mobx-firebase-store

MobxFirebaseStore allows you to subscribe to firebase data via firebase-nest subscriptions and have the data flow into mobx observable maps.

See live: storybook

React Component Example

import React, {Component} from 'react';
import MobxFirebaseStore from 'mobx-firebase-store';
import {observer} from 'mobx-react';
import {createAutoSubscriber} from 'firebase-nest';
import firebase from 'firebase';

const fbApp = firebase.initializeApp({
  apiKey: 'yourApiKey',
  authDomain: "localhost",
  databaseURL: 'https://docs-examples.firebaseio.com',
  storageBucket: 'docs-examples.firebaseio.com'
}, "chatApp");

const store = new MobxFirebaseStore(firebase.database(fbApp).ref());

/* Real-time messages */
class MessageList extends Component {
    renderMessage(messageKey, messageData) {
        return (
          <div style={{border:'1px grey solid'}} key={messageKey}>
              <div>{messageData.text}</div>
              <div>Posted {new Date(messageData.timestamp).toString()}</div>
          </div>
        );
    }
    render() {
        const messages = store.getData('myMsgs'); //'myMsgs' matches the subKey below
        
        //autoSubscriber keeps track of loading and error status when using store.subscribeSubsWithPromise
        const { _autoSubscriberFetching: fetching, _autoSubscriberError: fetchError, error } = this.state
        
        //store.getData returns mobx observable map - use keys(), get(), entries(), etc. to render the data
        //do NOT use set() or other mutations on the map -- updates should be written directly to firebase, and will get reflected in the observable map automatically.
        
        if (!messages) {
            return <div>Loading messages...</div>
        }
        return (
          <div>
              Messages:
              {messages.keys().map(messageKey => this.renderMessage(messageKey, messages.get(messageKey)))}
          </div>
        );
    }
}

//Subscribe to and observe firebase data
export default createAutoSubscriber({
    getSubs: (props, state) => [{
        subKey: 'myMsgs', //any unique string describing this subscription; must match getData call
        asList: true, //or asValue: true. asList will internally subscribe via firebase child_added/removed/changed; asValue via onValue.
        path: 'samplechat/messages', //firebase location,
        
        //Optional - get data callbacks after store data is already updated:
        onData: (type, snapshot) => console.log('got data: ', type, 'myMsgs', snapshot.val())
        
    }], //can add more than one subscription to this array
    
    subscribeSubs: (subs, props, state) => store.subscribeSubsWithPromise(subs)
})(observer(MessageList));

react-native is supported - libs and usage are the same

Supports Firebase queries - filtering and sorting

export default createAutoSubscriber({
    getSubs: (props, state) => [{
        subKey: 'myMsgs',
        asValue: true, //have to use asValue if using orderBy* and want to preserve the ordering in the observable map
        resolveFirebaseRef: () => fbRef.child('samplechat/messages').orderByChild('sentTimestamp')
    }],
    subscribeSubs: (subs, props, state) => store.subscribeSubsWithPromise(subs)
})(observer(MessageList));

Supports data transformation

With asValue sub, define transformValue : (val) => ... on the sub. Or with asList, define transformChild: (val) => ....

Supports nested subscriptions

For example, for each message, subscribe to its author (message.uid).

//...
    getSubs: (props, state) => [{
        subKey: 'myMsgs',
        asValue: true,
        resolveFirebaseRef: () => fbRef.child('samplechat/messages'),
        childSubs: (messageKey, messageData) => [{
            subKey: 'user_' + messageData.uid,
            asValue: true,
            resolveFirebaseRef: () => fbRef.child('samplechat/users').child(messageData.uid)
        }] 
    }],
//...

If we have getSubs defined as above and 2 messages by 2 users, fred and barney, the subscription graph can be pictured something like this:

Also can nest subscriptions for specific fields - for example, parent subscription is for a blog, nested subscription is for its author.

    getSubs: (props, state) => {
        return [{
            subKey: 'blog_'+props.blogKey,
            asValue: true,
            resolveFirebaseRef: () => fbRef.child('blogs').child(props.blogKey), 
            fieldSubs: {
                authorKey: (authorKey) => [{subKey: 'user_' + authorKey, asValue: true, path: 'users/' + authorKey}]
            }
        }];
    },

See chat for examples of how to display the firebase subscription graph.

More examples

chat - includes auth

next.js example - server-side rendering with firebase-admin, firebase and mobx, and auth

react-native-gifted-chat example

firebase queries - pagination

Required libs

npm install mobx mobx-react firebase firebase-nest mobx-firebase-store --save

Run examples in storybook

Inspired by react-native-web-starter examples.

1. cd examples-storybook or cd examples-storybook-firebase3

To run firebase3 examples, you need to set your API key in index.js. You can create one at https://console.cloud.google.com, credentials->create credentials->API key->browser key.

2. npm install

3. npm run storybook

Features

1. Firebase 3.x is supported (https://github.com/nyura123/mobx-firebase-store/tree/master/examples/listAndDetailFirebase3)

2. Allows to differentiate between data not being subscribed or loaded (store.getData(...) === undefined) vs being empty.

3. Writes to maps are done inside transactions for better performance.

4. Throttles writes by default - this helps if we want to avoid re-rendering too frequently, such as during initial load of data.

   To turn off: const store = new MobxFirebaseStore(fb, {throttle: {shouldThrottle: false}}).

   Throttling params can also be tweaked.

5. firebase-nest subscriptions allow subscribing to whole graphs of data.

   For example, via a single subscription, subscribe to items and to each items's category. If an item is ever deleted or its category is changed, the nested category subscription is deleted/changed automatically.

6. store.subscribeSubsWithPromise provides a promise that resolves when initial data, including nested/child data, is loaded.

7. MobxFirebaseStore can be extended to optionally implement various callbacks:

   • onData(type, snapshot, sub) -- be notified on every data update coming in from firebase after it has already been applied to observable maps.
   • onWillSubscribe(sub), onWillUnsubscribe(subKey)

8. Exposes subscribedRegistry which shows how many subscribers are currently listening to each piece of data.

9. store.reset() can be used to unsubscribe from all data & reset the store (for example on user logout)

10. Use firebase-nest autoSubscriber to allow React components to specify their prop- and state-dependent subscriptions and be automatically subscribed/unsubscribed.

    If your component's props or state is updated, the subscriptions will be updated automatically.

11. firebase-nest & autoSubscriber both minimize unnecessary ref.off()/ref.on() flickering.

12. By default, data is removed from fbStore cache when it no longer has any subscribers.

13. When subscribing asList, onData with type=FB_INIT_VAL gets the whole initial list as one update.

14. Firebase queries are supported via resolveFirebaseRef function you can set on each sub. Otherwise you can set path:

    resolveFirebaseQuery: () => fbRef.child('yourPath')

    or

    path: 'yourPath'