I am considering using Firebase/Firestore and Mongodb together for data storage. The idea is to use Firebase to store data that users will interact with on mobile and use MongoDB for more backend stuff or web content that won't be accessible on the app.
I've found a lot of people switching between the two, but very few topics discuss using both. Is there any reasons why this isn't done more often?
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The problem I'm dealing with is performance issues when needing to perform multiple Firestore queries in order to reach a result similar to to joins in SQL.
In my Flutter app, which uses Firebase and Firestore, I use Cloud Functions for serving my REST API. My API is the only thing that actually interacts with the Firestore database, not the Flutter app itself. I was always taught to design apps like this (not allowing the client to interact directly with the database) and so continued with that approach.
A potential solution I've seen are the official Firestore plugins for Flutter and have seen people designing their clients to interact directly with Firebase, however I haven't found any official documentation explicitly saying this design is preferred or even ok, and since it goes against when have been taught I haven't tried it yet. Can anyone confirm this or point me to documentation confirming this?
Edit
Perhaps it's worth noting that the reasons I've been told not to have the client connect directly to the database are 1. Security and 2. It would require business logic for managing data to be in the client and that should be handled server-side.
I'm looking for a flutter web compatible solution for NoSQL data storage/retrieval such that multiple users can save/fetch data - with the catch it needs to be hosted locally with no 3rd party tools. Firebase/Firestore is 100% perfect except for the caveat data is stored remotely.
So ideally when any user launches the app, the app will parse a locally stored JSON/NoSQL-like DB (from a SharePoint directory sigh), and their edits/saves/uploads will be written back. I'm not too worried about data-access collisions at this time. What solutions do I have? Thanks!
I have a Flutter app (still in development) that currently uses Firebase for the backend. More specifically, I use Firebase Authentication, Storage, Cloud Functions, Firestore and in the future I am willing to use Remote Config, Dynamic Links, Cloud Messaging and more of Firebase's features.
I got to a point where Firestore is not enough anymore for my purposes: Full-text search, geographical querying and advanced queries in general. I know that I can use 3rd party services like Algolia for this but It's too expensive and I wanted something already integrated with my database.
I was thinking of start using MongoDB as my database (while keeping all other Firebase services) but before I do that I need to understand what is the best way to do it.
Can I host MongoDB on Firebase Hosting (I don't know if this possible at all?) or just use MongoDB Atlas and access it directly (See my next question) from my application?
What is the best way to connect my application to MongoDB? From the app directly (using Rest API) or using Firebase Cloud Functions (so I won't expose my database)?
Can I use Firebase Authentication tokens to access MongoDB or do I have to use MongoDB's authentication service?
If there is more things I need to consider before I start switching to MongoDB please point it to me.
Firebase Hosting is a CDN for hosting static websites. So it is not possible to host an application like MongoDB server. You can't host MongoDB on any Firebase services. You have to deploy it somewhere else. There are several options. You can either get a VPS and install MongoDB server on it. But you will have to manage your own DB which can be difficult and can take quite some time. Another option is to use a Cloud Database like MongoDB Atlas. This is a faster and more secure solution. However, pricing can be high. So you have to decide depending on your needs.
Once you have a running MongoDB server, you need to write an API for client apps to communicate securely. Client apps should never talk with a DB instance directly. In this case you can use Firebase Cloud Functions to create an api.
You can use Firebase Auth service with Firebase Cloud Functions. You should have a look at the Firebase Callable Functions which can pass auth context to the function body. Here you can just ensure the user is authenticated or perform some access control logic depending on your authorization needs.
Overall, you are going to add an another layer to your architecture. It is possible but will take your time to set things up and you will loose some firestore benefits like offline persistency.
I am developing a hybrid Cordova app (but only for Android platform) using Meteor.
App should have offline support, in a way that a user can add objects that are stored offline, in a SQLite database, and after the user connects to Internet, sync the data with server (Mongo database).
Problem is a can't find any solution for synchronisation.
I have looked at GroundDB that provided the mechanism for synchronization I need, but stored data in localStorage which doesn't provide enough storage. In newer versions it doesn't provide sync mechanism, only cashing.
Do you have any suggestions or experience with this type of problem? Any help would be much appreciated.
You could look at LokiJS, which is in a high performance JS database, with features to sync to Mongo.
I haven't used it myself, but from looking at the site, it may do what you need. http://lokijs.org/#/
You can also check out MongOGX which is a Javascript "clone" of mongo for the front end
I'm trying to create a back-end in which I can have many users communicate with each other amongst an iPhone app I'm creating. I've tried working with Core Data, Google App Engine, Google Cloud Storage, and Amazon Web Services (RDS & Elastic Beanstalk). Unfortunately, after weeks of trying to get any of this working, none of it will!
I've been trying to get in touch with someone who would know how startups (when they were little) like Instagram, Path, and Pinterest have managed to do this. But everyone out there seems to despise this stuff as much as I'm growing to...
I would love for someone to simply map out EXACTLY how I need to create a back-end database that I can save and query data to and from that many users can see. That means that just SQLite, Core Data, or Parse by itself isn't going to work here!
A tutorial of some kind would be incredible.
First off, technologies like CoreData and sqlite are typically local device storage. Local device storage is not going to get you shared cloud storage.
Parse.com is a fast way for devices to access cloud storage and get going fast. Especially useful for games and other mobile apps to access cloud data via an app id and app key. It's simple storage to avoid creating your own backend if it fills all your needs and requirements.
When you get to a multi-tenant cloud backend where you roll your own services and multiple devices accessing your cloud application you need to look into exposing your web API. Exposing RESTful API over http is great for devices and web clients. Exposing the data as JSON is especially conventient for the web and easily consumed by devices.
Those web service end points in the cloud access some sort of backend storage which is optimized for concurrent access by mutliple clients. This is typically a SQL backend like MySQL, SQLServer etc... or a NoSQL solution like mongodb, couchDB, etc...
Some front end web api technologies to look into:
ASP.net web api
Ruby on Rails
Node.js
etc...
Some back end storage technologies to look into:
SQL: MySQL, SQLServer/Azure SQL, Oracle
NoSQL: MongoDb, CouchDb, Amazon S3 simple storage, etc...
If the data is used by many many multi-tenant clients, the backends can scaled up (larger and larger) or get sharded. Sharding is where the data for multiple users is split into many databases or datastores with some sort of lookup algorithm for requests to find where that users data is stored. The front end web api servers abstract the backend storage.
Finally, you'll end up needing some sort of caching/fast lookup technology (if you're successful :):
Redis: fast in memory storage over sockets
memcached: facebook uses - simple key value in memory caching across many front end servers.
Your question is an open ended up broad question so start by googling many of these terms and technologies.
Each of these links will have resources and tutorials. Get a cloud VM, play with each and decide which fits your needs best. There is no one size fits all solution.