud Platform Console.
- Enable billing for your project.
- Enable the Google Cloud Functions API.
- Enable the Google Cloud Firestore API (with Cloud Firestore in Native mode).
- Install and initialize the Google Cloud SDK.
Configure the
gcloudcommand-line interface for your project, replacing[PROJECT_ID]with your project ID:gcloud config set project [PROJECT_ID]
This guide uses cloud-functions-firestore as the project ID, as well as the firestore collection.
Preparing the Cloud Function
This Cloud Function will either store a basic POST payload as a document in Firestore or retrieve a document from Firestore by ID.
<!--
You can find the
[zerobin codebase on github](...)
which is the source of this example.
-->
Alternatively, you can download package.json & index.js
Start a new npm app
If you do not already have an npm project, go ahead and create one. (in a new directory)
npm init
Install @google-cloud/firestore
Let's add the firestore client to our node app, saving the dependency.
npm install --save --save-exact @google-cloud/firestore
Writing the Cloud Function Code
You can copy and paste the simplified version of the code,
into index.js (or
download).
const Firestore = require('@google-cloud/firestore');
const PROJECTID = 'cloud-functions-firestore';
const COLLECTION_NAME = 'cloud-functions-firestore';
const firestore = new Firestore({
projectId: PROJECTID,
timestampsInSnapshots: true,
});
exports.main = (req, res) => {
if (req.method === 'DELETE') throw 'not yet built';
if (req.method === 'POST') {
// store/insert a new document
const data = (req.body) || {};
const ttl = Number.parseInt(data.ttl);
const ciphertext = (data.ciphertext || '').replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9\-]*/g, '');
const created = new Date().getTime();
return firestore.collection(COLLECTION_NAME)
.add({ created, ttl, ciphertext })
.then(doc => {
return res.status(200).send(doc);
}).catch(err => {
console.error(err);
return res.status(404).send({ error: 'unable to store', err });
});
}
// read/retrieve an existing document by id
if (!(req.query && req.query.id)) {
return res.status(404).send({ error: 'No Id' });
}
const id = req.query.id.replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/g, '').trim();
if (!(id && id.length)) {
return res.status(404).send({ error: 'Empty Id' });
}
return firestore.collection(COLLECTION_NAME)
.doc(id)
.get()
.then(doc => {
if (!(doc && doc.exists)) {
return res.status(404).send({ error: 'Unable to find the document' });
}
const data = doc.data();
return res.status(200).send(data);
}).catch(err => {
console.error(err);
return res.status(404).send({ error: 'Unable to retrieve the document' });
});
};
In that code, the function is going to listen for a POST
with the data fields of ciphertext and ttl.
It will store the values into a new document in firestore
using the add() function (which auto-assigns an ID).
And the function is also listening for a GET request with an id in the querystring.
It will lookup that document in firestore and, if found, return the document.
NOTE: you probably want more input sanitation for a production application.
Deploying the Cloud Function
Once the code is deployed, Google Cloud Functions will automatically run that code for us, when triggered.
You now have a package.json file listing your dependencies
and you have an index.js file which will respond to an HTTP trigger.
You will use the gcloud CLI tool to deploy our function, and configure it to listen to HTTP requests.
(there are other ways to deploy including
git-push CI/CD tooling).
(optional) Install functions-emulator for local testing
Testing things is nice. You can install a local emulator for Google Cloud Functions.
npm install -g @google-cloud/functions-emulator
export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/Users/myname/.cred/myserviceaccount.json
functions start
functions deploy main --trigger-http --runtime=nodejs10
In this case, main is the name of the function you want to trigger in your code, triggered by an HTTP request.
NOTE: if you're on
zsh, you may not be able to executefunctions. Either startbash, or executesh -c 'which functions'to find the proper path for you. eg:/Users/myname/.npm-global/bin/functions
Now you can test your function by sending curl requests.
You can create a new document:
curl --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--request POST \
--data '{"ttl":1,"ciphertext":"daa5370871aa301e5e12d4274d80691f75e295d648aa84b73e291d8c82"}' \
http://localhost:8010/cloud-functions-firestore/us-central1/main
{"id":"wLcIOzic6BeoEk3tV4sH"}
And retrieve that document:
curl http://localhost:8010/cloud-functions-firestore/us-central1/main?id=wLcIOzic6BeoEk3tV4sH
{"created":15369690190000,"ttl":1,"ciphertext":"daa5370871aa301e5e12d4274d80691f75e295d648aa84b73e291d8c82"}
NOTE that our function code added created.
Deploy the code to Google Cloud Functions
This is very easy thanks to the gcloud CLI.
gcloud functions deploy main --trigger-http --runtime=nodejs10
In this case, main is the name of the function you want to trigger in your code, triggered by an HTTP request.
NOTE: If you used the emulator above, you can simply prefix the command with
gcloud
Deploying function (may take a while - up to 2 minutes)...done.
availableMemoryMb: 256
entryPoint: main
httpsTrigger:
url: https://us-central1-cloud-functions-firestore.cloudfunctions.net/main
labels:
deployment-tool: cli-gcloud
name: projects/cloud-functions-firestore/locations/us-central1/functions/main
runtime: nodejs10
serviceAccountEmail: cloud-functions-firestore@appspot.gserviceaccount.com
sourceUploadUrl: https://storage.googleapis.com/gcf-upload-us-central1-0000000000.zip?GoogleAccessId=service-...
status: ACTIVE
timeout: 60s
updateTime: '2018-09-15T01:25:59Z'
versionId: '1'
Testing the deployed Cloud Function in production
You should now be able to send HTTP requests to the endpoint and test out the function in production.
Now you can test your function by sending curl requests.
You can create a new document:
curl --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--request POST \
--data '{"ttl":1,"ciphertext":"daa5370871aa301e5e12d4274d80691f75e295d648aa84b73e291d8c82"}' \
https://us-central1-cloud-functions-firestore.cloudfunctions.net/main
{"id":"wLcIOzic6BeoEk3tV4sH"}
And retrieve that document:
curl https://us-central1-cloud-functions-firestore.cloudfunctions.net/main?id=wLcIOzic6BeoEk3tV4sH
{"created":15369690190000,"ttl":1,"ciphertext":"daa5370871aa301e5e12d4274d80691f75e295d648aa84b73e291d8c82"}
NOTE that our function code added created.
Iterate
This is a very short cycle of [code, deploy, test]
so you should be able to iterate rapidly.
When you deploy, you overwrite the current version, at the function's URL (blue/green deployment in the background, can take a few seconds to switch over).
If you need to access a previously deployed version, you can append /revisions/${REVISION} with the value of the versionId that deploy gives you back.
There are lot of other settings available. Review docs and help:
gcloud functions deploy --help
Your turn
As you can see, it is very easy to create and deploy small functions.
You can deploy larger applications just as easily.
Your functions can be triggered by many other events, not just web requests.
And you only pay for your functions for the seconds they are being run, and they can scale out as needed even if you get super-popular.
Read more about functions and make something awesome!
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see our Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.