How to sync an ionic vue app with Google's Firestore? - vue.js

I want to build an app where users can jointly work on lists. The app should be avialable offline and sync changes when it goes online again.
For the app iteself, I've decided to go with Ionic Vue. For storage, I created a Firestore and was able to sync between my app and Firestore by using the Firesotre method onSnapshot() (doc). Although this working at the moment, the resulting code does not look very elegant and I have to create multiple very similar Firebase calls in different components. This slows the app down and (I think) also prevents me from making the lists available offline and sync them again when there is a connection.
I recently discovered vuex and the idea sounds quite fitting for my case: I store all app data in the vuex store and sync it (both ways) to Firestore. My components access the vuex store instead of the Firestore directly. Here are some questions regarding this idea:
Is this in general how the vuex store and Firestore are supposed to be used?
Can I make the vuex store data available on my phone and only sync it to the Firestore whenever there is a connection (to make the app available offline inlc. modifying data)?
If so, what is the easiest way to sync the vuex store to Firestore?
Regarding the syncing: I found Vuexfire, but it does not really work for me as expected - I guess this is because it is built on Vue 2 (as against Ionic which is built on Vue 3). I also found Vuex Easy Firestore, but I'm a bit reluctant to try new tools, as Vuexfire cost me several hours.
Thanks for reviewing my implementation ideas!

Related

How to persist cached data beyond a phone reboot or app closure using Redux Toolkit Query with React Native?

As the question suggests, I'm trying to figure out how to persist cached data beyond a phone reboot or app closure using React Native with Redux Toolkit Query. I've noticed that the cached data gets wiped in those scenarios. I believe that caching data beyond an app closure or phone reboot is a common practice.
I have thought about simply storing the data in client-side Redux using Redux Persist to get around this issue, without persisting the api slice. As this post indicates, persisting the api slice is a bad idea:
What happens when i use RTK Query with redux-persist?.
Any tips on this would be appreciated! Thank you.
Generally I can only repeat what I already said in the other issue:
I do not recommend doing this. Data from a server should be fresh, and this way it defitely won't be.
That said, we are currently working on SSR integration and that, too, will need similar functionality. So some kind of rehydration mechanism will be integrated, probably in Redux Toolkit 1.7 - but until then you have the choice between not keeping api data cached (again, my recommendation. No user wants to open an app and see data from five weeks ago - rather show them a loading screen!) or restoring it, but potentially ruining cache collection of said data.

Does calling AsyncStorage multiple time in a react native app impacts performance?

I am building a React Native app which requires calling AsyncStorage multiple times in different components.
For example a particular screen can only be opened in web if the user is logged in, which requires checking the local storage.
Callings AsyncStorage every time doesn’t seem like a good idea and might impact performance as the application grows.
Is implementing redux the best option or is there any other way?
Yes, if you rely on saving too many records. You can however optimize it by using redux persist or using in-memory cache.
A good read that helped understand optimization and performance of Async: https://medium.com/#Sendbird/extreme-optimization-of-asyncstorage-in-react-native-b2a1e0107b34

Migrating from Firebase JS SDK (Web) to react-native-firebase for offline storage

I have been using Firebase Web SDK for my react-native app (I am using FIRESTORE to store the data). Up to this point, I have had no problems. It all works smoothly. But now I want to add some kind of offline storage mechanism to my app so that I could still offer some functionality or display some content that was cached from the last connected session even if my users are offline. After some investigation, I have the impression that react-native-firebase is the preferred way to go. Now I have some questions and I like to get some advice from the experienced.
Is react-native-firebase the only option to go? I have quickly read about AsyncStorage and it is just a key-value storage. Considering the simplest thing I want to do is page through a list of firestore documents, this kind of storage seems not to be suitable to do this offline. Like If I wanted to do this with AsyncStorage I would have to put all the content (maybe hundreds of documents) I get from the firestore backend, persist them as a single string value, fetch them back, parse them, page them etc. And write custom logic& methods for all these.
If I was to use react-native-firebase, just enabling the offline storage -I assume- takes care of this for you and you don't have to write any custom logic for offline storage usage. I assume the data that has persisted for offline usage has the same structure as it does in firestore database. I feel like If I use anything other than react-native-firebase, I would have to handle all the custom logic for persisting, reading and rendering the data offline myself. Is that right?
The biggest concern I have is the amount of code refactoring that might be required. I have many lines of code and so many .get().then() like lines where I get and render the data from firestore. In the documentation of react-native-firebase it says:
...aims to mirror the official Firebase Web SDK as closely as
possible.
I am not sure to what extent this is true. I have checked the react-native-firebase's firestore module's reference documentation but I just can't tell how many of these querying methods are actually supported.
So, the way to go is react-native-firebase's way? Would it take a heavy toll on me trying to refactor the existing code? Any similar experience do you have?
I would appreciate any help.
Thanks a lot...
Maintainer of the react-native-firebase library here.
...aims to mirror the official Firebase Web SDK as closely as possible.
This is a minor disclaimer as there are some differences between the two, mainly down to how certain things have to be implemented with React Native.
For example, enablePersistence does not exist on RNFB. Instead, persistence is enabled by default and can be toggled off (or on) via settings().
Is react-native-firebase the only option to go? I have quickly read about AsyncStorage and it is just a key-value storage. Considering the simplest thing I want to do is page through a list of firestore documents, this kind of storage seems not to be suitable to do this offline. Like If I wanted to do this with AsyncStorage I would have to put all the content (maybe hundreds of documents) I get from the firestore backend, persist them as a single string value, fetch them back, parse them, page them etc. And write custom logic& methods for all these.
This is technically possible, however there are downsides to this as you have mentioned. With Firestore, when the device goes offline (quite common on apps) and you attempt a read/write it'll read/update your local cache, which will still trigger event listeners. When the app goes back online, it'll automatically re-sync with the server for you.
If I was to use react-native-firebase, just enabling the offline storage -I assume- takes care of this for you and you don't have to write any custom logic for offline storage usage. I assume the data that has persisted for offline usage has the same structure as it does in firestore database. I feel like If I use anything other than react-native-firebase, I would have to handle all the custom logic for persisting, reading and rendering the data offline myself. Is that right?
This is all handled for you. We wrap around the native Firebase SDKs so expect the same level of consistency if you were developing a native Android/iOS app if not using React Native.
The biggest concern I have is the amount of code refactoring that might be required. I have many lines of code and so many .get().then() like lines where I get and render the data from firestore.
Generally everything is the same apart from a few minor methods for reasons mentioned above.
So, the way to go is react-native-firebase's way? Would it take a heavy toll on me trying to refactor the existing code? Any similar experience do you have? I would appreciate any help.
I'd recommend anyone developing with React Native & Firebase to use RNFB. It provides a lot of extra functionality the Web SDK cannot provide with React Native. Apart from a more cumbersome setup & changing imports, it should work very much the same.

How to use redux persist to support offline?

I have a react native mobile application and I need some pages to work offline (without internet connection) I am using redux persist library.
My question is where to initialize the store and persist it?
Should I make it for each page or one time?
You use it to persist either your entire redux store, or a part of the store. If your not using redux yet then you will need to implement that first.
It’s setup at the same time you create your redux store.
There are links to several examples and a guide start guide in the GitHub project readme.

I'm using vue(-router) to develop a hybrid app, how can I save some data in history state, so I can restore them when I back to previous pages?

In Android apps, when you start a new activity, the original activity is still in there, with all its internal data, so when you come back, it is the same as before.
How can I simulate this behaviour in my vue.js hybrid app? Is there some existing solution?
PS. I'm aware of vuex, but I think if I want to all the internal states of the pages in the history stack, then I must implement a stack-like structure by vuex myself. Is there some existing library can do this for me?
Thanks.
Wrapping <router-view> in <keep-alive> would get you expected results.
Or some custom baked solution, similar vuex-router-sync library to keep your page state in sync with the router.