Cloud Storage Text to Firestore template

The Cloud Storage Text to Firestore template is a batch pipeline that imports from JSON documents stored in Cloud Storage to Firestore.

Pipeline requirements

Firestore must be enabled in the destination project.

Input format

Each input file must contain newline-delimited JSON, where each line contains a JSON representation of a Datastore Entity data type.

For example, the following JSON represents a document in a collection named Users. The example is formatted for readability, but each document must appear as a single line of input.

{
  "key": {
    "partitionId": {
      "projectId": "my-project"
    },
    "path": [
      {
        "kind": "users",
        "name": "alovelace"
      }
    ]
  },
  "properties": {
    "first": {
      "stringValue": "Ada"
    },
    "last": {
      "stringValue": "Lovelace"
    },
    "born": {
      "integerValue": "1815",
      "excludeFromIndexes": true
    }
  }
}

For more information about the document model, see Entities, Properties, and Keys.

Template parameters

Parameter Description
textReadPattern A Cloud Storage path pattern that specifies the location of your text data files. For example, gs://mybucket/somepath/*.json.
javascriptTextTransformGcsPath (Optional) The Cloud Storage URI of the .js file that defines the JavaScript user-defined function (UDF) you want to use. For example, gs://my-bucket/my-udfs/my_file.js.
javascriptTextTransformFunctionName (Optional) The name of the JavaScript user-defined function (UDF) that you want to use. For example, if your JavaScript function code is myTransform(inJson) { /*...do stuff...*/ }, then the function name is myTransform. For sample JavaScript UDFs, see UDF Examples.
firestoreWriteProjectId The Google Cloud project id of where to write the Firestore entities
firestoreHintNumWorkers (Optional) Hint for the expected number of workers in the Firestore ramp-up throttling step. Default is 500.
errorWritePath The error log output file to use for write failures that occur during processing. For example, gs://bucket-name/errors.txt.

User-defined function

Optionally, you can extend this template by writing a user-defined function (UDF). The template calls the UDF for each input element. Element payloads are serialized as JSON strings. For more information, see Create user-defined functions for Dataflow templates.

Function specification

The UDF has the following specification:

  • Input: a line of text from a Cloud Storage input file.
  • Output: an Entity, serialized as a JSON string.

Run the template

Console

  1. Go to the Dataflow Create job from template page.
  2. Go to Create job from template
  3. In the Job name field, enter a unique job name.
  4. Optional: For Regional endpoint, select a value from the drop-down menu. The default region is us-central1.

    For a list of regions where you can run a Dataflow job, see Dataflow locations.

  5. From the Dataflow template drop-down menu, select the Text Files on Cloud Storage to Firestore template.
  6. In the provided parameter fields, enter your parameter values.
  7. Click Run job.

gcloud

In your shell or terminal, run the template:

gcloud dataflow jobs run JOB_NAME \
    --gcs-location gs://dataflow-templates-REGION_NAME/VERSION/GCS_Text_to_Firestore \
    --region REGION_NAME \
    --parameters \
textReadPattern=PATH_TO_INPUT_TEXT_FILES,\
javascriptTextTransformGcsPath=PATH_TO_JAVASCRIPT_UDF_FILE,\
javascriptTextTransformFunctionName=JAVASCRIPT_FUNCTION,\
firestoreWriteProjectId=PROJECT_ID,\
errorWritePath=ERROR_FILE_WRITE_PATH

Replace the following:

  • JOB_NAME: a unique job name of your choice
  • VERSION: the version of the template that you want to use

    You can use the following values:

  • REGION_NAME: the region where you want to deploy your Dataflow job—for example, us-central1
  • PATH_TO_INPUT_TEXT_FILES: the input files pattern on Cloud Storage
  • JAVASCRIPT_FUNCTION: the name of the JavaScript user-defined function (UDF) that you want to use

    For example, if your JavaScript function code is myTransform(inJson) { /*...do stuff...*/ }, then the function name is myTransform. For sample JavaScript UDFs, see UDF Examples.

  • PATH_TO_JAVASCRIPT_UDF_FILE: the Cloud Storage URI of the .js file that defines the JavaScript user-defined function (UDF) you want to use—for example, gs://my-bucket/my-udfs/my_file.js
  • ERROR_FILE_WRITE_PATH: your desired path to error file on Cloud Storage

API

To run the template using the REST API, send an HTTP POST request. For more information on the API and its authorization scopes, see projects.templates.launch.

POST https://dataflow.googleapis.com/v1b3/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/templates:launch?gcsPath=gs://dataflow-templates-LOCATION/VERSION/GCS_Text_to_Firestore
{
   "jobName": "JOB_NAME",
   "parameters": {
       "textReadPattern": "PATH_TO_INPUT_TEXT_FILES",
       "javascriptTextTransformGcsPath": "PATH_TO_JAVASCRIPT_UDF_FILE",
       "javascriptTextTransformFunctionName": "JAVASCRIPT_FUNCTION",
       "firestoreWriteProjectId": "PROJECT_ID",
       "errorWritePath": "ERROR_FILE_WRITE_PATH"
   },
   "environment": { "zone": "us-central1-f" }
}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the Google Cloud project ID where you want to run the Dataflow job
  • JOB_NAME: a unique job name of your choice
  • VERSION: the version of the template that you want to use

    You can use the following values:

  • LOCATION: the region where you want to deploy your Dataflow job—for example, us-central1
  • PATH_TO_INPUT_TEXT_FILES: the input files pattern on Cloud Storage
  • JAVASCRIPT_FUNCTION: the name of the JavaScript user-defined function (UDF) that you want to use

    For example, if your JavaScript function code is myTransform(inJson) { /*...do stuff...*/ }, then the function name is myTransform. For sample JavaScript UDFs, see UDF Examples.

  • PATH_TO_JAVASCRIPT_UDF_FILE: the Cloud Storage URI of the .js file that defines the JavaScript user-defined function (UDF) you want to use—for example, gs://my-bucket/my-udfs/my_file.js
  • ERROR_FILE_WRITE_PATH: your desired path to error file on Cloud Storage

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