Overview

Why?

The Firebase Realtime Database is great because it:

  • syncs realtime data between devices, no HTTP requests needed;
  • can be used directly in client-side code, no backend server needed; and
  • enables offline persistence in the absence of a connection.

But there are some pain points when using it with the JavaScript SDK:

  1. It can be cumbersome and repetitive to read data and set up listeners to sync data;
  2. It is easy to forget the precise structure of your NoSQL database when writing your code; and
  3. There is no autocomplete or type-checking on data read from the database.

How?

Fireactive was built with three goals in mind:

  1. Easy APIs for data syncing (active by default) to and from your Realtime Database;
  2. Predictable data with an explicit model-based structure for objects and your database; and
  3. Code autocomplete and type-checking with VS Code and/or TypeScript.

What?

Fireactive is a strongly-typed Object Document Mapper with realtime syncing enabled by default for all data that is created, read or updated in your Firebase Realtime Database.

This is achieved through Schema-based ActiveClasses.

import { ActiveClass, Schema } from 'fireactive'
// A schema for user data
const userSchema = {
name: Schema.string, // users must have a name
age: Schema.number({ optional: true }), // age is optional
role: Schema.enum(['admin', 'basic']), // role must be 'admin' or 'basic'
isVerified: Schema.boolean({ default: false }) // defaults to false
}
// Create an `ActiveClass` based on this schema
class User extends ActiveClass(userSchema) {}

A Fireactive ActiveClass provides some helpful static and prototype methods by default, although you are free to add your own in when extending.

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