Store and query data in Firestore in Datastore mode

Store and query data in Firestore in Datastore mode

This page shows you how to store and query data in Firestore in Datastore mode using the Google Cloud console.

Before you begin

• Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

• In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

  Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

  Go to project selector

• In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

  Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

  Go to project selector

• If you are not the project owner, your account requires the following permissions to complete this quickstart:

  • Your account requires the Datastore Owner role which contains the datastore.databases.create permission needed to create a Datastore mode instance.
  • Datastore mode requires an active App Engine application. If the project doesn't have an application, this quickstart creates one for you. In that case, you require the appengine.applications.create permission. The project owner can assign this permission with an IAM custom role.

Create a database

1. To create a new database instance, open the Datastore section in the Google Cloud console:
   Go to the Datastore page

2. Select a database mode.

   When you create a new Firestore database, you have the option to use Firestore in either Native Mode or Datastore mode. You can't use both modes in the same project.

   Select from one of the database options:

   • Firestore in Native Mode

     Recommended for mobile and web apps. To get started with Firestore, continue in the Firestore Quickstart.

   • Firestore in Datastore Mode

     Recommended for app architectures with backend servers.

   For more guidance on selecting a database mode and for a feature-by-feature comparison, see choosing between Native Mode and Datastore Mode.

3. Select a database location. Datastore mode supports multi-region and regional locations.

   A multi-region location maximizes availability and durability. Regional locations offer lower write latency. To learn more about location types, see Datastore mode locations. The location applies to both Datastore mode databases and App Engine apps for your Google Cloud project.

   Warning: Once you create your database, you cannot change the location.

   Click Create database. After your database finishes initializing, the Google Cloud console directs you to the Datastore Entities page.

Store data

1. Go to the Datastore Entities page in the Google Cloud console.

   Go to the Entities page

   This page lets you store, query, update, and delete data.

2. Click Create entity.

3. On the Create an entity page, use [default] for Namespace.

4. Type Task in the Kind field. Leave Key identifier set to the default value of Numeric ID (auto-generated).

5. Under Properties, use the Add property button to add these properties:

   Name	Type	Value	Indexed
   description	String	Learn about Datastore.
   created	Date and time	(today's date)	✓
   done	Boolean	False	✓

   Your creation page should now look like this:

   

6. Click Create. The console displays the Task entity that you just created.

You just stored data in your database!

Run a query

Datastore mode databases support querying data by kind or by Google Query Language (GQL). The instructions below walk you through using both to query your database.

Run kind queries

1. Click Query by kind.
2. Select Task as the kind.

The query results show the Task entity that you created.

Next, add a query clause to restrict the results to entities that meet specific criteria:

1. Click Add query clause.
2. In the dropdown lists, select WHERE, done, ==, boolean, and false.
3. Click Run. The results show the Task entity that you created since its done value is false.
4. Now change the query clause to WHERE, done, ==, boolean, and true. Click Run. The results do not include the Task entity that you created, because its done value is not true.

Run GQL queries

1. Click Query by GQL.
2. Enter SELECT * FROM Task as the query. Note that Task is case sensitive.
3. Click Run query.

The query results show the Task entity that you created.

Tip

The GQL query editor supports autocompletion for kinds: When you need to type a kind name, press Ctrl+Space to see a list of the available kinds. Up to 300 alphabetically sorted kinds can appear in the list. For better matches of kinds, type one or more characters.

Add a query filter to restrict the results to entities that meet specific criteria:

1. Run a query such as SELECT * FROM Task WHERE done=false. Note that Task and done are case sensitive. The results show the Task entity that you created, since its done value is false.
2. Now run a query such as SELECT * FROM Task WHERE done=true. The results do not include the Task entity that you created, because its done value is not true.

Clean up

1. Click Query by kind and ensure Task is the selected kind.
2. Click Clear to remove any query clauses.
3. Select the Task entity that you created.
4. Click Delete, and then confirm you want to delete the Task entity. Depending on the size of the browser window, Delete might be under the More actions menu. Once deleted, the entity is permanently removed from your database.

That's it, you completed this quickstart!

What's next

• Learn more about Datastore Queries.
• Learn more about Datastore mode databases.