The Definitive Guide to Firebase Build Android Apps on Google's Mobile Platform

✍ Scribed by Moroney, Laurence

• Publisher: Apress
• Year: 2017
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 281
• Edition: 1st edition
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Plan how to build a better app, grow it into a business, and earn money from your hard work using Firebase. In this book,Laurence Moroney, Staff Developer Advocate at Google, takes you through each of the 15 Firebase technologies, showing you how to use them with concrete examples. You'll see how to build cross-platform apps with the three pillars of the Firebase platform: technologies to help you develop apps with a real-time database, remote configuration, cloud messaging, and more; grow your apps with user sharing, search integration, analytics, and more; and earn from your apps with in-app advertising.

After readingThe Definitive Guide to Firebase, you'll come away empowered to make the most of this technology that helps you build better cross-platform mobile apps using either native Android or JavaScript-based web apps and effectively deploy them in a cloud environment.





What You'll Learn


Use the real-time database for a codeless middleware that gives online and offline data for syncing across your users' devices


Master Firebase Cloud Messaging, a technology that delivers to connected devices in less than 500ms


Grow your app organically with technologies such App Indexing, App Invites, and Dynamic Links
Understand problems when they arise with crash reporting
Fix user problems without direct access to users' devices


Tie it all together with analytics that give you great intelligence about how users interact with your app


Who This Book Is For



Experienced Android, mobile app developers new to Firebase. This book is also for experienced web developers looking to build and deploy web apps for smartphones and tablets, too, who may be new or less experienced with mobile programming.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents at a Glance......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
About the Author......Page 10
About the Technical Reviewer......Page 11
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Firebase......Page 12
Firebase: An Overview......Page 13
Cloud Storage for Firebase......Page 14
The Grow Technologies......Page 15
Earning with AdMob......Page 16
Install Android Studio......Page 17
Create Your First Firebase Application......Page 20
Step 1. Connect to Firebase......Page 23
Step 2. Add the Realtime Database......Page 25
Step 3. Configure Data Access Rules......Page 27
Step 4. Write to the Database......Page 30
Step 5. Reading from the Database......Page 33
Reference......Page 35
Chapter 2: Using Authentication in Firebase......Page 36
FirebaseUI......Page 37
Create and Configure the App......Page 39
Code the Main Activity......Page 43
Create and Code the Signed-In Activity......Page 46
Explore the Sign-In Flows......Page 48
Adding Sign Out......Page 51
Resetting the Password......Page 53
Adding Smart Lock for Passwords......Page 55
Adding Sign-In with Google......Page 58
Summary......Page 61
Getting Started......Page 62
Write Your First Data......Page 66
Read Your First Data......Page 69
Write Structured Data with a Stock Portfolio......Page 72
Reading Structured Data......Page 78
Querying the Data......Page 79
Updating Data......Page 80
Deleting Data......Page 81
Summary......Page 82
Building an App with Cloud Storage for Firebase......Page 83
Enable Anonymous Authentication......Page 84
Set Storage Rules......Page 85
Editing the Layout......Page 86
Editing the Code for Anonymous Sign-In......Page 87
Taking a Photo with the Onboard Camera......Page 88
Uploading the Image to Cloud Storage......Page 89
Running the App......Page 91
Edit the Layout File......Page 94
Coding the App......Page 95
Update the Layout File......Page 100
Summary......Page 102
Installing the Firebase CLI......Page 103
Creating a Site for Firebase Hosting......Page 106
Using the Firebase Console to Manage Your Site......Page 108
Preparing the Image......Page 109
Creating the Page......Page 110
Mapping a Domain Name to Your Site......Page 113
Summary......Page 116
Getting the App......Page 117
Enabling Authentication......Page 118
Using Friendly Chat......Page 119
First Steps: Testing Your APK......Page 120
Creating Custom Tests......Page 124
Testing from Android Studio......Page 128
Recording and Scripting a Test with Espresso......Page 132
Summary......Page 136
Getting Started with Crashlytics......Page 137
Installing Crashlytics......Page 138
Using Firebase Crash Reporting......Page 146
Summary......Page 148
Building a Test App......Page 149
The Firebase CLI and Functions......Page 153
Realtime Database Triggers......Page 158
Storage Triggers......Page 162
Authentication Triggers......Page 164
Using Http Triggers......Page 166
Http Triggers with Hosting......Page 169
Summary......Page 171
Building an App to Receive Notifications......Page 172
Receiving Notifications in the Foreground......Page 175
Implementing the Notification Activity......Page 177
Implementing the sendNotification Method......Page 179
Understanding Topics......Page 183
Building a Custom App Server for FCM......Page 186
Creating the Database......Page 188
Updating the App......Page 193
Next Steps......Page 196
Summary......Page 197
Public Content Indexing......Page 198
Create an App That Receives Incoming Links......Page 199
Personal Content Indexing......Page 203
Summary......Page 210
Chapter 11: Remote Configuration......Page 211
Building an App for Remote Config......Page 212
Using Default Values......Page 215
Using Conditions with Remote Config......Page 217
Remote Config Life Cycle......Page 220
Summary......Page 221
Dynamic Links......Page 222
Editing the App......Page 226
Creating a Dynamic Link Within the App......Page 230
Dynamic Links and Analytics......Page 234
Using Firebase Invites......Page 235
Summary......Page 238
Getting Started......Page 239
Signing Up for AdMob......Page 241
Using Interstitial Ads......Page 246
Using a Rewarded Video Ad......Page 250
Connecting AdMob with Firebase......Page 253
Summary......Page 256
Automatically Gathered Analytics......Page 257
Exploring the Analytics Console......Page 259
Creating Audiences......Page 268
Logging Events......Page 269
Logging User Properties......Page 275
Summary......Page 276
Index......Page 277