Firebase is a NoSQL Database that comes with many Cloud Functions offered by Google to power your applications and help you easily push and pull data. It provides multiple language support to make it available for the developer’s community. Firebase Webhooks automates the workflow for you by triggering the defined events via URL.
Webhook Firebase Integration is the simplest and most efficient way to communicate between app and Firebase. It helps you get the notification for any updates, errors, application halts in their messenger application. In this article, you will learn all the steps to Firebase Webhook Integration that will trigger Cloud Functions.
You will also read about why you need to use Webhooks Firebase. And, we will dig deeper to understand how it helps save time and optimize the workflow. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
- An active Firebase Project.
- An active Slack account.
Introduction to Firebase
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Firebase is a Backend as a Service (BaaS) by Google. It offers centralized Cloud Databases and storage facilities for applications that help Developers push and pull data hassle-free and use other Google Cloud Functions. It is a NoSQL Database program that stores data in JSON-like documents.
Initially, Firebase was limited to Real-time Database services. Google acquired it in 2014, and after that many Cloud Functions as a backend solution started adding in features. Firebase offers services for developing, testing, and managing applications.
Key Features of Firebase
Firebase offers many features that allow Developers to easily build, test and deploy applications. A few features of Firebase are listed below:
- Scalability: Firebase comes with Cloud Firestore that is a Real-time Database. It allows development teams to set up a flexible and scalable Real-time Database for their Mobile, Server, and Web Development activities.
- Integrations: Firebase offers click-and-go integrations with Google and partnered products. Also, to enhance flexibility, it provides integration with many 3rd party apps and services.
- Built-in Reporting: Firebase offers Real-time Analytics and Reporting of usage of the Database and other features. It helps Developers monitor the Firebase for up to 500 events. The reports help businesses understand how users of their applications behave, enabling them to make informed decisions regarding Performance Optimization, App Marketing, etc.
- Serverless: Google Firebase offers flexible options for Scaling Servers up & down as per requirement by introducing a Serverless environment in which businesses only pay for the number of requests they make and hence, do not have to worry about the Server infrastructure.
- Firebase Crashlytics: Firebase Crashlytics is a lightweight, real-time crash reporter that helps Developers track, monitor, prioritize and fix issues in the code.
To learn more about Firebase, click here.
Introduction to Webhooks
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Webhooks are one of the ways applications communicate with other apps or platforms. Webhooks trigger events when any change is detected for the defined set of rules. The process is similar to one how you receive a notification when any new message arrives. All the messages are delivered with the unique URL for every event triggered. On the other hand, in the URL, a listener is active that receives messages in JSON format, and if any event is bound to the message then it will automatically launch the event.
Webhooks use HTTP requests to transfer data in the URL from one point o another endpoint. Once a condition is met for a specified event, it triggers the message from one endpoint and binds the message in the URL. Then the message is sent using the GET and POST methods to the other endpoint. Webhooks are generally used to connect to different platforms, and it is a cost-effective solution.
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Steps to Set Up Firebase Webhook Integration
Now that you have understood about Firebase and Webhooks. In this section, you will learn the steps to Firebase Webhook Integration. For this, Firebase Crashlytics will be used which is a part of Firebase Cloud Functions. It allows Developers to get real-time notifications on errors, app crashes, etc. Slack App which is a messaging application used by companies will be used where you can get real-time notifications on your Firebase project.
First, you have to enable Crashalytics in your Firebase project if you have not done it yet. On the Firebase Console page, go under the “Release and Monitor” section go to the Crashlytics. Then, enable it for your project and install all the dependencies needed from the documentation. Once the Crashlytics is active, you can finally go ahead to Firebase Webhook Integration. The steps for integrating Firebase Webhooks are listed below:
Step 1: Setting Up Slack Webhook
- Log in to your Slack account here.
- Now, create a new Slack app in the workspace, where you want to receive notifications for Firebase Crashlytics.
- It will open up the feature page, and here you will see configurations for creating a new Slack app.
- Click on the “Incoming Webhooks” options, as shown in the image below.
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- Here, toggle the “Activate incoming webhooks” on, as shown in the image below.
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- Now, click on the “Add new webhook to workspace” button to add a new Webhook for the Slack app, as shown in the image below.
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- It will ask for the channel where you want to receive notifications. Select the channel and click on the “allow” button to authorize access to Slack.
- Now a new Webhook URL will generate, copy it.
Step 2: Enabling Firebase Webhook Integration for Slack
- Log in to your Firebase project that has Crashlytics enabled.
- Go to the “Project Settings” located on top of the navigation sidebar, as shown in the image below.
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- Here, switch to the “Integration” tab, as shown in the image below.
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- Here, you will find apps few apps that support click-and-go integrations with Firebase Webhooks, as shown in the image below.
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- Click on the “Install” option in the Slack card. This will install Slack for Firebase Webhooks, as shown in the image below.
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- The Configuration page for Firebase Webhook Integration for Slack will open up.
- Here, paste the copied Slack Webhook URL in the “Slack incoming webhook URL” text field and fill in other information, as shown in the image below.
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- Click on the “Verify & Save” button to save changes.
- Now, you will receive a notification from your Slack channel for Firebase Webhook Integration, as shown in the image below.
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That’s it! You have completed Firebase Webhook Integration. You can use other apps such as Jira for similar use cases.
Benefits of Firebase Webhook Integration
Firebase Webhook Integration allows Developers to keep track of all the updates on application development. A few benefits of using Firebase Webhook Integration in application development are listed below:
- With the help of Firebase Webhook Integration, you can get real-time updates on application development errors, issues, crash reports.
- Firebase Webhook Integration notifies you when any specific event happens like the registration of a new user.
- Automation can be achieved via Firebase Webhook Integration as it will automatically trigger specified events when any specified condition is met.
Conclusion
In this article, you learnt about Firebase, Webhooks, and the steps to Firebase Webhook Integration. You also read about the benefits of using Firebase Webhook Integration in optimizing the workflow. Integrating Slack with Firebase Webhooks for Crashlytics is one of the use cases. There are many other useful applications of using Firebase Webhooks that can help trigger Cloud Function and automate the workflow for Developers.
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Aditya has a keen interest in data science and is passionate about data, software architecture, and writing technical content. He has experience writing around 100 articles on data science.
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