Building a successful Kids Book App using Firebase

In this presentation, Rebecca Franks takes a look at why Firebase was a key aspect to Book Dash Apps success. She gives an introduction to Firebase, and how she is using it within the Book Dash App.

Find Rebecca on Twitter - https://twitter.com/riggaroo

Transcript

1. Building a “successful” Kids Book App using Firebase Rebecca Franks - March 2017
2. Hello Rebecca Franks Android Engineering Lead at DVT Google Developer Expert for Android and IoT @riggaroo https://riggaroo.co.za
3. What app am I talking about?
4. Book Dash
6. Book Dash - Features - View books in different languages - View a book’s information - Download & read book - Manage downloads - Send App invites
7. Book Dash https://github.com/bookdash/bookdash-android-app - Free - Open Source - Over 200 Books
8. 4.42 Correct as of 25 March 2017 214 reviews
9. 30,800 Total installs 10,200 Active installs Correct as of 25 March 2017
10. What made this app successful?
11. “successful”
12. Technically successful! - getting more users - easy enough to develop - getting good ratings
13. Material Design
14. Simple design with simple functionality that works.
15. Beautiful illustrations and unique African content.
17. What is Firebase?
19. Cross-platform
20. Integrated
21. How did I use Firebase?
22. Which Firebase features did I use?
23. Book Dash Architecture
24. Book Dash Architecture
25. Firebase Realtime Database • Cloud-hosted NoSQL database • Synchronization & conflict resolution • Access directly from your app
28. Realtime Database - Admin Portal Upload function addNewBook(bookName, description, downloadUrl) {
 var bookEntry = {
 bookTitle: bookName,
 bookDescription: description,
 bookUrl: downloadUrl
 };
 var newBookKey = firebase.database().ref().child(‘bd_books').push().key;
 return firebase.database().ref(‘bd_books/' + newBookKey).set(bookEntry);
 }
30. Realtime Database - Android App Read Data DatabaseReference dbRef = firebaseDatabase.getReference(“bd_books");
 dbRef.addValueEventListener(new ValueEventListener() {
 @Override
 public void onDataChange(final DataSnapshot dataSnapshot) {
 for (DataSnapshot snap : dataSnapshot.getChildren()) {
 Book bookDetails = snap.getValue(Book.class);
 //..
 }
 }
 //..
 });
31. Firebase Storage • Easy file storage • Handles poor connectivity • Backed by & accessible from Google Cloud Storage
33. Storage - Android App Download StorageReference storageRef = storage.getReference().child("books/a-good- book.zip"); File localFile = File.createTempFile("books", "zip"); storageRef.getFile(localFile).addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<FileDownloadTask.TaskSnapshot>() { @Override public void onSuccess(FileDownloadTask.TaskSnapshot taskSnapshot) { // Local temp file has been created } });
34. Firebase Hosting • Serve static assets • SSL by default • Custom domains
35. Hosting npm install -g firebase-tools //installs cli tools
 
 firebase login //will prompt you to login & configure project
 
 firebase deploy //deploys all files to hosting
37. Firebase Notifications • Simple UI, with no coding • Built on Cloud Messaging • Audience targeting • Conversion funnel insights
38. Notifications If Firebase SDK is set up - all you need is: compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:10.2.0'

42. Firebase Analytics • Designed for apps • Event and user centric • Connects across Firebase
43. Firebase Analytics - Custom Events public void trackDownloadBookStarted(Book book) { Bundle bundle = new Bundle(); bundle.putString("book_name", book.getBookTitle()); bundle.putString("book_id", book.getId()); FirebaseAnalytics.getInstance(context) .logEvent("download_book_started", bundle); }
45. Google Data Studio Export Firebase Analytics events into Big Query
47. Quirks to keep in mind - Firebase only free up to a certain point - Ability to filter data is difficult - Structuring your data is important - Duplicating data is OKAY - Requires Google Play Services dependency (Android)
48. In Summary - Why I Firebase? - Awesome easy to use tools - all in one - Super simple to rapidly prototype ideas - Cost effective - Firebase handles the scaling and infrastructure - Constant improvements and updates - Great online community with active support from Firebase Team
49. In Summary Material Design + Firebase + Good App Idea = A technically successful app!
50. Questions Rebecca Franks @riggaroo https://riggaroo.co.za
51. Links - https://riggaroo.co.za - https://github.com/bookdash/bookdash-android-app - https://material.io/ - https://firebase.google.com - https://www.google.com/analytics/data-studio/